What’s Coach Beard Reading?: Every Book in TED LASSO Season 2

Given the title of this post, it feels fitting to start with the book Coach Beard is reading in this first episode. The Greatest is a sports psychology book, and this scene shows up at the end of the episode. We’ve already seen several players tell Ted how amazing Dr. Sharon Fieldstone is, to Ted’s discomfort. Not only is Ted uncomfortable with psychologists himself, he also put it upon himself to solve everyone else’s problems and make them feel better, so he is likely feeling threatened by Sharon. Beard reading a psychology book is a subtle nod to the idea that Beard was also impressed by Sharon, leaving Ted the only one who seems uncomfortable or skeptical about her — a thread that will continue in later episodes, as he stumbles through beginning therapy and as Sharon and Ted build a relationship.

Both Ted and Sharon share their favorite books this episode, and their answers are interesting, to say the least. At the end of the episode, Sharon finally answers Ted’s question about her favorite book, opening up a little. Hers is Prince of Tides, which is a novel featuring a therapist who works with a pair of siblings. Savannah is suicidal, and Tom — a football coach — is trying to help her get better by telling her therapist about their extremely traumatic childhood. Susan, the therapist, and Tom often disagree, but they gradually become closer. (Spoilers:) They briefly have an affair, but Tom is still in love with his ex-wife, and he tries to reconcile with her. Given how Ted and Sharon butt heads at first, it’s easy to see the parallel with Tom and Susan (even the names sound similar!), including the theme of a loved one attempting suicide. It’s hard to imagine Sharon and Ted having an affair, no matter how brief, though, given Sharon’s professionalism around her job. Instead, I think this is just meant to foreshadow their future friendship, though the parallels are so strong that I wouldn’t blame viewers from assuming it’s foreshadowing more than that. Either way, it’s an interesting book for Sharon to tell Ted about, though he doesn’t seem to recognize the reference.

Ted asks Sharon what her favorite book is and then tells her that his is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. “I know, curveball, right? But I can explain.” Unfortunately, he never gets the chance to explain, because this is definitely a curveball. The entire premise of The Fountainhead is selfishness, which is the opposite of how Ted lives his life. It was likely a lead-in to a wacky story where the book is incidental, not a reflection on the content of the book, but it could also be highlighting Ted’s desire to be independent, not reliant on anyone, which is his mental health downfall. Another theory is that this is just him being “curious, not judgmental,” proving there’s something to learn from anyone.

When Rebecca is desperately trying to entertain her niece Nora, after taking her to places for kids much younger than her, she suggests seeing the play The Mousetrap — “You know, that Agatha Christie play where someone dies every performance?” She then corrects herself, because only old people see it. The play is the longest-running one in West End and is famous for its twist ending, but the reference appears to just confirm that Rebecca is out of touch with what Nora would be interested in, though she agrees to tag along if that’s what Rebecca wants to do.

Ted, Rebecca, Beard, Keeley, and Nate perform a minor Christmas miracle to provide Jamie with a present for Secret Santa, and he replies with, “God bless me…every one,” a mangling of Tiny Tim’s quote from A Christmas Carol. Tiny Tim is a character representing innocence, generosity, and kindness — not exactly Jamie’s strong suits. He’s already partway through his redemption process, though, and perhaps just needs one more ghost to drive the point home.

Rebecca reads a quote from her mystery man (who we later found out is Sam) to Keeley: “Our fears are like dragons guarding our most precious treasures.” The text attributes it to Rilke, an Austrian poet who wrote in the early 1900s. Interestingly, this isn’t a quote from Rilke. It actually comes from a line from “The Messenger” by Ray Wylie Hubbard: “And the message I give you is from this old poet Rilke / He said ‘Our fears are like dragons guarding our most precious treasures.’”

That’s a paraphrase of Rilke’s actual quote, from Letters To a Young Poet, “How can we forget those ancient myths from the beginnings of all peoples, the myths of the dragons who turn into princesses at the last minute? Maybe every dragon in our life is a princess, just waiting to see us perform a beautiful, courageous act for once. Maybe every terror is, at absolute bottom, only something helpless, wanting our help.”

Both Keeley and Rebecca are impressed by a man quoting poetry, but because this is a misquote, it suggests that the mystery man is not quoting Rilke because he’s read Rilke, but instead using a quote seen out of context — much like Prince Harry citing a quote he got from BrainyQuote.com in Spare.

This lines up with our later discovery that this is Sam. Sam is a smart, thoughtful person, but he’s also young and somewhat naïve, so it makes sense that he would like to give off the impression of someone who is more wise, well-read, and experienced than he actually is.

As for the quote itself, it seems to apply less to Sam than to Rebecca’s story arc in season 1: she had to face her fear of being alone, being vulnerable, to find that treasure of community and real relationships — with Ted, with Keeley, and even with her work. Arguably, it can even be applied to Nate in season 2: his bravado and aggression is covering up his fear of loneliness and failure. He’s abandoned the valuable things in his life because of that fear, not recognizing the helplessness and need at the root of it.

Rebecca’s mother, Deborah, takes center stage in this episode, and we learn about her partly through her reading habits. One of the first things she describes herself as — while yelling out a window to Ted and the pitch in general — is a “voracious” books-on-tape listener. She goes on to quote Esther Perel, a couples therapist who has written two books on the subject: Mating in Captivity and The State of Affairs. Over lunch with Ted, Rebecca, and Keeley, Deborah says, “Esther Perel says it takes two people to create a pattern, but only one to change it.”

She goes on to mention attending a reading from a (non-existent) Brené Brown book, Enter the Arena: But Bring a Knife. Brené Brown is an author and researcher who writes about, among other things, vulnerability. (She’s also a big fan of the show!)

Deborah’s mentions of books paints a picture of someone who is introspective — an avid reader of self-help books. In Rebecca’s mind, at least, this doesn’t seem to result in action. Despite Deborah’s claim, she doesn’t break the pattern — she returns again and again to a husband who makes her unhappy.

Interestingly, a large part of the wedge between Rebecca and Deborah is because Rebecca kept her father’s affairs a secret and felt guilty about it. It’s only after his death that she finds out that Deborah did know about the affairs and stayed anyway. One of Esther Perel’s book is about affairs, and it argues that “Betrayal hurts…but it can be healed. An affair can even be the doorway to a new marriage — with the same person.”

While Rebecca sees her mother as ignorant, maybe even delusional, Deborah’s reading life instead suggests someone who spends a lot of time examining herself and her relationships — even if the actions she takes aren’t the ones Rebecca approves of.

While The Da Vinci Code is featured the most this episode, I think the inclusion of this one is noteworthy. Nate has just given a blisteringly cruel speech to Colin:

“You see, Jamie and Dani are like Picasso and Gauguin…they’re artists. And, Colin, you paint too, but your work doesn’t end up in museums. It hangs at…Well, you’re like a painting at a Holiday Inn. You don’t inspire. You don’t move people. You’re there. You cover a bloodstain. You do the job, so just do the job.”

He then turns his back to scroll through his online praise as Colin, stunned, eventually turns and leaves. We then pan over to Beard, who is staring at Nate with this book’s cover turned to the camera. About a Boy is about Will, a 36-year-old obsessed with being cool who refuses to grow up. This seems to be a nod to Beard seeing Nate as acting concerningly selfish and immature.

On another note, this is the first time we see Beard reading a novel — or a book not related to sports — on screen. Presumably, Beard reading Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby led him to this other book by him.

After Beard, Jeremy, Baz, and Paul infiltrate Bones and Honey, Paul says he feels bad for Sarah, the host who they tricked into thinking her apartment was burning down. Beard says, “Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Sarah Coombe’s life. Her apartment will look more amazing to her than any place any of us have ever lived.” This is a reference to the line from Fight Club, after he holds a gun to Raymond’s head: “Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessel’s life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.” This is a somewhat disconcerting line for Beard to say, suggesting he’s divorced himself somewhat from morality tonight. It also makes sense as a reference in this episode because Beard seems to be hallucinating.

This episode, Ted is telling Sharon how much anger he has for his late father. She asks him what he loved about him. Ted tells Sharon that when he was in 5th or 6th grade, he didn’t do his assigned reading of Johnny Tremain, so his dad stayed up all night reading him and gave him the bullet points so that he could pass a test. Johnny Tremain is a story about a 14-year-old involved in the Revolutionary War, so it could be a nod to Ted having to grow up so young when his father died. But talking about this memory also helps him to remember his dad in a different light, and he talks about how much he regrets not telling him he was a good father. It’s an opportunity to worth through some of the emotions he’s been repressing — and, possibly, allow space for Ted to accept that he himself is a good father, coach, friend.

It looks like About a Boy wasn’t a fluke: here’s another non-sports book that Beard has picked up on screen! Entangled Life is about the role fungi plays in our ecosystem, and the relationship between fungi and humans.

Relatedly, after Nate acts annoyed with Ted asks Beard and Roy whether they ever want to be the boss, Beard tells him, “You know, we used to believe that trees competed with each other for light. Suzanne Simard’s field work challenged that perception, and we now realize that the forest is a socialist community. Trees work in harmony to share the sunlight.” Simard wrote Finding the Mother Tree. Both these books about interconnectedness, which is what is lacking with Nate at the moment.

The title of this episode is a reference to two books: Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success and Inverting the Pyramid. This is one of the first books we see Beard with in the series: he reads it on the plane in episode 1 of season 1! In this episode, we see Beard reading several times through the episode. Inverting the Pyramid explores how football tactics have changed over time, including “how the South Americans shrugged off the British colonial order to add their own finesse to the game; how the Europeans harnessed individual technique and built it into a team structure; how the game once featured five forwards up front, while now a lone striker is not uncommon.”

This book suggests that success requires constantly experimenting and evolving, not resting on old strategies. We could see this as a reflection of Ted’s flaws: even as things fracture — especially with Nate — he sticks with his usual strategy of coaching. He doesn’t notice that something needs to change for the team to succeed, or for the his relationship with Nate to be mended.

We can’t look at this book in isolation, though. Before this shot of Beard reading it, we see Nate staring at the signed Pyramid of Success on the office wall. We talked about Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success in the season 1 post, but as we see the pyramid against from Nate’s perspective, it becomes obvious Nate really has inverted it. The foundation of the pyramid includes blocks labelled industriousness, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, and enthusiasm. The block near the top include competitive greatness, poise, and confidence. Nate has become so obsessed with greatness and confidence that he’s abandoned the foundational elements of being a team leader. (Of course, he’s also abandoned the very top blocks, patience and faith.)