Ted’s Save the Cat Character Arc
The Save the Cat plot structure originally intended for screenplays and described by Blake Snyder (to learn more, look up his book and the novel-focused version by Jessica Brody). While I can’t be sure the Ted Lasso writers are intentionally using it, the beats do map onto the show very well, and since we know the show was originally planned as three seasons, we can assume everything up to the end of season 3 is one complete arc. Thus, there’s a lot to be learned by using this plot structure to analyze the show.
Save the Cat can be applied to a story’s overall plot, but in a character-focused show like Ted Lasso it often makes more sense to apply it to each character’s arc individually. So in this analysis I’ll mostly be focusing on Ted.
I know this structure pretty well, as I’ve used it for my own writing and to analyze several other stories from various kinds of media. That said I’m not an expert, so if you also are familiar with it and have differing ideas, I’m very interested in your perspectives on the show.
But first, a disclaimer. I ship Ted/Trent and while I originally set about writing this analysis as neutrally as possible, that kind of went out the window when I realized how much the plot is pointing to their relationship being deeply important for Ted, whether it’s romantic or not. So while I’m not assuming their relationship is romantic in this analysis, I definitely talk about how important they are to each other and how intertwined their stories are.
Also, I didn’t spend a ton of time on this, so I apologize if it’s not entirely coherent or I’ve missed or misremembered things.
So, what is Ted’s plot arc? In one sentence, it’s this: Ted struggles to heal from his past while searching for a new sense of belonging in the aftermath of his marriage.
Act 1 Summary: Ted’s starting point and important relationships are established. He adapts to life as the manager of AFC Richmond and accepts divorce.
The first actual scene we get of Ted (not including the news report of him dancing with his American football team) is of him on the airplane to England. Initially he’s alone, and then he’s with Beard except the two are not seated together, so even though Beard is with him he’s still kind of alone. And then the lights go out and everyone tries to sleep, but Ted sits awake looking at Michelle and Henry on his phone, the light from the screen illuminating his face and setting him apart from everyone else. He is alone in a crowd.
Also, no one believes in him. He asks Beard if what they're doing is crazy. Beard says it is, and so does the “ussie” guy.
From this we can take away that Ted is isolated from family and friends. He doesn’t fit in, he is apart from others. Beard is with him, but that isn’t enough. No one believes in him in the way he wants or needs.
This beat is usually the first 20-25% of the story. Episodes 101-104 and the first half or so of 105 set up the world and the main characters. We learn about Richmond (the town) and AFC Richmond (the team). We learn who most of the main players in the plot will be and most of their initial relationships with Ted are established.
So this is a really interesting beat in this show. Normally the theme in this beat is a lesson the protagonist needs to learn, and it’s usually said to them by a secondary character. But in episode 103, we get this line, said by Ted to Trent:
“For me success isn’t about the wins and losses. It’s about helping these young fellas to be the best versions of themselves on and off the field. And that ain’t always easy Trent, but neither is growing up without someone believing in you.”
Ted says this about the people on the team and it does summarize many of their character arcs, but it also describes Ted’s character arc. He has to heal from his father’s suicide (growing up without someone believing in him) and his upcoming divorce, before finding his new place in the world (be the best version of himself). He also needs someone to believe in him. But at this point, he doesn’t realize this is a journey he needs to go on. That’s the lesson he needs to learn. That he also needs to heal and find people who believe in him in order to be the best version of himself.
Interestingly, this is opposite but complementary to Trent’s arc. Trent has people who believe in him (he’s a well known and respected journalist), but he doesn’t have something (or someone) to believe in. He comes to believe in Ted and The Lasso Way, and over time that belief inspires him to change his life and be more freely himself.
Michelle and Henry come to visit, and at first it seems to be going well. Then Ted catches Michelle crying, and she says she’s trying to love him again. This is the moment that leads to Ted realizing he has to let Michelle go, which sets him on his path of healing and self discovery.
Ted spends the second half of episode 105 thinking about what Michelle said and debating with himself (and the soon-to-be Diamond Dogs) about what to do. This is pretty short for a debate beat, but Ted has done a lot of thinking about this relationship before Michelle showed up in England, and the showrunners likely didn’t want to or couldn’t have Michelle be a significant character for two episodes, so it makes sense that everything from the Catalyst to the Break Into Two beat is squeezed into one episode.
Ted tells Michelle she doesn’t have to keep trying to love him, choosing to let her go and accept divorce. From this point on, Ted has begun his journey, and we have entered Act 2.
It’s interesting to note that most other characters got their Catalyst, Debate, and Break Into Two beats in 104, but Ted gets an episode all to himself. The show itself can’t move into Act 2 until Ted does, so he’s the last, and he’s the title character, so he gets the most focus.
Act 2 Summary: Ted builds his new relationships and accepts his struggles with mental health, taking steps toward managing it and healing from past traumas. He struggles with feeling torn between his new life in England and his son back in the US, as well as a shaken belief in the Lasso Way, leading to depression and apathy toward his job.
This beat encompasses everything up until the midpoint of the story, so episodes 106 to 206. The world and the characters and Ted’s relationships with them are further developed, setting up the second half of the story.
The start of the b-plot is usually a character being introduced or re-introduced soon after the start of Act 2. This character is normally someone who will help the protagonist learn something, either through words or actions, intentionally or not. This is often a romantic interest, but it certainly doesn’t have to be.
Ted gets a new b-plot each season, (as do the other major characters), but Ted’s show-long b-plot character is Sassy.
Sassy is introduced two episodes after Ted agrees to divorce Michelle. The only other character introduced in this time is Dani Rojas, but he’s the b-plot character for Jamie, not Ted.
So what does Sassy teach Ted? Honestly I’m not sure yet, and that makes me think there’s still at least one significant scene between Ted and Sassy we haven’t seen yet. We could say that she teaches him that casual sex is okay. This wasn’t established by the theme as something Ted needed to learn but we can argue it’s part of finding his new place in the world. We can also argue that she helped him realize he’s a “work in progmess,” which would be part of healing from his past. But neither of these things feel significant enough. I think overall her role is to help Ted move on from his divorce, and it’s possible that’s all she needs to do and has already done it, but I just feel like something is missing with her still.
Ted’s season 2 b-plot character is Dr. Sharon. She’s introduced in episode 1, but doesn’t interact with Ted very much until Ted starts trying to be friendly with her. She of course teaches him that he has trauma from his father’s suicide and that he needs to acknowledge that in order to heal from it.
And Ted’s season 3 b-plot character is Trent, who joins AFC Richmond to write a book about Ted the team. Unlike Rebecca, Trent doesn’t want anything from Ted except to understand him. He is fascinated by Ted and wants to see where his story goes.
I’m pretty sure that between these three characters, Ted learns and gains everything he needs to in order to complete his arc.
Sassy helps Ted heal from his failed marriage.
Dr. Sharon helps Ted heal from his past.
And Trent selflessly believes in Ted. He just “can’t help but root for him.”
Technically this isn’t part of the Save the Cat structure. I’m pulling the idea of pinch points from Dan Well’s 7-point structure. But I often find that pinch points fit well into Save the Cat, and since this is a long story told over three seasons, they help provide some additional context for the story’s structure.
A pinch point is a moment in the story that redirects the protagonist and the audience toward the main plot. It usually involves an increase in stakes. The first pinch point is Ted’s final scene of season 1, where he tries to preemptively quit and Rebecca refuses to let him go. Ted hasn’t done what he needs to do yet. He can’t leave. Also, while Rebecca does believe in Ted and has genuinely become friends with him by this point, her belief in him comes from a selfish place. She wants to believe that Ted can win because she wants Rupert to lose. It isn’t really The Lasso Way that she believes in, at least not for its own sake. She wants something from Ted. Still, while this isn’t the belief that Ted ultimately needs, it is a step in the right direction. However, now he has the promise of winning the premier league on his shoulders, and that is certainly a heightening of stakes.
The midpoint is Ted’s first major panic attack during the quarterfinal game in 206. This is the point where Ted can’t ignore his own issues anymore, which means he starts to heal.
“Bad Guys” represents the rising stakes of the plot. For Ted, this means everything that happens with Nate, Trent’s article about his panic attacks, and his distance from Henry and lingering feelings for Michelle.
This is Trent’s article about Ted. The article is essentially a test of how far Ted has come this season. While the article is not an easy thing to deal with, Ted actually manages the aftermath quite well. He has come to terms with his mental health enough to talk about it not only to his friends but also to the press. It also reminds the audience that Trent exists, foreshadowing his importance in season 3, and makes sure we know that he and Ted have enough respect for each other that even a seeming betrayal like Trent’s article won’t hurt their relationship. They haven’t spent a lot of time together on screen yet, but their relationship is very important.
This is Nate’s outburst at Ted in episode 212. Ted fails to see that something is going wrong with Nate for the whole of season 2 (or at least fails to realize the depth of it), and eventually it blows up in his face.
Even though it is never outright started, I think much of Ted’s depression and apathy in the first half of season 3 comes from his loss of confidence in The Lasso Way, and especially because much of what Nate said to Ted echoed things that Ted feels toward his father. For the first time Ted starts to question his whole philosophy. The man telling everyone to believe has stopped believing. I think as season 3 continues we’ll see that the Lasso Way didn’t actually fail for Nate, but Nate needed some time apart from Ted to learn and grow on his own.
I think a lot of peoples’ criticism of the pacing of season 3 is coming from how long this beat is for Ted. And it is very long. Ted starts the season depressed, and continues to be depressed until he starts climbing out of it at the end of episode 305. Depressed characters can be frustrating to follow, because they don’t feel like they’re doing very much. And while I do think they might have dragged it out a little long, or made Ted a little too passive or apathetic without giving more explanation for why he’s behaving that way, I also think that’s kind of the point. He’s depressed, and it’s uncomfortable and frustrating and we the audience are feeling what he’s feeling.
At this point I’m not sure if his Break into Three moment happened in episode 306. If so it would be the whole barbeque sauce-induced hallucination about triangles leading to him choosing to use Total Football. I can’t say for sure until I’ve seen the rest of the season. But if that wasn’t it, I definitely think we’ll see it by the end of episode 308. The fifth episode from the beginning had his Break into Two moment, so it would make sense that the fifth episode from the end would have his Break into Three moment, especially since both episodes involve Michelle and/or Henry visiting him in England. There’s parallels happening!
We’ve either just entered Act 3 or are about to enter it, which means shit is gonna start happening. All we have left is the Finale and the Final Image. The finale can be broken down into five separate beats, but not all finales use those beats, so I’ll wait to get into those until I know more. For now, uh, I hope someone found this interesting and I’ll try to add onto this post either with edits or reblogs once I’ve seen more episodes and have more to say.
