Can't 'believe' it: 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 is collapsing before our eyes

Maybe Coach Lasso should have a word with himself.

Perhaps if co-creator and star Jason Sudeikis and the other writers of Apple TV+'s Emmy-winning comedy "Ted Lasso" had a pep talk in the style of their eponymous hero, we'd be at a different place than we are, nine episodes into what might be the series' final season.

But with just three episodes to go in "Lasso" Season 3, and the series, about an American football coach transplanted to a U.K. soccer team, it feels less like an award-winning cultural phenomenon and more like a lifeboat with a hole, sinking while the characters are desperately trying to bail out the water.

A combination of long, tedious episodes, poor characterization, bad plotting and a general lack of focus is ruining "Lasso," which started off the season strongly two months ago. It's a shame, because in its first two seasons, there were moments of unparalleled greatness in "Lasso," which offered a version of the world with brightness and glee, a portrait of mental health that was realistic and full of empathy, and a wit that kicked harder than even the best striker.

But for the past four episodes, "Lasso" has missed every goal.

'Ted Lasso' is trying to re-record its hits, and failing

​​The problems for "Lasso" really started in this season's sixth episode, set in Amsterdam, which was a clear attempt to recreate the magic of the Liverpool-set episode from Season 1, "Make Rebecca Great Again.” Only this episode is more than an hour long, the stories are fanciful at best and self-congratulatory at worst. Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) meets prince charming. Roy (Brett Goldstein) learns how to ride a bike. Ted invents a perfect soccer strategy.

It’s all too much. It’s less like a story and more like fan fiction, guided only by a desire to make the characters happy rather than tell a good story.

Too many players on the field

"Lasso" has a large but talented and hilarious ensemble cast. Usually.

I was delighted to see some characters get promoted from recurring guest stars to series regulars at the beginning of the season, particularly James Lance's sports journalist Trent Crimm. But with each new face getting some extra screen time, "Lasso" creates a loose end unlikely to be tied up by season's end. What happened to Zava (Maximilian Osinski)? Why are we spending so much time with Rupert (Anthony Head)? Why is Keeley's (Juno Temple) PR firm even part of the series?

And beyond the feeling that there are too many footballers, girlfriends and publicists to keep track of, the extended "Lasso" cast feels more like a parody of itself with each passing episode. This is particularly problematic with the Richmond soccer team that Sudeikis' Ted coaches. In Season 1, the writers established a winning comedic formula, portraying its male professional athletes − a group stereotyped as hypermasculine, self-centered and unfeeling − as sensitive, romantic-comedy-loving, silly dudes. But now Isaac (Kola Bokinni), Dani (Cristo Fernández) and sometimes even Sam (Toheeb Jimoh) seem like clones of Paddington Bear in cleats. They're all too twee, too perfectly chipper and moral, too cartoonish to be believed as real humans.

And while "Lasso" is seen as a beacon of positivity and joy, when that happiness seems fake and manufactured it doesn't radiate off the screen. Instead, it leaves moments that are meant to cause tears of joy boring and rote.

Wasn't Nate supposed to be a bad guy?

Season 2 of "Lasso" invested considerable time turning Nate (Nick Mohammed), the kit-man turned coach, into a villain, only for Season 3 to pretend he's not all that bad after all. The writers aren't giving him a redemption arc so much as suggesting he's just the same old soft-spoken fella, with a fancy new job. And now he has a girlfriend so nondescript that when Rupert pretends not to remember her name, how can you blame him? Jade (Edyta Budnik) is a ponytail without a personality whose sudden romantic interest in Nate makes no sense other than to give him something to do while apart from the rest of the "Lasso" characters.

Let's not forget, though, that last season Nate leaked Ted's private mental health crisis to the press; cruelly berated the players; ripped up the "believe" sign; and called Ted a bad father. But I guess none of that matters now.

Sudeikis has waffled about whether Season 3 is really the end of "Lasso." I can only hope that Coach Lasso and his team will be back for a fourth year, because this isn't the way any of them want to go out.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 is collapsing before our eyes