Tag: relationships

Ted Lasso Final Episode, Season 3 Finale Podcast: So Long, Farewell

It’s the Ted Lasso Final Episode from Season 3 on the Torg Stories Podcast.

click above for audio / video podcast below

Generally, what am I looking for in a final episode or the end of a story?

  1. Questions were probably raised in my mind. I’d like to see them answered.
  2. Answering questions is related to resonance. I expect echoes or reflections of the start of the story.
  3. In first person writing, I offer students up the option to come to realizations and new understandings. To look back and to look ahead.
  4. Ending with meaningful images can be a part of that. Ted and Rebecca sitting in the empty stadium bleachers. Ending with Ted’s eyes as he stands on the pitch coaching his son.
  5. There’s pressure to take me on one last good ride and make me laugh, think, and/or cry. How will they leave it? Will there be any surprises?
  6. Looking for a statement about the themes and topics of the story.
  7. Hope to be moved intellectually or emotionally.
  8. Questions for Anne: what’s your history with final episodes? I can remember Seinfeld and Sopranos. I don’t know if I remember any others.

Going into the last episode of Ted Lasso, which I thought would be the last episode ever, what was I thinking about?

  1. I wondered what Coach Lasso would do. Would he go home? Would he end up with someone such as Rebecca or Sassy?
  2. Would Roy or Jamie end up with Keeley? I tended to think Jamie was a better fit for Keeley.
  3. How would the team do?

Let’s go through this final episode and then let’s check on how we think the episode did based on what we’ve laid out:

  1. We get the Soccer Saturday show which has worked well to summarize what’s going on. Richmond can win the league. Rupert has been accused of an inappropriate relationship. Something we’ve been seeing since the first episode is coming home to roost for Rupert.
  2. I think we get some misdirection in the opening scene. Rebecca is in the kitchen. Ted comes walking out into Rebecca’s kitchen. Ted, do you want to talk about it? Then we get Beard in a thong. How did you like that Anne?
  3. Trent has finished his book. The Lasso Way. Beard severe critic.
  4. Higgins, Keeley, and Higgins. Bring up Rupert is getting divorced. Guaranteed spot in the Champions League. Rebecca asks about selling the whole team. 2 billion. EMO: Rebecca selling whole club. New issue introduced I hadn’t considered.
  5. Team does a song and dance from the Sound of Music. So long, farewell. Goodbye.
  6. Jamie invites Keeley to go with him to Brazil for a Nike photoshoot. Roy invites Jamie for a beer. We’re getting something I wondered about. Where will these relationships go?
  7. Rebecca in the pub with her mom. Tish is the psychic. The fans bought Rebecca dinner. Really good joke by Mae about lying awake at night thinking about how easy they’ve had it.
  8. Ted sits in the bleachers alone. Rebecca shows up to talk about him leaving. Ted says very little during this talk. Rebecca makes an argument for him to stay. She says if he goes, she goes and will sell the team.
  9. Jamie and Roy show up at Keeley’s. They tell her to choose.
  10. Ted goes in to see Nate who is looking at the empty spot on the wall where the Believe sign used to be. Nate breaks down and tells Ted he is sorry. Ted says when he looks up there, he still sees it.
  11. In the office before the final match, they go over the leagues and advancing and being relegated. Roy asks to be a Diamond Dog. They mention the perfect film the Shawshank Redemption, which you have never seen, right?
  12. Higgins: The best we can do is keep asking for help and accepting it when we can. If you keep doing that, you will always be moving toward better.
  13. They show the team a montage of highlights. The whole team stands on the pitch crying.
  14. Dr. Sharon is watching. Dr. Jake really missing the mood: well, something happened.
  15. Halftime 0-2: Let you gentlemen know what an honor is has been to be your coach. Loved getting to know you. Front row seat to the men you have become. I’m gonna miss you all. Sports would be a lot less fun if you know what was going to happen. Goes to point at the wall… The sign isn’t there. Peace of mind knowing we did our best. Sam gets up and puts a piece of the sign in the middle. Jamie’s is in a book. Issac’s under his captain band. WHEN A TEAM DOES SOMETHING ON THEIR OWN. There it is. #4: Believe. There ain’t a whole lot of pleaces like AFC Richmond too.
  16. Wow: on a 16 game winning streak. Tartt scores at 51 minutes. Jamie tells Dani to take it. He gives it to Isaac. He kicked it through the net. Net gets replaced.
  17. Rupert strides onto the pitch. Crowd chants Wanker at Rupert. He loved the team.
  18. Ted learned what offsides was!
  19. Issac takes a penalty and kicks the ball through the net. I looked this up and it has happened before.
  20. They run the play where Tartt is a decoy. BBQ Sauce. Sam scores. Nate, you used my play! Collin gets to kiss his fella. Ted dances and does the running man which we got in the opening episode of season 1. Rebecca decided selling 49% of team to fans. Richmond came in second. Wicked – Kinky Boots.
  21. Rebecca says she wants to stay with her family.
  22. On the flight: To beard. Is this nuts? Beard is in love with Jane. You’re just following your heart. Whatever is about to happen, that’s a great start. I love you Willis. Beard gets off.
  23. A little girl comes running up to Rebecca at the airport. Rebecca meets the little girl. Her dad is the Amsterdam guy.
  24. Ted gets the snow globe.
  25. Trent’s book. Change the title.
  26. Roy is the manager.
  27. Nate is with Jade.
  28. Sam makes his national team.
  29. Picnic at Higgins house. Life goes on without Coach Ted Lasso.
  30. Mae and the bar fans buy some of the team.
  31. The Richmond Way becomes the name of the book.
  32. Roy goes into therapy.
  33. Ripped sign put back up.
  34. Beard’s wedding at Stonehenge.
  35. Roy lands in KC. Mercedes car home. Ted brings his luggage in the house.
  36. Coaching his kid. Be a goldfish. “Fight Test” playing.
  37. Cat Stevens, Father and Son.

Overall Observations / Questions:

  1. Rebecca and Ted are first bound by the pain of their divorces. Makes me think of friends I’ve had. And also the friends of going through something together.
  2. Between Ted’s take off from London and arrival at his home in Kansas City, is a montage that shows Roy getting introduced as manager of Richmond and Beard getting married. Ted is not at Beard’s wedding.
  3. The man from Amsterdam has unintentionally ended up with the owner of a Premiere League Team.

Where did the character start? How did they finish?

  1. Coach Ted Lasso: from full of pain from divorce, not dealing with his father’s death and marriage to heading home more mentally healthy and perhaps to reconcile his marriage.
  2. Rebecca: from trying to ruin Richmond to get back at her ex husband Rupert to thinking of the team and its fans as her family. She might end up with her own family too.
  3. Roy Kent
  4. Jamie Tartt
  5. Keeley Jones
  6. Nathan Shelley – unconfident self loathing ambition to peaceful acceptance of being a part of a team
  7. Sam Obisanya – from getting picked on by Jamie to being a leader of the team.
  8. Colin – from being closeted gay to, in the words of the show, getting to his his fella on the pitch.
  9. Rupert – a rich and powerful philanderer who owns two teams who experiences complete destruction and is ridiculed off the pitch of a team and fanbase he used to love.

Thanks for checking out this episode of the Torg Stories Podcast!

The Outer Banks, Duck Doughnuts, and Ted Lasso Season 3, Episode 9

Hi Everyone! Anne and I are recording this episode on the top floor of the Torg Family Vacation Rental in Duck North Carolina, a town in the Outer Banks. On this episode we’re going to use our powers of description to talk about the Outer Banks, a local favorite that made it big Duck Doughnuts, the talk that athletes should keep their mouths shut about politics, and more from Ted Lasso Season 3, Episode 9.

We’re in Duck, NC. The first Duck Doughnuts opened in 2007. Take a guess as to how many there are now? 126. Click here to read more about Duck Doughnuts.

My Duck Doughnuts rankings for the six I tried:

  1. Peanut Butter: like it comes off a fancy dessert menu. Peanut butter cookie dough or right out of the oven.
  2. Chocolate Explosion: dominant dark chocolate.
  3. Bacon- just like when my syrup, bacon, and pancake all run together. A little weird coming from a doughnut.
  4. French Toast.
  5. Straight Glaze.
  6. Coconut.
beach near Corolla, NC

Let’s talk about some of the other beaches we have been to as a way of getting into the beaches we’re seeing at the Outer Banks. My list:

  1. Cape Cod. Quite a bit of variety. Provincetown. Mayflower Beach near Dennis, MA. Chatham.
  2. Lots of variety on Maui too.
  3. Myrtle Beach. Folly Beach. Wrightsville Beach.
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (tallest brick lighthouse in country)

Season 3, Episode 7 titled “The Strings that Bind Us”

  • This episode starts with all of the businesses in Richmond coming to life. Then we get short shots of all of the characters starting their day. Wonder why this was something we were given steadily throughout the episode?
  • Nate looking in the shop where Jade works.
  • Jack and Keeley. Sense and Sensibility first edition. People come on strong to Keeley.
  • Sam at his restaurant. Sam’s restaurant booked months in advance. He asked for a special table. The chef seems to be a great leader / coach. Sam’s father is coming from Nigeria. They were talking crap about Prime Minister, immigration stuff. Huge topic today.
  • Coaching staff introduces Total Football from the Netherlands.
  • Beard gives a good presentation. He worked in a funny line about Jamie. Reminds me of what I heard about Phil Jackson and Tex Winter. Might be where the idea to do a presentation like this came from.
  • LOL: Beard lists a line of greats including Gaga and Pinter.
  • Roy: you turn those frowns upside down because we’re f’ing doing it. Coach Ted: hush your butts.
  • Barbara takes some jabs at Keeley for dating Jack. She is a pretty funny character.
  • Ted and Beard continue to tap glasses and then tap the table. Maybe this: a sign of respect, a way to acknowledge the bartender, or a form of “cheers” to the group. It can also be a way to settle the drink, like beer, and make it easier to finish quickly. 
  • Ted invites the three bar guys to come to training.
  • Roy still yelling whistle. They commit to the little gags!
  • Jack says they are two consenting adults and she is get away with murder rich. Jack anounces to the office they are dating.
  • Lots of throwing up. Jamie’s not tired.
  • Rebecca tells Keeley about what happened meeting the boat guy. Rebecca introduces the phrase “love bombing.” Keeley says maybe we’re “love blind.” It’s an emotional version of color blindness where a person interprets red flags as giant green go flags. Jack gets the meal.
  • Nate’s sister’s birthday party. How do you tell if a girl likes you or is just being nice to you? Show him the map. So much pressure on one date.
  • Sam tweets a political statement.
  • Nate goes to ask her out. EMO moment! He doesn’t spit. He rushes out.
  • Total football: What does this situation need right now? Changing places. Dani and Issac pretty good switches. Jamie doesn’t switch with anyone.
  • The friend fans switch positions. The one guy says Paul has unwavering positivity.
  • Sam gets the “shut up and dribble.”
  • LOL: It’s like taking a hike with Robert Frost. It could go either way.
  • Keeley an office full of daisies. Ted connects them all with red string.
  • The crowd is starting to grow in the stands.
  • LOL: Will picks up the string with a tool.
  • Sam calls the political person a bigot.
  • Nate makes a box for Jade to ask her out. (is he doing his job now?) Jade waves at Nate. He trips and his box gets run over. He asks her out anyway.
  • Sam’s business is trashed.
  • Trent is writing his notes and he wonders what #4 is to play total football? #4 has not revealed itself yet. Ted says, “Sometimes you gotta leave space to let God walk into the room.”
  • EMO: Sam is going off to the team about his restaurant. And his dad calls out his name, “Samuel.” Sam’s dad: Anger will only weaken you. If you want to make them angry, forgive them. Big Whoop, says dad. Don’t fight back. Fight forward.
  • Richmond at Arsenal. Hornby’s team. Fever Pitch. 3-nil lead for Arsenal.
  • Halftime speech. Roy says he hates what Ted has done to him. He says the ZZ Top Cover Band would have been called Sharp Dressed Men. Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Says he has a Foxworthy. Makes the guys laugh. The right idea is just sitting behind a couple of wrong ones. Jamie tells them how to play.
  • Immediate goal for Richmond. Tartt in the role of conductor. The Lasso Way. total Football. Crimm says it’s going to work.
  • Nate waits for Jade. Jack knows the term love bomber. Sam and his dad go to the restaurant. Dad seems to know about Rebecca.
  • The team asked themselves what does this situation need and they are cleaning up the restaurant. Sam’s dad didn’t know the place was named after him?
  • Do we learn Simi and Sam are a couple? Ends with Sam and his dad cooking dinner.

The Video Essay

Anxiety and Relationship Goals in the Video Essay

I teach First Year Writing courses at St. John’s University, and for the first time this semester, I assigned what we called a video essay. I’ve previously asked students to create short documentary films before, but I decided to make the video essay an option after the work I saw on the website StoryCenter.

When writing incorporates some combination of text, images, links, sound, and video, it is called multimodal writing. I ask my students to do digital multimodal writing because of the degree to which their reading, writing, and thinking happens in conjunction with the screens of their devices. I think the less students read and publish in digital spaces, the more they are likely to be manipulated by them.

relationships, anxiety, video essay, college writing
screenshot from Jessica’s video essay

If you’d like to see the directions I gave the class for the video essay, you can click here.

Two of my students gave me permission to share their essays. I think you’ll really enjoy them!

Here is Jessica’s essay about relationship goals:

And here is Jisan’s about anxiety:

Thanks for taking the time to check out some of what we were up to this semester!

Summer Camp, Complicated Relationships, and Maine: Jane Roper’s Eden Lake

In order to win Jane Roper’s novel Eden Lake I had to agree to read the book and participate in the accompanying Goodreads discussion as a part of The Next Best Book Club.  I am a finicky reader who has probably put down at least as many books as I’ve begun, and so I wanted to make sure I had a decent chance to like the story okay before I agreed to have it shipped to me.  I could already see myself ten pages into 300, not enjoying the read, but having to stay with it because I said I would.

I went to Amazon and checked out the opening pages.  I was happy with how things got started:  “Just before noon on the morning after Memorial Day, Eric filled the tank of the John Deere, started the engine and rolled out of the barn into broad sunlight.”  One of my favorite authors, Richard Ford, often starts books on a holiday (Independence Day, Easter) and there’s a lot competent in Jane’s sentence:  it placed me firmly in time and in the sort of setting where there would be a John Deere and a barn.  I knew I wasn’t in Queens anymore, and felt like my reading life was safe for the week I put it in  Jane’s control.

Jane Roper Eden Lake William Torgerson Maine Summer Camp Relationships 80s Love on the Big Screen
Jane Roper's Eden Lake

Maine, complicated relationships, secrets, and summer camp.  These are the primary ingredients of this story that bring together a group of brothers and sisters to run a summer camp that their parents ran when they were growing up.  There are surprises here—excellent ones—and they are spaced out nicely that in such a way that just when I got comfortable with how things were going, just when I thought I could see what was going to happen next, there was something that threw me for a good reading loop and reinvigorated my interest in the story.

I’ve heard several writers say that they don’t have one idea for a book, usually the book comes when several ideas seem to collide and this book has a good bit of that going on.  There are romantic and familial complications along with the tricky balance that running a camp that’s good for kids must be while at the same time paying attention to the fact that there are bills to be paid.  “Materialism is the opiate of the masses,” one character quips in part about all the upgrades to the camp over the years (i.e. a climbing wall).  Another remembers how in the old days the camp was supposed to be, “A vision of what the world might be.”  That last line, it reminds me of something fiction can accomplish as well.  Eden Lake creates a world I was thankful to have visited, enough so that I still haven’t stopped thinking about packing up the car and heading north to see if I could find some version of it.

Jane Roper Eden Lake William Torgerson Love on the Big Screen Maine Summer Camp Relationships 80s Love on the Big Screen
Click Here to Watch a Very Funny Book Trailer

Roper, Jane. Eden Lake. Boston: Last Light Studio, 2011. Print.

Love Can Be Complicated: A Cartoon from Karin Schmitt

As I’ve written before, I was the sort of guy–even before all the eighties romantic comedies I ingested–who could believe I’d fallen in love with a girl even though I’d never talked to her before.  This happened more than once to be sure.   Sometimes I think this is something everyone experiences to some degree, and other times I think I am a certain sort of freak–we all find our ways, right?–and that I’m guilty of projecting my experience onto the experiences of others.  After all, when one of my students says, “I had the typical childhood,” I’m always quick to quiz people around the room about their childhoods.  We often find almost nothing in common.
I write this thinking it’s an obvious observation that many of us romanticize what we think a relationship ought to be, and then we are dissatisfied with relationships when they aren’t are fantasies.  At the recommendation of some of my new Facebook friends, I’m reading Rob Sheffield’s book talking to girls about duran duran. Although I think I know my tendency to romanticize relationships isn’t universal, I see Sheffield has also had this experience.  He writes, “One hundred percent of teenagers dream about making out, but they only dream about making out with 5 percent of other teenagers.  This means our dreams and our realities are barely on speaking terms, so we look forward to making out with people who aren’t real, keeping us in a nearly universal state of teen frustration” (186).  I read Sheffield and I think, “Man Rob, me and you could be buddies,” but then I know that Sheffield is good at what he does, he’s able to tap into the details of his experience that causes a certain circle of people to connect with him, and so he’s probably regularly bombarded with people who approach him calling out, “I loved Morrissey too! We should hang out.”  I teeter totter on a tightrope of tension between universal experience and the uniqueness of each of us.
I have not talked with Karin Krista Schmitt, the artist who drew the cartoon below, about what she “meant” by her drawing.  This seems like another “no, no” I’ve somehow learned:  don’t ask a poet what the poem means.   So whatever I have to say about Karin’s drawing below comes from me, but it comes as a part of a conversation started by her and her work.   I read a piece about the expectations of relationships; I read a text about how life is full of surprises.  There are two fantasies here, and they don’t match up.  Karin is another of my new Facebook friends, living in Germany I think, and when I saw her drawings (in a language I can’t read) I asked her if she might be willing to draw something for my blog and Facebook book page.  I hear lots about how Facebook is such a time waster, and of course it is for many and often for me, but I also think there can be something very exciting happen.  A person told me to read Sheffield and now I am on his second book my yesterday afternoon was better because I sat on a stationary bike for 40 minutes and read.  Karin has sent me this funny and thought-provoking drawing and she has got me thinking…

Karin Schmitt catoon for William Torgerson Love on the Big Screen
Cartoon by Karin Schmitt / see link below for more of her artwork

If you want to take a look at more of Karin’s work, you can find her Facebook here.