Ted Lasso Recap: Season 3 Premiere — Roy & Keeley Twist Explained

Oi! The following contains spoilers about Season 3, Episode 1 of Ted Lasso. Haven’t watched it yet? Then make like Nate and scram! 

The rom-communists aren’t going to be happy about this one.

During Ted Lasso‘s Season 3 opener, Roy and Keeley sit Phoebe down to tell her that they broke up. Or rather, Roy tells her that they broke up. Keeley says that they’re “going on a break.” So, which is it?

“We broke up,” Roy says, doubling down. He tells his niece that their busy schedules are to blame for the split, but Keeley looks less certain.

“It’s something that isn’t entirely clear for her,” Juno Temple tells TVLine. “I think there’s confusion in it, and unspoken, unfinished conversations…. I don’t think [the breakup] came from her.”

In the following scene, when Phoebe asks her uncle if he’s doing the right thing, he says he “doesn’t know.” It’s one of two instances in Wednesday’s premiere where Roy is visibly lacking confidence. The other comes when he’s strategizing with Ted and Beard, and acknowledges that he doesn’t have Nate’s “tactical super brain.” So, where’s all this self-doubt coming from?

“He’s a man who has had no access to his emotions for his whole life,” Brett Goldstein posits. “He’s shut them all down. And then he’s fallen in love with Keeley, been opened up by Ted, and all these emotions have poured out of him, and he has no way of coping with that. He doesn’t know how to regulate [his emotions]… and I think one of his tragic flaws is that he, for various reasons, does not think he is worthy of love. He doesn’t think he deserves any happiness, and he sublimates all of that into his work, and always has done [that].”

Moving forward, Temple describes the Roy and Keeley dynamic as “complicated,” adding, “It’s not as simple… they’re at moments in their lives where their schedules are busy, for sure,” which means less time in each other’s orbits. “Keeley is starting her own business,” she says. “That is new for her, and that is daunting and intimidating, and she’s trying to keep it together whilst learning new things and figuring it out as she goes,” which “brings some growing up, too.” As for Roy, “figuring out what he wants in life is an important part of what’s going on this year.”

How are you feeling about the Roy and Keeley breakup? Grade the premiere via the following poll, then sound off in Comments. (For additional coverage on the pressures plaguing Ted, Nate and Rebecca in Season 3, click here.)