Ted Lasso S3 Finale: Roy Kent's Surprising Ending Promises Great Things For Richmond
Contains spoilers for "Ted Lasso" Season 3 finale, "So Long, Farewell"
It's not really a surprise that Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) is the new head coach of AFC Richmond by the time the "Ted Lasso" Season 3 finale is over. The previous episode already confirmed that Roy is the biggest disciple of the Lasso Way, and therefore far and away the most likely person to keep Ted's (Jason Sudeikis) coaching philosophy alive in the club after the man himself departs for Stateside pastures.
However, it's far more surprising to see how things ultimately play out for Roy in "So Long, Farewell." With his romantic hopes with Keeley (Juno Temple) foiled, the player-turned-coach takes yet another step down the Lasso Way by voluntarily joining the Diamond Dogs and asking their advice on his self-doubt issues. When they advise him to be his own person and to seek and accept help when necessary, things take a dramatic turn in Roy's personal life ... and as a result, AFC Richmond's players are now in the hands of a coach who just might turn out to be far more capable than his predecessor.
Roy's ability for introspection and willingness to seek help give him an edge over Ted
For all his considerable merits, Ted isn't a massively introspective guy for much of the show's run. Despite the fact that he obviously isn't well, he takes a long time to gather the courage to see Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles), and he still has plenty of lingering issues in Season 3. Meanwhile, Roy has put in the work to improve himself well before he becomes the club's head coach, and by the time he picks up where Ted left off, he's already in a place where he's sorted out his issues to the point that he can comfortably seek therapy from Dr. Sarah. As such, while fans of "Ted Lasso" don't get to see Roy get together with Keeley at the end of Season 3, they do get to see him deal with his personal issues and start healing — something Ted always had a tough time doing.
Because of Roy's newfound maturity, AFC Richmond's new coach is both a Premier League legend, and already far further on his road to self-discovery than Ted was when he took over. What's more, all of this doesn't take away from the fact that he still has his own and Ted's bag of tricks, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) and Nate Shelley (Nick Mohammed) in his corner, and unprecedented amounts of club resources at his disposal. Even if the team wasn't filthy rich now, Roy is such a complete package of a coach that it's hard to imagine a better candidate to give Richmond a shot at Premier League and Champions League glory.