faerie fable

Ok y’all hear me out: Ted Lasso Season 2 is, at its core, the Wizard of Oz; this conclusion helps explain some of the crazy character arcs and story lines we’ve seen through 2x11 Midnight Train to Royston.

Before jumping into the parallels, we must understand the importance of the symbolism of color in the Wizard of Oz and Ted Lasso. When Dorothy is in Kansas (pre-tornado) her entire world is in black and white. The opening of the book the Wizard of Oz has Dorothy reflecting on her Aunt Em (nod to Ted’s wife, Michelle) and Uncle Henry (nod to Ted’s son), specifically how gray she looks now, having lost her spark and vivacity by moving to rural Kansas. The chapter states only reason Dorothy hasn’t turned gray is because of her dog, Toto. After Dorothy wakes up and begins her journey in Oz, her world is transformed into color, and remains that way throughout her journey, until she inevitably wakes up again in Kansas.

There are 4 colors that are highly significant in The Wizard of Oz and Ted Lasso: Yellow, Red, Green and Gray.

In the Wizard of Oz:

Yellow - Yellow Brick Road

Red - Dorothy’s Magic Slippers

Green - The Wizard of Oz

Gray - The way Dorothy describes people, specifically sad ones

In Ted Lasso:

Yellow - Biscuits that look like little, yellow bricks

Red - Ted’s Tennis Shoes, later Rebecca’s too (hear me out on this one)

Green - Sharon the Therapist and the ‘Curtain’

Gray - Nate’s hair progression throughout Season 2

Let’s dig in.

In this season, Ted and Rebecca are Dorothy. The writers have gone to extreme lengths to make the audience understand that the two are mirrors of each other, often experiencing the same things in slightly different ways. This really drove home for me in 2x10 No Weddings and a Funeral while Rebecca is confessing to her mother that she caught her Father sleeping with another woman and Ted is finally opening up to Sharon about how his Father really passed away. The writers had the two of them telling the story together, an interesting and stylistic choice to drive home their similarities. Additionally, both house basically the same fears, Rebecca’s being alone and Ted’s being left behind, both stemming through traumatic times in their lives that really shaped them as people. The real imagery that drives this home, however, is the appearance of Ted’s Red Tennis Shoes and Rebecca’s Louboutin’s, a pair of heels famous for their red bottoms. When Ted’s playing the Wizard of Oz pinball game at the pub in 2x08 Man City, the camera immediately cuts to a scene of Rebecca and Sam’s shoes while Sam’s walking Rebecca back to her house after their blind date. We’re supposed to be looking at their red bottoms; after the appearance of the Wizard of Oz game, it’s practically a slap in the face. We see the appearance of red footwear throughout Season 1 and 2 multiple times, including Ted’s red shoelaces and the red bottoms to Rebecca’s trainers in the the Christmas episode, 2x04, Carol of the Bells.

Rebecca’s red heel bottoms bring me to Sam, a mirror of the Cowardly Lion (Courage) from the Wizard of Oz. I absolutely can’t be the only one wondering why the writers were going that direction with their relationship, but the parallels between the Cowardly Lion’s trip through Oz and Sam and Rebecca’s relationship are undeniable. In the film, when the Group reaches the Emerald City, we see the Cowardly Lion receiving a haircut, similar to the drawn-out scene of Sam receiving a haircut from Isaac before his blind date in 2x08. During the closet scene in 2x10, Rebecca and Sam both reveal that they’re scared of what this relationship could do to them, the implications of if they go public, and really digs into the long standing theme of Rebecca being scared of vulnerability. Rebecca’s relationship with Sam (however long it ends up being) has shown her that she deserves happiness, and she finally has a hint of courage to go seek it out. Additionally, Sam exemplifies courage through his protest against Dubai Air, further solidifying his representation of the Lion.

Now I know all of us thought that 2x09, Beard After Hours, was a wild ride and a fun filler episode. However, this episode is massively important to the development of the story line as it shows us that Beard is a representation of the Scarecrow (Brain). Throughout the episode, Beard loses his phone, wallet and keys multiple times, potentially a parallel between the Scarecrow in Oz lacking a brain (therefore misplacing things, not thinking) or the fact that the Scarecrow loses stuffing along the way. Additionally, Beard has admitted to (accidentally) using psychedelics and constantly can never make up his mind about his wishy-washy relationship with Jane, a huge parallel to the Scarecrow that lacks a brain and can’t think for himself. In the Wizard of Oz the Scarecrow is torn apart by Flying Monkeys and inevitable needs to be re-stuffed and re-dressed, a parallel we see fulfilled in Ted Lasso by Beard receiving a new pair of pants and being attacked by Jamie Tartt’s father and group of friends. Beard is Ted’s right hand man and follows Ted to London in Season 1. In the Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow is the first-person Dorothy runs into after waking up in Oz, and the first person to go on the same journey to Oz with her.

Another thing to note about 2x09, is the odd depiction of the moon. Every time you see it, it’s unusually large and oddly lit. This could be a reference to the album The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, an album in which it’s suggested that the songs line up perfectly with the events and showtime of the movie the Wizard of Oz. This could also be foreshadowing to the direction the rest of the season is heading.

He’s here, he’s there, he’s every f’ing where, Roy Kent is our Tin Man (Heart). Much like the Tin Man that needs to be oiled to move, Season 2 opens with an injured Roy Kent that needs to keep popping his knee back in on his stiff leg. When Dorothy meets the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, he also has a hard time moving his mouth and gives short answers to everything, similar to the way we see Roy Kent communicate throughout the series. Similar to Roy Kent, the Tin Man has a hard exterior and asserts he doesn’t have a heart, which though his character development, we know is absolutely not true.

Dr. Sharon Fieldstone is the Wizard of Oz, or at least helps us see the man behind the curtain. After the accident in 2x08, Ted gifts her with a new bike with two green ribbons on the handles. Green is significant because it represents the Wizard of Oz, or the city of Oz itself. In the film, Toto helps Dorothy pull back the curtain to prove that the Wizard of Oz is just another ordinary man. Something similar happens when Ted is allowed into Sharon’s apartment, and the untouchable, aloof therapist is revealed to be struggling and going through something herself. Now that the curtain’s been pulled back for the audience on Sharon, we get to follow her character more intimately, learning more about her as a person as opposed to the facade that was initially presented to the audience. When Ted learns more, the audience learns more, too.

Sharon and the theme of the curtain is highly significant to Ted’s panic attack in 2x10 before Rebecca’s Father’s funeral. Sharon goes to Ted’s flat, and this is the first time we see the space as an absolute mess, most likely a metaphor for Ted’s mental state. This is the first time that Sharon, but also us as the audience, get to see the real Ted, not just the facade he puts up for others. We finally get to see HIM, see the man behind the curtain, and learn the truth about his Father and how that shaped him into the character with specific traits we’ve grown to love and admire. Sharon’s departure from AFC Richmond in 2x11 also align with her parallel to the Wizard of Oz; in the film, Dorothy tries to leave with the Wizard in the balloon, but gets left behind, much in the same way that Sharon tries to leave Ted without saying goodbye.

The end of 2x11 leads us to Nate, our Wicked Witch of the West. Throughout Season 2 of Ted Lasso, Nate’s hair had gotten progressively grayer with each episode. This is a callback to the way that Dorothy describes her Aunt and Uncle’s gloomy, depressed feelings in the book, giving us a deep look into what’s happening inside Nate’s mind. The grayer his hair becomes, the fouler his attitude and actions are. Nate’s desires line up with the Witch’s desires as well: In the same way that the Wicked Witch of the West wants Dorothy’s magic slippers, Nate wants Ted’s job, and he’s lost sight of the true magic that transformed him from Kit Boy to Assistant Coach. Nate truly wants admiration and respect, which he ties to Ted’s position as Head Coach, completely disregarding that the respect Ted receives from his peers isn’t because of his title, but the way he treats others. This makes Nate’s betrayal that much fouler.

This leads us to 2x12 Inverting the Pyramid of Success speculation. After the Wicked Witch captures Dorothy and tries to take her ruby red slippers, she realizes she can’t take them while Dorothy is still alive and sets a timer, signaling impending doom. I’m not entirely sure what 2x12 will bring, but I’m quite certain it won’t be pretty. To me, Toto isn’t personified on screen in Ted Lasso by a single person, but the AFC Richmond team in general (Dog mascot, c’mon). Ted’s team is going to be the only thing that’s going to save him from losing himself and going gray, similar to how Dorothy recognizes that Toto saves her from going gray in the book.

I recreated Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s monster nails!