Anyone with even the vaguest understanding of the profit motive can understand why Apple TV sports comedy “Ted Lasso” has returned three years after its poorly received — yet still widely watched — third season seemed to close the book on its story. A streaming service continuing to milk one of its few major hits doesn’t prohibit the result from being enjoyable; if the first three seasons of “Ted Lasso” are effectively one (overlong, especially toward the end) sports movie, then Season 4 is its perfectly routine sequel. And in a genre filled with redemptive second chances, “Ted Lasso” could use one of its own. If a show has the chance to correct for mistakes like overindulgence and bloat, why not take it?
Season 4 introduces a premise that gives Jason Sudeikis’ titular American-football-turned-British-football coach a chance at both a fresh start and a return to old stomping grounds. Two years after Ted walked away from AFC Richmond and took his signature mustache back to Kansas City, team owner Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), marketing chief Keeley (Juno Temple) and operations head Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift) arrive stateside with an offer he can’t refuse: coaching the club’s brand-new women’s team, who begin their existence as the underdogs — specifically, Greyhounds — their male counterparts once were. Given the cultural bias against women’s sports leagues, they’ll likely remain so even if they succeed.
