Marvelous Geeks

September 12-18 “Beard After Hours” | Ted Lasso Brendan Hunt

Don’t even dare act surprised—the Ted Lasso cast is rightfully owning this column, and we’re more than happy to constantly write about them. There’s a reason they are all nominated for an Emmy Award this year, and we already know they’ll dominate next year as well. This week’s episode “Beard After Hours” gave Brendan Hunt a whirlwind to work with, and he did so pristinely.

Before anyone else yells at me, no, I haven’t seen Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, which the episode is an homage to. I took the literary, stream of consciousness approach this week because that’s what spoke loudest to me.

However, more than that, Brendan Hunt’s performances demanded to be excavated. The episode’s nominal character isn’t one we know much of, his full name included thus, an episode that took him on an odyssey of sorts needed the actor to bring his A game in order for the audience to see more than what was said, even more than what was shown.

It demanded that we pay close attention and that’s always a detail worth appreciating.

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Let me be completely transparent in admitting that I had no idea how to approach this episode review at first. While Ted Lasso’s “Beard After Hours” isn’t necessarily a filler because astounding character development is happening right before our eyes, it also doesn’t give us the aftermath I was hoping for. And quite frankly, the tonal shift is jarring. It acts like a disturbance in the force, which is riveting when you consider all the Star Wars references we’ve gotten thus far in season two.

Much like the once in a blue moon occurrence thematically leaves us in a state of uncertainty, the episode achieves whatever it was meant to. I’ve not had a single drop of alcohol in the past week and somehow, I feel hungover after watching this, apropos I suppose for the series evoking such reactions.

“Beard After Hours” gives Brendan Hunt plenty to work with and that alone is fascinating to dissect—Hunt not only gets to show off his range as an actor, but the episode allows him to expand further on the character whose traits we know very little about. Beard has a myriad of emotions and can indeed be extremely vocal. While we are still learning about all of these characters, there is not much we know about Coach Beard, including his name. And in a distinct way, “Beard After Hours” acts as a character study of sorts.

He’s not just Margaret’s little boy—he is his own person, and while the episode doesn’t necessarily reveal who that is to us, we can see him come to terms with a lot of what is needed.

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