What We Do In The Shadows: The Season 5 Ted Lasso Reference You Likely Missed
Contains spoilers for "What We Do in the Shadows" Season 5, Episode 4 — "The Campaign"
There are many great things about FX's vampire comedy series "What We Do in the Shadows," but its arguably greatest achievement is that it manages to be a feel-good show despite technically being all about blood-sucking, unrepentant villains. The vampires struggle with all-too-familiar needs to be accepted, adored, successful, or preferably all three — and as a result, the casual braggadocio that comes with their immortality and vast powers often belies extremely human wants, needs, and insecurities.
Even so, it's fairly surprising to see the king of all shows about positivity, the Apple TV+ soccer comedy-drama "Ted Lasso," getting a nod in "What We Do in the Shadows" Season 5. In "The Campaign," Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) reunites with Evie Russell (Vanessa Bayer), and the two kiss. As perceptive viewers notice, Ted Lasso's (Jason Sudeikis) iconic "Believe" sign is visible above the pair as they embrace in front of Evie's support group.
The Believe sign meets the energy vampires
Ted Lasso's classic blue and yellow sign makes an appearance in the most appropriate context possible: In Evie's therapy group. In this environment, the sign's positive encouragement is obviously right at home, even though Evie herself seems to use the group largely for her usual emotional vampire antics — in other words, to complain about her ex (Colin, presumably) and to feed on the other group members' pity.
The sign was already briefly visible in the trailer for "What We Do in the Shadows" Season 5, but now that we get some context about its placement in what appears to be an empowerment group for divorcees, some questions arise. The group is exactly the kind of environment that might use a replica of the iconic AFC Richmond sign if they knew about it. The thing is, how do they know about it? Does either Ted Lasso the man or "Ted Lasso" the show exist in the "What We Do in the Shadows" universe? It's unlikely that we'll ever find out the tale behind what almost certainly is a simple throwaway background gag, but this nice Easter egg is nevertheless a welcome surprise for fans lamenting that "Ted Lasso" Season 3 has ended.