Inverting the Pyramid of Success

Plot

Ted's panic attack becomes public news, prompting some commentators to question whether he's capable of doing his job. Rebecca and the club make it clear they stand by him. Ted apologizes to the squad for keeping the truth from them but otherwise brushes off the incident, choosing to concentrate on the upcoming game that will decide if the team moves up to the Premier League. Jamie tells Roy that he confessed his lingering feelings for Keeley.

He says sorry, and Roy surprisingly lets it go. Keeley tells Higgins that the investor behind Bantr wants to back her own public relations company, but she's anxious about breaking the news to Rebecca. Roy is happy for her, though he worries she'll have less time for him. The two also notice that the Vanity Fair piece left Roy out of the photos, though he insists it doesn't bother him.

That evening, Beard informs Ted that he knows Nate was the one who leaked the panic attack story and that Ted needs to deal with it. The next day, Keeley tells Rebecca she's leaving to launch her own firm, and Rebecca offers her congratulations. Both are caught off guard when they learn that Rupert has purchased West Ham United. On match day, Roy admits to the Diamond Dogs that he was stung by being left out of the photos and is frustrated that he forgave Jamie so easily.

This leads Nate to confess that he once kissed Keeley. Roy already knew and forgives him without hesitation, which irritates Nate. The first half ends with AFC Richmond down 0-2, as Nate's False 9 formation isn't working. The team chooses to stick with it.

As everyone heads back onto the field, Ted asks Nate why he's so angry. Nate explains that Ted made him feel essential, only to cast him aside when he became a coach. He insists the team wouldn't have made it this far without his contributions, that he earned his coaching role, and that Ted doesn't belong there. He rejects Ted's apology, calls him "full of shit," and walks off.

Development

Declan Lowney, a supervising producer, directed this episode, with main cast member Jason Sudeikis and executive producer Joe Kelly handling the writing. It marked Lowney's sixth time directing for the series, Sudeikis' fifth writing credit, and Kelly's seventh. The story deepens Nate's arc as he confesses his anger toward Ted and accepts a coaching position with West Ham United F.C. Actor Nick Mohammed acknowledged that viewers would likely disapprove of Nate's trajectory, noting that his poor choices stem from paternal issues and feelings of insecurity and abandonment. To visually underscore this decline, the production team chose to have Nate's hair gradually turn grey over the course of the season.

Critical reviews

"Inverting the Pyramid of Success" received mixed reviews from critics. Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B-" and wrote that the episode and the second season as a whole were going for complicated and landed on confused, with open questions about character behavior that the show ignored or answered offscreen. Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote that the creative team's ambition to expand focus and dig into the impact of Ted's positivity and its limits was admirable and often worked well, but that despite additional episodes and longer running times, there was not always enough room to execute those goals, making the struggle palpable in the final episodes.

Keith Phipps of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote that in some respects the episode illustrates how Ted Lasso often does not have to be about Ted Lasso. Becca Newton of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote that watching the episode is like riding a rollercoaster with lots of ups and downs. Linda Holmes of NPR wrote that not every effort to fill out the complexities of feelings among characters succeeded at the very end, but that does not make her wish they had not gone at the season with so many interesting ideas.

Christopher Orr of The New York Times wrote that viewers of the finale might be forgiven for feeling déjà vu all over again. Nick Mohammed submitted this episode for consideration for his Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series nomination at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards; he lost the award to his co-star, Brett Goldstein.