S4E6: Don't Jump Around Much Anymore — Perfect Can Be the Opposite of Good
It's New Year's Eve in Richmond.
And everybody seems to be somewhere between who they were and who they're becoming.
In Season 4, Episode 6 — “Don't Jump Around Much Anymore” — the Lady Greyhounds head to Zelda's extravagant boat party, Rebecca and Keeley attend a celebrity vodka launch, Ted spends the evening with Michelle and Henry, and Roy Kent makes one very unfortunate decision when he hears “Jump Around.”
Oh, and Jamie Tartt is back.
But underneath all the New Year's chaos is one of our favorite leadership ideas:
Sometimes perfect is the opposite of good.
Jamie gives Rebecca that advice after she admits she may have ruined something wonderful with Matthijs because it wasn't perfect. But the idea keeps showing up throughout the episode.
Alice wants to show up perfectly.
Ted may be waiting until he's perfectly ready to date.
Rebecca wants certainty.
And Michelle gives Ted essentially the same lesson:
Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.
Which sounds suspiciously similar to one of our Rules from Lead It Like Lasso:
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
We're sure the writers read our book.
Probably.
Maybe.
This week, we also dig into:
- Why, if you don't tell your story, other people may create one for you
- Why knowing someone's story doesn't necessarily make it yours to tell
- The disconnect between Alice believing nobody wants her around and the team repeatedly asking where she is
- Why we shouldn't assume people know they're valued
- The difference between gathering people and creating genuine belonging
- Why great leaders see things in us that we can't always see in ourselves
- Michelle's surprisingly important role in helping Ted become Ted
- Gemma's emerging leadership and her ability to separate Alice the person from Alice's behavior
- Why progress isn't linear
- Why failure doesn't have to become part of our identity
- The continuing importance of accountability
- Why Zelda is beginning to look much more like a manipulator than an advocate
And, naturally, there are plenty of callbacks and Easter eggs.
We get Cast Away, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Eyes Wide Shut, David Hockney, a possible Cristiano Ronaldo reference, the Roy Kent chant turned inside out, and one of the funniest Roy/Jamie scenes we've seen.
Roy Kent should not have jumped around.
On the relationship front, Keeley overhears almost all of Roy's drug-induced confession to Erin — except the part where he finally says:
“I love you, Keeley.”
We also get confirmation that Ted hasn't forgotten about the mysterious Stage Manager, Matthijs makes a New Year's Eve return, and Beard discovers that sometimes waiting until midnight doesn't work out exactly as planned.
Finally, Michelle leaves Ted with one last gift:
A new BELIEVE sign.
Same message.
Different colors.
Is this simply the same Ted becoming a different version of himself?
Or does the reversed sign mean that after years of believing in everyone around him, Ted finally needs to learn to believe in himself?
We'll be watching.
And for the first time, we're experiencing Ted Lasso right along with you. Tell us what we missed and what you think happens next.
Stay curious. Stay kind. And keep leading it like Lasso.
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