How ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3 Fumbled Nate’s Redemption Arc

My fellow Ted Lasso fans, gather round. We need to talk about the brilliant Nick Mohammed‘s rather polarizing character, Nathan Shelley.

You know, “Nate the Great.” The “Wonder Kid,” though he said, “wunderkind.” The underdog of Ted Lasso Season 1, the bully of Season 2, and the third season’s most perplexing problem. As we come to the end of Ted Lasso Season 3, the main characters have all seemed to forgive Nate for his sins, but did the Apple TV+ hit really pull his redemption tour off? Or is this an unearned victory, like poor Jamie Tartt’s (Phil Dunster) accidental goal that he begs in “Mom City” to be taken back?

Has Ted Lasso Season 3 done enough to redeem Nate before he returns to AFC Richmond in next week’s finale? (And yes, Nate is definitely coming back.)

Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso follows the eponymous all-American football coach as he attempts to lead a British Premiere League team to victory against all odds. The first ally that Coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) found on the other side of the pond was none other than Nate Shelley. Ted quickly recognized Nate’s incredible grasp of all things soccer, while Nate was enchanted by the American’s kind, inclusive attitude. Eventually Ted would promote Nate from kit man to coach, setting up the young strategic genius for success.

However, in Ted Lasso Season 2, Nate became disillusioned with his mentor. He envied the attention Ted lavished on another new team coach, Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), and began to nurture his own most bitter instincts. Nate privately bullied the team’s new kit man, Will (Charlie Hiscock), much to Coach Beard’s (Brendan Hunt) disgust. But Nate’s heel turn crescendoed when he leaked the secret of Ted’s panic attacks to the press and gave the coach a cruel dressing down. On his way out, Nate tore the team’s totemic “BELIEVE” sign in half, to everyone’s horror in Season 3.

Ted Lasso is not a show about villainy, though. It’s a workplace comedy about how positivity will always prevail. Hence, Nate would have to be redeemed. The problem is that most of Nate’s personal growth in Ted Lasso Season 3 is rushed, unearned, or happening off-screen.

A few weeks back, I opined that Ted Lasso Season 3’s biggest misstep centered on Nate and his baffling romance with Polish restaurant hostess Jade (Edyta Budnik). While Nate and Jade’s chemistry has definitely improved as we creep closer to the season finale, she is still an underwritten character who seems to only exist to better Nate.

Ted Lasso Season 3 Episode 10 “International Break” opens with the wild reveal that Nate has quit his post at West Ham. This monumental decision, which must have culminated in a scene where Nate confronted Rupert (Anthony Head), happens offscreen. Instead the show devotes vast amounts of screen time to Nate moping in bed, being fed by his mother, and eventually playing the violin so beautifully it inspires his father (Peter Landi) to suddenly apologize for being a terrible dad. Nate does do one deed in this episode that signals true personal growth: he cleans the AFC Richmond locker room and leaves a note of apology to Will.

Apparently that one act was enough to inspire the entire team he betrayed to vote — again, off-screen — to invite Nate back. Ted Lasso Season 3 Episode 11 “Mom City” opens with three of AFC Richmond’s finest telling Nate they want him back and ends with Coach Beard emotionally forgiving the show’s prodigal son and offering him his old job.

Nate does fret over edits to a 60 page apology note to Ted, but we do not know if Ted ever receives it. (Does Ted need it? Ted’s already forgiven Nate, but then that’s who Ted is. A sort of “Buddy Christ” figure who has sacrificed his own happiness to help everyone else.)

All is which to say that Nate is back! He will be on the sidelines with Ted, Beard, and Roy to coach AFC Richmond to probable, cathartic victory over West Ham.

While everyone does deserve a second chance, the transition from West Ham man Nathan to wholly redeemed Richmond man Nate came a bit too abruptly. As with Nate’s romance, his redemption storyline seemed to skip some key steps in order to feel wholly earned. We still don’t know what Jade sees in Nate and we’re not sure why the team — who were so violently furious with Nate earlier in Season 3 — decided they wanted him back. Nate might have undergone his own emotional journey, but that’s not what redeems a person. You have to acknowledge your wrongs and put in work to mend relationships to pull off a real redemption arc.

A pivotal moment for Nate came this season when he finally looked at himself in the mirror and didn’t spit at his own reflection. He saw himself and accepted himself for who he was. Nate might have successfully found the courage to face himself, but he didn’t necessarily show his growth to everyone he hurt. That work was mostly done off-screen, or not at all.

The divinely kind Ted Lasso might have the grace to forgive Nate his sins, but Ted Lasso didn’t quite do enough to redeem him in the eyes of us crabby viewers at home.