Nate's Pathetic Move Makes Latest Ted Lasso Episode That Much Harder to Watch

Viewers agree that it's definitely one of the strongest episodes, as it showed how complex and confusing emotions can affect people, forcing them to project anger and resentment onto their careers and relationships. The new episode is full of personal drama and even makes you shed a tear, despite its many comedic elements.

One of the series' "antagonists," Nate, was the one character whose actions in the episode evoked a great emotional response in fans, making it so much harder to watch some of the scenes.

Now, here's a recap of what happened. AFC Richmond captain finds a torn "Believe" sign. Hanging in Ted's office, the sign symbolized hope, optimism, and teamwork, inspiring the entire club. At Trent Crimm's urging, coaches Roy and Beard decide to use the security cameras to find out who did it.

And, not surprisingly, it turns out the sign was torn down by Nate before he left AFC Richmond for West Ham United.

The audience, along with the team members, were hugely infuriated and upset by Nate's act. In a Reddit discussion, fans shared just how horrible it felt to watch the footage together with the characters:

"Seeing actual pathetic footage of it happening makes me feel bad for him. Something about that video was just so sad to me," one of the fans said.

Although the scene was meant to be (and it was, in a way) quite humorous, the tragedy of the moment prevailed. Remarkably, Ted Lasso himself refused to watch the video because he knew in advance who had torn the sign and even understood Nate's feelings.

"It’s tempting to laugh, but you can see how desperately angry and hurt Nate is. It was brilliant of the writers to show it here instead of when it happened," another Redditor noted.

Instead of getting angry with Nate, Ted wants to shake his hand when they first meet after the incident. And although Nate is interrupted by Rupert, we can still see that the character feels guilty and wants to apologize.

"He is Vader and this is return of the Jedi," another fan pointed out on Reddit. Indeed, this is the moment when the character learns to let go of his negative feelings and do something good instead.

The episode presents a surprising parallel between Nate and Lasso, making them similar characters in some ways — both finally form healthy attachments by letting go of their complex emotions.

It's great to see this sort of character development in both the show's protagonist and antagonist — and in this, Ted Lasso certainly proves to be a very realistic series, showing just how complicated life can be and how important it is to try to understand and forgive other people.