Ted Lasso – Season 3 Episode 6 “Sunflowers” Recap & Review

Little Adventures in Amsterdam

Episode 6 of Ted Lasso season 3 opens with yet another loss for Richmond, this time at a friendly match in Amsterdam. Rebecca, Keeley, and Leslie watch dismally from the stands as Ted looks more frustrated than ever. As Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds plays in the background, Rebecca claims to hate the song. During the post-match interviews, Jan Maas claims Richmond’s spirit was broken a while ago while Roy says it doesn’t matter as friendly matches are ‘pretend matches’. He knocks down a poster of Zava from the wall as he walks away.

Rebecca asks Leslie and Keeley about their plans for their night out in Amsterdam. Leslie claims to have big plans in the red light district while Keeley is headed to meet Jack, who’s going to fly her out to Norway for the best aurora borealis of the year. Keeley thanks Roy for doing the interview and takes her leave. Roy wonders where she’s off to and Rebecca says she’s going somewhere that “believes they deserve her”.

Everybody gets back in the bus and Ted realises he needs to do something to lift the mood. He makes his big announcement: “No curfew tonight”. As everybody cheers, Beard claims that Ted is the one who needs to let loose most. Plans are made in a flurry but unfortunately for Jamie, Roy drags him out and insists on continuing his training. Leslie asks Will to join him on his night out.

As Roy and Jamie jog around the city, Jamie pesters Roy with facts about Amsterdam and its different sights.

Sassy calls Rebecca because she thought something was wrong but Rebecca’s enjoying exploring the city on her own. She’s standing on a bridge and avoiding cyclists as they pass by. A man sees her and calls out to her but before she can understand what he’s saying, a cyclist knocks Rebecca over the bridge and into the canal. She’s more concerned about her phone and in a moment of solidarity, the man throws his phone in the water too. When she asks what he wanted to tell her, he reveals she had been walking on the bike lane.

Ted texts Rebecca asking about her plan for the night, while Beard asks him to look for restaurants. Ted finds a Yankee Doodle Burger Barn that reminds him of home but Beard dismisses it. Ted opens up, saying he’s feeling stuck and wants to feel inspired by something new. Beard has just the thing for him.

The Richmond team meet in the lobby to figure out their plans for the night. Their ideas clash though, with a boat tour, a trip to the international court of justice, the tulips, a live sex show, and a visit to the museums all being considered. Jan Maas then suggests going to his cousin Martin Garrix’s all night party but it’s two hours away. When the team considers splitting up, Isaac insists they should go somewhere as a team. Colin cites an upset stomach and bows out for the night.

At the Dutchman’s boat house, Rebecca comes out of the shower to find the place empty. A cup of warm tea sits on a table with an attached note indicating it’s for her.

At the red light district, Leslie takes Will to see Chet Baker’s memorial and tells him about the musician’s life. About his singing and his heroin addiction. Will’s proclamation of how drugs are bad is a great segue into the hotel room where Beard makes a drug-fused tea for Ted, courtesy of Kenneth the bus driver. While Ted muses about not being sure about it, Beard finishes his tea in one go.

In the lobby, the team is still torn between Jan Maas’s cousin’s party and the sex show. When two women from the hotel staff tell them the participants in the sex show will be tired and exhausted, they settle for the party. But they need to eat somewhere first and so the argument begins again. Meanwhile, Colin sneaks out of the hotel and is followed by Trent.

The man comes back to his house, having left to give Rebecca some privacy. He fixes a cut on her foot and offers to make dinner while they wait for the drier to finish drying her clothes. He also gives her some brandy and a box of clothes from his ex-partner so she can change out of the bathrobe.

Jamie’s unending rambles about Amsterdam come to an end as Roy, now out of breath, makes him stop running. While the former enjoys being in Amsterdam again, Roy is visiting for the first time and calls it a “Disney version of an old city”. He even thinks the Windmills are fake. Jamie has a plan to prove otherwise.

As Coach Beard seems to get more antsy by the second, Ted says he can leave and Beard takes the offer right up. Ted is still unable to drink his tea.

Colin goes to a gay bar called Prik and seems ready to enjoy the night when Trent shows up. He immediately switches tracks and pretends he’s in the wrong place and leaves. Trent catches him outside and reveals that he already knows.

Ted messages Rebecca to get no reply. He ultimately has the tea and leaves the room.

Rebecca comes out to the living room wearing a pretty, orange dress. The man tells her how his ex cheated on him and broke his heart, but he found a way to move on. When the radio plays Andre Hazes’s version of She Believes in Me by Kenny Rogers, the two have an argument over the English and Dutch versions only to end up singing together.

Jamie finds a man to get him and Roy bikes. Roy, more grumpy than usual, refuses the bike. Jamie pesters until Roy bursts out and admits he never learned to ride one. His granddad meant to teach him but then he died. Jamie hands him a bike anyway and says he should learn for the sake of his granddad. This is followed by a montage of Jamie teaching Roy to ride a bike and it’s simultaneously one of the most heartwarming and hilarious scenes of the show.

Leslie and Will, meanwhile, enjoy the band playing at the jazz club. William also sees a couple kissing each other in the corner of the club.

Trent opens up to Colin about coming out to his ex-wife and his daughter as well and how it’s strengthened their bond. He asks Colin how he keeps it a secret. Colin admits to living two different lives and how Dr. Sharon helped him realise he wants them to be one.

Now at the Van Gogh Museum, Ted looks mesmerised by the sunflowers painting. A museum guide describes Van Gogh’s attempts at capturing beauty and talks about the merits of trying. Ted says the sunflower is the state flower of Kansas.

As the Richmond team players continue to argue over where they should eat, Isaac finally loses it and rants about the team not being able to make one decision. Out of all the tissues with options written on them, Sam picks one up at random and they pass it around to Isaac. He opens it and nods.

While riding their bikes to go see the windmills, Jamie apologises to Roy for his earlier behaviour. He tells Roy about the time his father brought him to Amsterdam and took him to the red light district to lose his virginity. Roy sympathises but Jamie doesn’t remember much. He then says he came back to Amsterdam with his mother but it still felt like his father was there in spirit. Roy apologises for taking out his negative emotions on Jamie as well. He then opens up about Keeley dating a woman.

Ted goes to the Yankee Doodle restaurant he’d seen before and there’s a sense of joy and wistfulness as he drinks in all the American décor and the staff’s use of colloquial language.

Rebecca enjoys her dinner with the man. Having said the word ‘gezellig’ one too many times, Rebecca finally asks him what it means. He describes it as a sense of pleasing coziness, very much like what they are feeling at that very moment. Just then, the drier pings having finished with Rebecca’s clothes. Rebecca throws more water on them, and so does the man, and they get back to their dinner.

Ted watches an old basketball game that he’d seen with his father. At one point, he mistakes a waiter for Nathan Shelley but quickly snaps out of it. The drugs then seem to kick in as Ted is drawn back into complete darkness with just a spotlight on him. A disembodied voice then talks to him about triangles, inspired by the triangle onion rings he ordered, and ends up at Tex Winter’s triangle offense in the game of basketball. The strategy has every player have at least two teammates to pass the ball to at any given moment. When the visions fade, Ted begins to write his ideas down.

At the jazz club, Will keeps looking towards the young couple making out in the corner. Leslie’s enthusiastic air-playing catches the lead singer’s eye and she asks him if he does play the cello. As Leslie takes the stage with the band and they sing Chet Baker’s Let’s Get Lost, we see a montage — the Richmond players have a pillow fight in the hotel, Colin and Trent drink and dance away the night in a club, Rebecca dances with her man in his boat house, Roy and Jamie finally see the windmill, Rebecca gets a foot massage and falls asleep, and Ted strategises using ketchup bottles in the restaurant.

On the way back, Roy runs his bike off the road and falls down. When Rebecca wakes up in the morning she asks the man if they did anything and he says no. She refuses his offer for breakfast and says she must leave but they end up kissing anyway. They then realise they don’t even know each other’s names. Rebecca promises to not forget him and leaves his house.

By the bus, Will is on the phone with his mother when a van turns up, and out comes Coach in a David Bowie skin suit, wig and a pig’s nose on. He enters the bus just as Colin continues telling his mother about the threesome he had with the couple the previous night.

Beard finds Ted still scribbling away in the back of the bus. Ted recognises him dressed as Peggy Stardust. He’s shocked when Beard reveals the drugs were a dud batch and didn’t actually work. Ted then shows Beard his new strategy of the players moving from position to position, being more free on the field. Beard is impressed and informs him this strategy is called Total Football and was invented in Holland in the 70s. Rebecca enters the bus and joins them, she seems starstruck by her entire encounter.

Jamie arrives on the bike with Roy riding the backseat (of course, he growls at everyone not to ask about it). As the bus moves, Rebecca puts her feet up and begins singing Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds and the rest of the crew soon joins in. After all, every little thing’s gonna be alright.

The Episode Review

A fun and breezy — if a bit long — episode that lets characters have individual journeys. Rebecca’s one-night romance is heartwarming and fairytale-like even as it feels a bit too unrealistic. Ted’s journey is a bit too obvious of a nudge towards Kansas. It’s pretty much confirmed that the end of the show will see him back home. Roy and Jamie, who now share one of the best developed relationships on the show, are a hoot to watch and still strike a strong emotional chord at the same time. Colin and Trent’s storyline was well executed and we got to see an unseen side of both, Leslie and Will. Coach Beard, as usual, is entertaining in his bizarreness.

Ted Lasso has previously used standalone episodes to deepen our views of certain characters and this episode is quite efficient in doing the same. The criss-crossing plot lines are handled well, if only a bit stretched out and it’s great to see Ted actually think about coaching again. Towards the end, Leslie’s song at the jazz club plays out over a montage of all the different stories that really left an impact. But the last scene with everybody singing together is simply classic Ted Lasso.