'Ted Lasso' Season 3: Rebecca's Speech Is the Best Example of How She's Changed (2024)

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 3 Episode 10

This week's episode of Ted Lasso, "International Break," ended on a high note with Rebecca Welton's (Hannah Waddingham) emotional speech about the true meaning of football, showing how much she's grown over the last three seasons. The only woman in the room, she passionately spoke about the sport in front of a group of old and greedy men, putting some sense in their heads against the creation of yet another Super League. She was able to even make her evil ex-husband Rupert Mannion (Anthony Head) have a change of heart — and he's a man whose office at West Ham is designed after the Death Star throne room, mind you.

For any true fan of the sport, the mere idea of a Super League is unthinkable and resurfaced again in Ted Lasso's latest episode. One of the main traits of the show is how it tackles current issues in football while focusing on the sport as a force for good, and it does that by putting the spotlight on its characters and their development. While this week many eyes may have been on Nate (Nick Mohammed), Roy (Brett Goldstein), and Keeley (Juno Temple), it was Rebecca who truly got to show how much she's grown since we first met her.

RELATED: ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3 Robs This Character of Their Most Meaningful Moment

Remember When Rebecca Wanted To Destroy Richmond in Season 1 of 'Ted Lasso'?

Yes, that was once a thing in Ted Lasso. When we first met Rebecca back in Season 1, her divorce from Rupert had finally gone through, and her first order of business was to drive AFC Richmond into the mud. In fact, not the first, but her only order of business. The club was the only thing Rupert ever truly loved, but he lost it to her in the divorce, so destroying it was the best way to get back at him for all he put her through. Only, well, there was an even better way all along, she just couldn't see it yet.

To carry out her plans, she started off by firing the manager at that time, George Cartrick (Bill Fellows) and hiring someone with zero experience in football: Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis). That backfired spectacularly, as, despite being a newcomer to actual football (he was an American football coach before), Ted does have some knowledge of strategy and positioning, has always been very well assisted by Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), and is a very positive person. The effect he has on the Richmond club in general and on the players is visible, and, despite the team being relegated that season, the team's potential for greatness is clear.

Still, the team was relegated. That's what Rebecca wanted initially, so she should be overjoyed with her success, right? Well, not quite. At the end of Season 1, she realizes that exacting her revenge on Rupert by killing so many people's passion is just wrong. Seeing her go through that realization is painful because all of us have felt like that at least once. Her coming to Ted and admitting her plans is a great scene because it shows that confronting your decisions is never easy, but always necessary. Rebecca got the club because Rupert never expected her to succeed at managing it, so she now sees that the best thing to do is not necessarily get revenge, but prove him wrong by doing a good job.

Why Rebecca’s Speech Against the Akufo Super League Matters

We can all agree that, while he may be funny, Edwin Akufo (Sam Richardson) is the worst. He already tried once to complicate things for AFC Richmond by taking Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) away and is back in "International Break" with yet another terrible idea: a Super League. For those not familiar with footy, this is a recurrent subject in the sport, an attempt at creating a tournament played only by the best and richest teams in Europe. It's an extremely elitist proposal that would make the rich even richer and keep the poor even further away from the sport, but one that unfortunately keeps coming back every once in a while. Interestingly enough, it's the idea of a Super League that shows us how much Rebecca has grown as a character. Rupert invited her to discuss the proposal with Akufo and a bunch of other old white men. Rupert was likely planning something, as his new club, West Ham, had just lost its coach with Nate quitting, and Rupert apparently is not on good terms with his current wife, Bex (Keeley Hazell). Even so, Rebecca gets through to him in her speech against the Akufo League. She aced every argument against it and exposed the proposal for what it is: a greedy attempt of making money at the expense of the poor.

To get her point across, Rebecca used Rupert himself as the main argument. He used to be a boy from a working-class family, who would sneak into Nelson Road Stadium to watch AFC Richmond play. One day he was caught and, 25 years later, gave the guard who caught him a pay raise with no explanation — which is surprisingly generous and low-profile of him, actually. She used Rupert's example to demonstrate that, despite the people present being the owners of powerful clubs in British football, they're not the owners of football itself. In fact, they were more owners of the sport when they were children than in the present. She understands that football belongs to the people, and Keeley's tip of picturing all the old men present as little boys gave her an almost motherly authority that was enough to make them see the error in their ways.

Who Is Rebecca Now in 'Ted Lasso' Season 3?

Not the same person as she was in Season 1, that's for sure. Rebecca's speech against the Akufo League is passionate and focused on what gives football its true meaning: the people. That's the same thing that gave her meaning after the start of the show. When we meet her, she's isolated — the only person she talks to is Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift), who then was afraid of being fired and acted as her minion. Now, though, she's the model of good management in the Premier League, and that reflects on the pitch every time Richmond plays.

Her confrontation with Ted at the end of Season 1 was the pivotal moment in her trajectory, yes, but it wouldn't have been possible without his positive dedication or even him bringing her biscuits every morning (and the biscuits being so good, too). Her transformation also wouldn't have been possible without her blossoming friendship with Keeley, as she got a confidant and counselor who's great at giving advice (not as great at following them, though, but who is?). Roy also reminded her of her own self-worth (remember the "lightning" speech?) and how to be a better boss, which she displayed at length over Season 3. Even Nate and his betrayal at the end of Season 2 helped her put things in perspective about the work that Ted was doing in the club.

Over time, Rebecca understood that not everything was all about her — football, especially, with so many people depositing their deepest emotions and feelings into it. She could have been selfish and have left the club at the Championship when it was relegated, but that wouldn't have been fair to the fans and her employees, all of whom depend on her good judgment.

Rebecca has come to understand that football can be a force for actual change in the world and that it belongs to the people — something that Ted himself mentioned earlier this season to Beard when talking about the fans: "It's their club, we're just managing it." But, while football itself has its power, it's the people she met and grew closer to that made her re-evaluate her priorities. She knows the people whom football belongs to and now realizes she's actually one of them.