ATRL Moderator Ampersand13 Posted June 2, 2023 ATRL Moderator Posted June 2, 2023 I kind of tapped out halfway through this season. I'll definitely finish it but some of the narrative choices were really starting to irritate me. Still love the cast though, hard not to
McNulty Posted June 3, 2023 Posted June 3, 2023 the finale was good but rushed anyway the whole season was weak af, the ruined Nate's storyline, didn't even know wtf they were doing with Keeley and Ted's arc this season was forgettable. The only good thing about the season was Jaime's arc and to some extend Hannah's.
tbhmatt Posted June 3, 2023 Posted June 3, 2023 My thoughts: Spoiler For a show that was so tightly woven and well written during seasons 1 & 2, I felt like this season was a complete derailing of all the things that made the show so good in the first place. This season was such a shambolic mess at times that I felt *relieved* the entire thing was ending and for a show that brought me so much comfort and happiness at such a dark time… that made me so much more sad about the whole thing. There were so, so many issues with S3. One of the biggest and most glaring issues was pacing. The episode runtimes were an absolute mess and the amount of crappy montages they shoehorned in to certain episodes to drive the season forward in time just didn’t work for me. I know the show isn’t really about the football, but seeing less time on the pitch didn’t help things. They got the balance spot on in S1 & S2, when they gave more airtime to specific matches which all actually tied in to the storylines they were trying to tell off the pitch during the show. That simply didn’t happen at all this season and there were at least two or three montages of Richmond playing 5 or 6 games in a row before we got any real storyline again. It felt *frantic*. Another big issue I had this season was tangents. Wasted screen time on new characters or storylines that ultimately contributed nothing to the overall series or the characters they were associated with. What on earth was the purpose of Shandy, for example? In fact, the entire Keeley storyline this season was a dud for me. I just simply did not care about her business as it did not really tie in to the rest of the show and I had no reason to be invested in it. The whole thing just felt like wasted screen time. They at least did a good job of circling Keeley back to Richmond in the season finale but for me it just highlighted what a big mistake it was to completely remove her character from the club for most of the season. Zava, again, felt like a useless addition that took up too much screen time for very little payoff. Jack, too, felt like a completely unnecessary relationship for Keeley that ended badly. I’m really not sure what the point of that was? I also felt like they never tied up or followed through on certain things they hinted at during the season. Rebecca appeared to get bad news from the doctor about her chance of pregnancy and she called Keeley for comfort and it cut to Keeley ignoring the phone call to be with Jack… so they hinted at some kind of distance between Rebecca & Keeley (caused by Jack on the scene) but I never felt like we had a true acknowledgment or resolution to that moment. So, again, I’m left asking.. what was the point? Nate’s character arc and redemption this season was also a massive misstep for me, too. I felt like they built him up to be a much more prominent “antagonist” this season, but… he just wasn’t? I thought there would be far more Richmond vs Nate content to build up to his ultimate redemption, but there was only about one episode where that was the central focus. I have no problem with how his storyline ended, but the way they reached the conclusion felt entirely unearned and unwarranted based on what we saw. The players approaching Nate to see if he wanted to come back to Richmond was *extremely* confusing for me, as to my knowledge the players had shown no interest in forgiving Nate and Nate had not made any attempts to make amends with those players so I’m not sure why they would have asked him to come back at that point? It just felt… sloppy. Don’t even get me started on Jade, either. Her entire character was basically used as a plot device to make Nate suddenly become a better person and that is just so unbelievably lazy. It also contributed to this feeling of an unearned redemption for Nate… he suddenly became aware of how shitty he was being because he now has a girlfriend??? Give me a break. Finally, I am very much anti-tedbecca was there was never any romantic chemistry there.. but the obvious fakeout hints about them ending up together (which have happened as early as S2, btw) got so exhausting. I’m assuming they did it to purposefully misguide the audience so they could be like “psych!!! They’re just platonic friends, they don’t need to dare to love each other” BUT the thing is, it’s entirely possible to depict platonic relationships between men & women without misdirecting the audience on purpose for no apparent reason. They literally do it with Rebecca & Higgins, Ted & Keeley… it just felt like more things they put in there for absolutely no real reason. That’s what disappoints me as well, because this is the same show that once finished the punchline to a joke one of their characters set up a season earlier because the writers were so mad they missed it out in one of the cuts. How does a show go from a level of such detail & intricacy to… whatever the hell this was meant to be? As much as I absolutely hated this season, and for its *many* faults.. I will end this rant on a much more positive note and say that Phil Dunster’s charismatic and charming performance as Jamie Tartt absolutely *carried* this season. He was an absolute joy to watch in every scene and his character was largely the only one who carried through a complete and satisfying development from series 1 all the way through to the series finale. Whilst I do not think the quality of this season is enough to warrant any kind of critical recognition, I do think it would be a crying shame if Phil went unrecognised for his brilliant work.
GivingCher Posted June 3, 2023 Posted June 3, 2023 The last episode I watched was the Amsterdam episode which I really enjoyed but I just have no motivation to continue. This season has been a drag. The episodes are sooo overlong and things are completely unfocused. Honestly the only big redeeming factor for me has been the stuff between Roy and Jamie, otherwise I'm just bored. I'll definitely finish eventually but it's sad after I really loved the first two seasons.
McNulty Posted June 3, 2023 Posted June 3, 2023 1 hour ago, tbhmatt said: My thoughts: Hide contents For a show that was so tightly woven and well written during seasons 1 & 2, I felt like this season was a complete derailing of all the things that made the show so good in the first place. This season was such a shambolic mess at times that I felt *relieved* the entire thing was ending and for a show that brought me so much comfort and happiness at such a dark time… that made me so much more sad about the whole thing. There were so, so many issues with S3. One of the biggest and most glaring issues was pacing. The episode runtimes were an absolute mess and the amount of crappy montages they shoehorned in to certain episodes to drive the season forward in time just didn’t work for me. I know the show isn’t really about the football, but seeing less time on the pitch didn’t help things. They got the balance spot on in S1 & S2, when they gave more airtime to specific matches which all actually tied in to the storylines they were trying to tell off the pitch during the show. That simply didn’t happen at all this season and there were at least two or three montages of Richmond playing 5 or 6 games in a row before we got any real storyline again. It felt *frantic*. Another big issue I had this season was tangents. Wasted screen time on new characters or storylines that ultimately contributed nothing to the overall series or the characters they were associated with. What on earth was the purpose of Shandy, for example? In fact, the entire Keeley storyline this season was a dud for me. I just simply did not care about her business as it did not really tie in to the rest of the show and I had no reason to be invested in it. The whole thing just felt like wasted screen time. They at least did a good job of circling Keeley back to Richmond in the season finale but for me it just highlighted what a big mistake it was to completely remove her character from the club for most of the season. Zava, again, felt like a useless addition that took up too much screen time for very little payoff. Jack, too, felt like a completely unnecessary relationship for Keeley that ended badly. I’m really not sure what the point of that was? I also felt like they never tied up or followed through on certain things they hinted at during the season. Rebecca appeared to get bad news from the doctor about her chance of pregnancy and she called Keeley for comfort and it cut to Keeley ignoring the phone call to be with Jack… so they hinted at some kind of distance between Rebecca & Keeley (caused by Jack on the scene) but I never felt like we had a true acknowledgment or resolution to that moment. So, again, I’m left asking.. what was the point? Nate’s character arc and redemption this season was also a massive misstep for me, too. I felt like they built him up to be a much more prominent “antagonist” this season, but… he just wasn’t? I thought there would be far more Richmond vs Nate content to build up to his ultimate redemption, but there was only about one episode where that was the central focus. I have no problem with how his storyline ended, but the way they reached the conclusion felt entirely unearned and unwarranted based on what we saw. The players approaching Nate to see if he wanted to come back to Richmond was *extremely* confusing for me, as to my knowledge the players had shown no interest in forgiving Nate and Nate had not made any attempts to make amends with those players so I’m not sure why they would have asked him to come back at that point? It just felt… sloppy. Don’t even get me started on Jade, either. Her entire character was basically used as a plot device to make Nate suddenly become a better person and that is just so unbelievably lazy. It also contributed to this feeling of an unearned redemption for Nate… he suddenly became aware of how shitty he was being because he now has a girlfriend??? Give me a break. Finally, I am very much anti-tedbecca was there was never any romantic chemistry there.. but the obvious fakeout hints about them ending up together (which have happened as early as S2, btw) got so exhausting. I’m assuming they did it to purposefully misguide the audience so they could be like “psych!!! They’re just platonic friends, they don’t need to dare to love each other” BUT the thing is, it’s entirely possible to depict platonic relationships between men & women without misdirecting the audience on purpose for no apparent reason. They literally do it with Rebecca & Higgins, Ted & Keeley… it just felt like more things they put in there for absolutely no real reason. That’s what disappoints me as well, because this is the same show that once finished the punchline to a joke one of their characters set up a season earlier because the writers were so mad they missed it out in one of the cuts. How does a show go from a level of such detail & intricacy to… whatever the hell this was meant to be? As much as I absolutely hated this season, and for its *many* faults.. I will end this rant on a much more positive note and say that Phil Dunster’s charismatic and charming performance as Jamie Tartt absolutely *carried* this season. He was an absolute joy to watch in every scene and his character was largely the only one who carried through a complete and satisfying development from series 1 all the way through to the series finale. Whilst I do not think the quality of this season is enough to warrant any kind of critical recognition, I do think it would be a crying shame if Phil went unrecognised for his brilliant work. 100% agree with everything you said. They butchered Nate's arc also the editing and pacing with his story felt uneven and odd. Keeley took so much screentime and for what? these terrible storylines with Shandy and Jack? This season was a big letdown
truthteller Posted June 4, 2023 Posted June 4, 2023 i feel like they should have ended with S2. i guess the emmy wins ruin it.
Lovett Posted June 4, 2023 Posted June 4, 2023 10 hours ago, tbhmatt said: My thoughts: Hide contents For a show that was so tightly woven and well written during seasons 1 & 2, I felt like this season was a complete derailing of all the things that made the show so good in the first place. This season was such a shambolic mess at times that I felt *relieved* the entire thing was ending and for a show that brought me so much comfort and happiness at such a dark time… that made me so much more sad about the whole thing. There were so, so many issues with S3. One of the biggest and most glaring issues was pacing. The episode runtimes were an absolute mess and the amount of crappy montages they shoehorned in to certain episodes to drive the season forward in time just didn’t work for me. I know the show isn’t really about the football, but seeing less time on the pitch didn’t help things. They got the balance spot on in S1 & S2, when they gave more airtime to specific matches which all actually tied in to the storylines they were trying to tell off the pitch during the show. That simply didn’t happen at all this season and there were at least two or three montages of Richmond playing 5 or 6 games in a row before we got any real storyline again. It felt *frantic*. Another big issue I had this season was tangents. Wasted screen time on new characters or storylines that ultimately contributed nothing to the overall series or the characters they were associated with. What on earth was the purpose of Shandy, for example? In fact, the entire Keeley storyline this season was a dud for me. I just simply did not care about her business as it did not really tie in to the rest of the show and I had no reason to be invested in it. The whole thing just felt like wasted screen time. They at least did a good job of circling Keeley back to Richmond in the season finale but for me it just highlighted what a big mistake it was to completely remove her character from the club for most of the season. Zava, again, felt like a useless addition that took up too much screen time for very little payoff. Jack, too, felt like a completely unnecessary relationship for Keeley that ended badly. I’m really not sure what the point of that was? I also felt like they never tied up or followed through on certain things they hinted at during the season. Rebecca appeared to get bad news from the doctor about her chance of pregnancy and she called Keeley for comfort and it cut to Keeley ignoring the phone call to be with Jack… so they hinted at some kind of distance between Rebecca & Keeley (caused by Jack on the scene) but I never felt like we had a true acknowledgment or resolution to that moment. So, again, I’m left asking.. what was the point? Nate’s character arc and redemption this season was also a massive misstep for me, too. I felt like they built him up to be a much more prominent “antagonist” this season, but… he just wasn’t? I thought there would be far more Richmond vs Nate content to build up to his ultimate redemption, but there was only about one episode where that was the central focus. I have no problem with how his storyline ended, but the way they reached the conclusion felt entirely unearned and unwarranted based on what we saw. The players approaching Nate to see if he wanted to come back to Richmond was *extremely* confusing for me, as to my knowledge the players had shown no interest in forgiving Nate and Nate had not made any attempts to make amends with those players so I’m not sure why they would have asked him to come back at that point? It just felt… sloppy. Don’t even get me started on Jade, either. Her entire character was basically used as a plot device to make Nate suddenly become a better person and that is just so unbelievably lazy. It also contributed to this feeling of an unearned redemption for Nate… he suddenly became aware of how shitty he was being because he now has a girlfriend??? Give me a break. Finally, I am very much anti-tedbecca was there was never any romantic chemistry there.. but the obvious fakeout hints about them ending up together (which have happened as early as S2, btw) got so exhausting. I’m assuming they did it to purposefully misguide the audience so they could be like “psych!!! They’re just platonic friends, they don’t need to dare to love each other” BUT the thing is, it’s entirely possible to depict platonic relationships between men & women without misdirecting the audience on purpose for no apparent reason. They literally do it with Rebecca & Higgins, Ted & Keeley… it just felt like more things they put in there for absolutely no real reason. That’s what disappoints me as well, because this is the same show that once finished the punchline to a joke one of their characters set up a season earlier because the writers were so mad they missed it out in one of the cuts. How does a show go from a level of such detail & intricacy to… whatever the hell this was meant to be? As much as I absolutely hated this season, and for its *many* faults.. I will end this rant on a much more positive note and say that Phil Dunster’s charismatic and charming performance as Jamie Tartt absolutely *carried* this season. He was an absolute joy to watch in every scene and his character was largely the only one who carried through a complete and satisfying development from series 1 all the way through to the series finale. Whilst I do not think the quality of this season is enough to warrant any kind of critical recognition, I do think it would be a crying shame if Phil went unrecognised for his brilliant work. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said here.
tbhmatt Posted June 4, 2023 Posted June 4, 2023 9 hours ago, McNulty said: 100% agree with everything you said. They butchered Nate's arc also the editing and pacing with his story felt uneven and odd. Keeley took so much screentime and for what? these terrible storylines with Shandy and Jack? This season was a big letdown 1 hour ago, MrLovett said: I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said here. It’s such a shame that the show heavily nosedived in this way. I’m aware that they went through a *tonne* of heavy rewrites for S3 and I can’t help but feel like that’s one of the reasons why this season felt so… erratic. Lots of people keep talking about a possible S4 or spin off, but… you can keep it, thanks.
Leptine Posted July 19, 2023 Posted July 19, 2023 Just watched the first episode of this third season and I'm definitely done with this show, the whole episode just felt dumb in every aspect along with majority of characters, is it supposed to be funny or credible that a vitange mini car perfectly kept is seen like a poor man car to the point of being removed? I found that scene so stupid in 2023.. That might have been funny in 30 years ago maybe.. At least use a real shabby and worthless car for a scene like that. Rebecca and Keeley interaction and scene felt totally pointless, 2 supposed indipendent businesswomen in charge that act so empty with no real content in their lines.. Ted Lasso character cheesiness has became unbearable and not even credible at this point after 2 seasons.. It doesn't help that I'm coming from the first season of 'the Bear' that I just binged that is a masterpiece, this show instead has truly became so tedious and dull. Didn't even know this was the last season, better like this, I already had the impression that season 2 had very weak moments and no valid ideas overall.
Leptine Posted July 19, 2023 Posted July 19, 2023 On 6/3/2023 at 11:37 PM, tbhmatt said: My thoughts: Hide contents For a show that was so tightly woven and well written during seasons 1 & 2, I felt like this season was a complete derailing of all the things that made the show so good in the first place. This season was such a shambolic mess at times that I felt *relieved* the entire thing was ending and for a show that brought me so much comfort and happiness at such a dark time… that made me so much more sad about the whole thing. There were so, so many issues with S3. One of the biggest and most glaring issues was pacing. The episode runtimes were an absolute mess and the amount of crappy montages they shoehorned in to certain episodes to drive the season forward in time just didn’t work for me. I know the show isn’t really about the football, but seeing less time on the pitch didn’t help things. They got the balance spot on in S1 & S2, when they gave more airtime to specific matches which all actually tied in to the storylines they were trying to tell off the pitch during the show. That simply didn’t happen at all this season and there were at least two or three montages of Richmond playing 5 or 6 games in a row before we got any real storyline again. It felt *frantic*. Another big issue I had this season was tangents. Wasted screen time on new characters or storylines that ultimately contributed nothing to the overall series or the characters they were associated with. What on earth was the purpose of Shandy, for example? In fact, the entire Keeley storyline this season was a dud for me. I just simply did not care about her business as it did not really tie in to the rest of the show and I had no reason to be invested in it. The whole thing just felt like wasted screen time. They at least did a good job of circling Keeley back to Richmond in the season finale but for me it just highlighted what a big mistake it was to completely remove her character from the club for most of the season. Zava, again, felt like a useless addition that took up too much screen time for very little payoff. Jack, too, felt like a completely unnecessary relationship for Keeley that ended badly. I’m really not sure what the point of that was? I also felt like they never tied up or followed through on certain things they hinted at during the season. Rebecca appeared to get bad news from the doctor about her chance of pregnancy and she called Keeley for comfort and it cut to Keeley ignoring the phone call to be with Jack… so they hinted at some kind of distance between Rebecca & Keeley (caused by Jack on the scene) but I never felt like we had a true acknowledgment or resolution to that moment. So, again, I’m left asking.. what was the point? Nate’s character arc and redemption this season was also a massive misstep for me, too. I felt like they built him up to be a much more prominent “antagonist” this season, but… he just wasn’t? I thought there would be far more Richmond vs Nate content to build up to his ultimate redemption, but there was only about one episode where that was the central focus. I have no problem with how his storyline ended, but the way they reached the conclusion felt entirely unearned and unwarranted based on what we saw. The players approaching Nate to see if he wanted to come back to Richmond was *extremely* confusing for me, as to my knowledge the players had shown no interest in forgiving Nate and Nate had not made any attempts to make amends with those players so I’m not sure why they would have asked him to come back at that point? It just felt… sloppy. Don’t even get me started on Jade, either. Her entire character was basically used as a plot device to make Nate suddenly become a better person and that is just so unbelievably lazy. It also contributed to this feeling of an unearned redemption for Nate… he suddenly became aware of how shitty he was being because he now has a girlfriend??? Give me a break. Finally, I am very much anti-tedbecca was there was never any romantic chemistry there.. but the obvious fakeout hints about them ending up together (which have happened as early as S2, btw) got so exhausting. I’m assuming they did it to purposefully misguide the audience so they could be like “psych!!! They’re just platonic friends, they don’t need to dare to love each other” BUT the thing is, it’s entirely possible to depict platonic relationships between men & women without misdirecting the audience on purpose for no apparent reason. They literally do it with Rebecca & Higgins, Ted & Keeley… it just felt like more things they put in there for absolutely no real reason. That’s what disappoints me as well, because this is the same show that once finished the punchline to a joke one of their characters set up a season earlier because the writers were so mad they missed it out in one of the cuts. How does a show go from a level of such detail & intricacy to… whatever the hell this was meant to be? As much as I absolutely hated this season, and for its *many* faults.. I will end this rant on a much more positive note and say that Phil Dunster’s charismatic and charming performance as Jamie Tartt absolutely *carried* this season. He was an absolute joy to watch in every scene and his character was largely the only one who carried through a complete and satisfying development from series 1 all the way through to the series finale. Whilst I do not think the quality of this season is enough to warrant any kind of critical recognition, I do think it would be a crying shame if Phil went unrecognised for his brilliant work. Thanks for remove all my doubts about dropping this, in the sense that I'm even more firm on my choice.
Johnny Jacobs Posted August 26, 2023 Posted August 26, 2023 (edited) Omg i can't believe i had to convinced into watching this!!! My boyfriend is mad about football and he convinced me to watch it together and wow what a show!! So good and the ending Not it having more than a handguk iconic characters Roy Keeley Queen Rebecca Coach Beard Jamie with his sexy s accent i cant Nate should've went down with Rupert idgaf Edited August 26, 2023 by Johnny Jacobs
tbhmatt Posted August 26 Posted August 26 On 6/3/2023 at 10:37 PM, tbhmatt said: My thoughts: Hide contents For a show that was so tightly woven and well written during seasons 1 & 2, I felt like this season was a complete derailing of all the things that made the show so good in the first place. This season was such a shambolic mess at times that I felt *relieved* the entire thing was ending and for a show that brought me so much comfort and happiness at such a dark time… that made me so much more sad about the whole thing. There were so, so many issues with S3. One of the biggest and most glaring issues was pacing. The episode runtimes were an absolute mess and the amount of crappy montages they shoehorned in to certain episodes to drive the season forward in time just didn't work for me. I know the show isn't really about the football, but seeing less time on the pitch didn't help things. They got the balance spot on in S1 & S2, when they gave more airtime to specific matches which all actually tied in to the storylines they were trying to tell off the pitch during the show. That simply didn't happen at all this season and there were at least two or three montages of Richmond playing 5 or 6 games in a row before we got any real storyline again. It felt *frantic*. Another big issue I had this season was tangents. Wasted screen time on new characters or storylines that ultimately contributed nothing to the overall series or the characters they were associated with. What on earth was the purpose of Shandy, for example? In fact, the entire Keeley storyline this season was a dud for me. I just simply did not care about her business as it did not really tie in to the rest of the show and I had no reason to be invested in it. The whole thing just felt like wasted screen time. They at least did a good job of circling Keeley back to Richmond in the season finale but for me it just highlighted what a big mistake it was to completely remove her character from the club for most of the season. Zava, again, felt like a useless addition that took up too much screen time for very little payoff. Jack, too, felt like a completely unnecessary relationship for Keeley that ended badly. I'm really not sure what the point of that was? I also felt like they never tied up or followed through on certain things they hinted at during the season. Rebecca appeared to get bad news from the doctor about her chance of pregnancy and she called Keeley for comfort and it cut to Keeley ignoring the phone call to be with Jack… so they hinted at some kind of distance between Rebecca & Keeley (caused by Jack on the scene) but I never felt like we had a true acknowledgment or resolution to that moment. So, again, I'm left asking.. what was the point? Nate's character arc and redemption this season was also a massive misstep for me, too. I felt like they built him up to be a much more prominent "antagonist" this season, but… he just wasn't? I thought there would be far more Richmond vs Nate content to build up to his ultimate redemption, but there was only about one episode where that was the central focus. I have no problem with how his storyline ended, but the way they reached the conclusion felt entirely unearned and unwarranted based on what we saw. The players approaching Nate to see if he wanted to come back to Richmond was *extremely* confusing for me, as to my knowledge the players had shown no interest in forgiving Nate and Nate had not made any attempts to make amends with those players so I'm not sure why they would have asked him to come back at that point? It just felt… sloppy. Don't even get me started on Jade, either. Her entire character was basically used as a plot device to make Nate suddenly become a better person and that is just so unbelievably lazy. It also contributed to this feeling of an unearned redemption for Nate… he suddenly became aware of how shitty he was being because he now has a girlfriend??? Give me a break. Finally, I am very much anti-tedbecca was there was never any romantic chemistry there.. but the obvious fakeout hints about them ending up together (which have happened as early as S2, btw) got so exhausting. I'm assuming they did it to purposefully misguide the audience so they could be like "psych!!! They're just platonic friends, they don't need to dare to love each other" BUT the thing is, it's entirely possible to depict platonic relationships between men & women without misdirecting the audience on purpose for no apparent reason. They literally do it with Rebecca & Higgins, Ted & Keeley… it just felt like more things they put in there for absolutely no real reason. That's what disappoints me as well, because this is the same show that once finished the punchline to a joke one of their characters set up a season earlier because the writers were so mad they missed it out in one of the cuts. How does a show go from a level of such detail & intricacy to… whatever the hell this was meant to be? As much as I absolutely hated this season, and for its *many* faults.. I will end this rant on a much more positive note and say that Phil Dunster's charismatic and charming performance as Jamie Tartt absolutely *carried* this season. He was an absolute joy to watch in every scene and his character was largely the only one who carried through a complete and satisfying development from series 1 all the way through to the series finale. Whilst I do not think the quality of this season is enough to warrant any kind of critical recognition, I do think it would be a crying shame if Phil went unrecognised for his brilliant work. The news of a potential season 4 has just reminded me of how much I loathed just about everything in season 3, lol. After all this time, my opinion above remains the same. I would LOVE an attempt at redemption in Season 4, but the beating heart of the show was Phil Dunster as Jamie Tartt (even in an abysmal S3, he really cut through and left an impression) so I'm not as enthused if he won't be a part of it.
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