In Ted Lasso’s season 3 premiere, how long has he been in London?

This shouldn’t be a difficult task. While there are some seasons that take place in a year marked by holidays, others move very carefully over just weeks.Breaking BadSeason 1 Ted LassoIt has set clear timelines for each season. Apple TV Plus is currently in its third season. This show centers on the unorthodox but gracious American coach of a London soccer (ahem football) team. We can see from previous seasons what amount of football has been played.

But it’s not over!

There’s enough fuzziness introduced by season 3 that it warrants an investigation.

[Ed. note: This post contains a light spoiler for the end of season 3 episode 1 of Ted Lasso. It involves Roy and Keeley, if that matters.]

Photo: Apple TV Plus

The premiere of Ted Lasso season 3, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) is wondering what he’s still doing in London coaching AFC Richmond, while Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) is pushing him to fulfill his promise to “win the whole damn thing.”

Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), Keeley (Juno Temple), are now apart. This news was confined to just one scene in which they inform Phoebe, his niece. She’s a bit bewildered, but ultimately comes around: “It makes sense. I mean, you were only together a year.”

That’s a confusing timeline curveball for a TV show that has been building its run around three separate seasons of soccer (football) to just toss in. After all, Ted will be starting his third season in the opening of season 3, so how could Roy and Keely — who started dating toward the end of season 1 — have only been dating a year? Let’s break down the facts:

• In the pilot’s opening scene, Rebecca fires a coach. It’s implied, though never really confirmed in the pilot, This it’s a midseason replacement to bring in Ted Lasso, which would explain why season 1 doesn’t have thatThere are many matches.
• They arrive at London in the midst of spring weather. So… March? So… March?
• Season 2 picks up partway into Ted’s TechnicalSecond season of the series with Richmond and first complete one. Roy and Keeley were already dating at this stage. Depending on what time we placed the start of season and the first date, episode 8 might have them together.
• There’s a Christmas episode, which gives us some sense of the timeline, but honestly the less said the better. It’s obvious that season 2 begins in fall, and they continue on through spring. There are a few skips.
• All the chyrons on news programs have been stripped of news or date context; newspapers don’t have a publish date on the front of them; even Ted’s trusty iPhone merely displays the time and not the day of the year.
• Season 3 picks up in fall of Ted’s second full season with Richmond.
• The fact that Ted’s son Henry bemoans returning to the U.S. because it meant returning to “my country’s political landscape” doesn’t anchor us either, since Ted LassoExists in a world that doesn’t have COVID-19. Also, things politicalally have been quite a mess for some time.
• Henry visited Ted for six weeks, meaning he was probably there for summer vacation, which puts season 3’s start at about the beginning of when the Premier League kicks off (August or so).
• If Roy and Keely had some time to grieve before telling their niece, then the relationship timeline could take around a year.

What did we then learn? This is what we learned. Ted LassoA bit slow on the time, and perhaps a bit too strict with the rules. But for a sports show that leans in and out of being about the sport and being about the workplace and personal dynamics of the team playing it, that’s expected. As is a 10-year-old rounding down on her uncle’s relationship.

Ted’s been in London for about a year and a half or so, but Ted Lasso will only be around for a season more — at least as long as star and co-creator Jason Sudeikis puts his foot down on Ted LassoIt being a series of three seasons. With so much of the season 3 premiere dedicated to setting up that conclusion, it’s hard to know yet what the Apple show will do with the time it’s got left. But one thing’s for sure: Phoebe’s right, that breakup is “stupid.”