‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3 Episode 9: Recap & Ending Explained

We are steadily approaching the end of Ted Lasso’s third season, and things are starting to unravel. In the previous episode, we’ve seen Keeley’s private video leaking online, damaging her relationship with Jack and making Isaac discover Collin’s sexuality. All of that continued in this week’s episode. Episode nine is titled ”La Locker Room Aux Folles” and is mostly centered around Collin and Isaac. Collin comes out to his team, Isaac attacks the fan on the stand, and Roy gives a great press conference statement. Let’s see how it all went down.

Isaac is mad at Collin, and Roy needs to fill in for Ted at the press conference

The episode starts with AFC Richmond’s training. The team had fun, and Roy admitted to Ted and Coach Beard that it was great to change their entire philosophy mid-season. Roy was in a good mood and even complimented the team, which was new. However, there are tensions between Isaac and Collin.

After Isaac scored a goal during training, Collin praised him, but Isaac did not say a word and just kept walking. Apparently, Isaac is still not sure how to process the photo he had seen on Isaac’s phone in the previous episode. Later in the locker room, Collin makes a joke, and everyone laughs. Well, everyone but Isaac. Collin is slightly irritated, so he invites Isaac for a beer later. Isaac simply said ”no”, stared at Collin briefly, and then walked away.

Keeley and Rebecca are talking about how’s Keeley doing after everything that’s happened with Jack. Keeley made a classic mistake that ghosted person makes when they are in love and hurt- she bombarded Jack with messages. Ted walked in and presented Keeley with cash to help her ease the pain a bit. Keeley was happy to receive that gift. But the main reason why Ted came was because she wanted to ask Rebecca if he could skip the press conference. There was a parent-teacher meeting Michelle and him had, so he did not want to miss it. Rebecca approved.

However, someone had to attend after Ted was out of the press conference. Keeley suggested that Roy should do it. Even though Roy hates that stuff, he’s good at it. Ted agreed, and it was settled. Afterward, Ted leaves singing a made-up song about ‘heartbent’ and farts. Later, Rebecca informed Roy that he needed to fill in for Ted in a press conference, and he immediately responded: ”F no”. But, when he realized whom he was talking to, he changed his attitude and said that he’d loved to, with a fake smile. Back at West Ham, Jade visited Nate in his office and brought lunch. She met Rupert there, who seemed friendly and nice.

AFC Richmond’s press conference had a rocky start. Roy didn’t show up, and Coach Beard argued with a journalist over musicians. The thing was not a joke. Coach Beard was furious. Luckily, Rebecca arrived and tried to save the day. She decided to answer questions. However, Rebecca panicked and could not remember whom she considered the greatest classic rock guitarist of all time. When the press conference ended, she was furious and wanted to kill Roy for not being there.

Rebecca confronts Roy, Keeley officially breaks up with Jack, and Rupert meets Jade

Rebecca found Roy in the gym with the team, and she demanded that Roy comes to her office. He was mad at the whole team for not standing up for him when Rebecca called his buttocks hairy and was determined never to forgive him. The discussion between Roy and Rebecca was serious. Roy did not feel like doing the press conference, so he did not do it.

Rebecca is mad at him because he gives up on everything as soon as it’s not fun or convenient for him. She thinks that Roy is hiding and wants great things for him in life, but he doesn’t deserve them, so he never pursues them. Roy heard what she was saying, and Rebecca’s words did have an impact on him.

Ted was in the middle of a parent-teacher meeting when Collin came to talk to him. As he was busy, Collin complained to Trent. He told him that Isaac knew his secret and that he didn’t want to talk to him. Trent advises Collin to give Isaac some time to process it all. Back at West Ham, as Nate was preparing the tactics for the upcoming match, Rupert came and helped himself with some leftovers that Jade and Nate had for lunch.

Apparently, Rupert doesn’t even remember Jade’s name, but something is off in all that, and Nate can sense it. The next day, before the West Ham match, Rupert invited Nate for drinks after the match so that they could have some guy’s talk.

AFC Richmond’s match against Brighton was also about to start. The pub was so filled with fans that some had to drink beer from champagne glasses. On the stands, Keeley learns that Jack is in Argentina, and she’ll stay there for the next couple of months, which means that Keeley and Jack broken up officially. The team is in the locker room minutes before the game, and Isaac ignores Collin, even refusing to share any physical contact with him.

Isaac attacks the fan in the stands, and Collin comes out to the team

All the tension between Isaac and Collin transferred into the field. They both played lousy and even got into a verbal confrontation during the match. The team was facing a loss after their long winning streak. Isaac had it enough with the fan who constantly insulted the team at half-time. So, instead of entering the locker room, Isaac stormed to the stands and confronted the fan. Naturally, he earned himself a red card for that. After a minute of silence in the locker room and the initial shock, Ted wanted to know what had happened and why Isaac reacted like that.

The fan said that the whole team is playing like a bunch of f******, referring to a bunch of gay men. Leslie tried to joke that the fan was his dad, but the joke was a flop. The whole team thought that Isaac had overreacted and that they had all heard all the insults like that before, so it would be better that he just ignored it. But Isaac was determined that he was right and refused to ignore stuff like that.

We asked the whole team: ”What if one of us was gay?” He thinks none of them should deal with all the insults. He stripped his captain band and stormed out. Isaac gave the band to Sam, and Jamie preferred being the captain.

The team started to discuss, as they still did not understand Isaac’s reaction. They concluded that Isaac is most likely gay. Since around 10% of the population is gay, they also considered the possibility that someone else in the locker room is gay. All eyes were aimed at Jamie, who was flattered that they thought that.

Collin hesitated but eventually stood up and said that it was not Isaac who was gay, implying that he was. The team was cool with that. Roy went to talk with Isaac. He understood that all that happened on the stands was a reaction to Isaac’s anger. And unless Isaac doesn’t resolve that issue, he will most likely damage other parts of his life he cares about. Will was also there, cleaning the boots, who had some similar words of wisdom to share.

Ted gives an emotional talk, and Roy shows up for the press conference

Before the other half-time, Ted gave the team one of the most emotional talks ever. He compared being gay with being a fan of a lousy American football team. The comparison was bad, but he wanted to say that the team doesn’t care that Collin is gay, but they do care about him. They care for everything he must have been through and who he is inside, and they will make sure that Collin never has to feel alone anymore.

The team’s spirit was lifted, and they won the match, turning the score in the second half. Collin was the man of the match. He played like all the weight was lifted from his shoulders. However, the main topic after the game was Isaac’s behavior, and there were mixed reactions to whether he did the right thing.

Nate and Rupert ”guys” night did not last long. Rupert invited two girls to join them, and Nate did not like Rupert’s intentions, so he excused himself and left. It will be interesting to see how Rupert will treat Nate after all this.

Later in the evening, Ted was supposed to attend the press conference, but this time Roy showed up instead, to everyone’s surprise. Everybody wanted to know if Roy and the club generally condoned Isaac’s actions. And the press got more than they asked for. Roy opened up about an incident in which he was rude, like the fan on the stand. He got beat up, and only later did he find out why his joke made the guy so angry. He also stood up for Isaac and told the press that no one in the room shouldn’t judge others because we never really know what is happening in other people’s lives. Rebecca was proud of Roy.

Isaac visited Collin at his place, and the two got everything out of the way. Collin decided it was enough for him that the team knew about his sexuality, and Isaac was fine with that. The two of them played video games, with Isaac now having many questions. Their friendship was back as strong as ever.