I love Ted Lasso. Yes, even the overstuffed and hurried third season, which, in retrospect, left several subplots stranded or too swiftly wrapped. So, while the show did find a satisfying ending, I was still open to more seasons. Thus, I have anticipated Ted Lasso Season 4 with a mix of interest and vague apprehension. Would it do right by what came before it? Or would it be akin to After M.A.S.H.? The answer appears to be, in order, sometimes yes… and no, but…

Things got off to a rocky start in episode 1 (critics received the first four to review), which brings Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), Higgins (Jeremy Swift), and Keeley (Juno Temple) to Kansas City to recruit Ted (Jason Sudeikis) to coach their finally formed women’s team. While he initially rejects their offer, you just know by the end he’ll say yes.

Unfortunately, to get to that yes, viewers must endure a series of comedic and dramatic misfires. The episode isn’t without its charms, but the mix feels off. Take Higgins’ visit to the Negro League Baseball Museum. The visit itself nicely highlights the show’s humanist streak and how it can nail sentimentality without collapsing into schmaltz. Beforehand, however, jokes about Higgins struggling to grasp both America’s relationship to baseball and its history of racial injustice fall flat. Ditto for after, when Higgins quotes his tour guide to encourage Rebecca to embrace the women’s team mission. And so it does throughout, a dance of two steps forward, one step back.

The good news is things get better in the subsequent three installments. Even then, however, Ted Lasso Season 4 lurches like a car with a badly timed engine. There are moments where the old magic is there, especially during a trivia night that ends in property damage and incarceration in episode 4. At others, it feels lost, as though it remembers the steps but can no longer recognize the rhythm.

There are any number of real-life reasons why Nick Mohammed doesn’t reprise Nate in those first four episodes of Ted Lasso Season 4. Under different circumstances, this wouldn’t present much of an issue. If this season were a clean break from the past, not seeing many familiar faces would be easy to accept. But by repeatedly looking backward, the show invites comparisons and raises questions it can’t answer. Within the reality of the show, it feels negligent that Ted doesn’t at least reach out to say, “Hey, back in Richmond,” especially given the why of their relationship rupture in Seasons 2 and 3.

Similarly, it’s bizarre that we wouldn’t at least see someone recognizable from the men’s team in passing. These are things that it would be easy to overlook if the show could, to steal one of its iconic lines, be the goldfish. However, by having the sister of one of the men’s players try out for the team or continuing to drag out the Keeley-Roy (Brett Goldstein) will-they-won’t-they, the show too often feels like it is more interested in chasing its past than plotting its future.

Of course, it is partially an appreciation of its past that makes this critic inclined to give it more time. Sudeikis is still fully in the pocket as Ted, giving us glimpses of longing and startling sadness behind the cheeriness and sloganeering. The returning players generally feel strong, even when I find their storylines exhausting (see, again, Keeley and Roy) or generally uninteresting (tension between Rebecca and Keeley about the women’s team). Most new characters, like Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds, a fave from Sex Education), fit in well. Others, like Tracey Ullman, less so.

It’s a mixed bag for sure. Only having four episodes to judge makes it even more difficult. This is especially the case as that quartet contains what might be the series’ worst episode while ending on the season’s best yet. Fans will be tempted to dismiss it as the show getting its turf legs back while those who were already tired of it will point out this is just another step in a steady downward turn. This writer isn’t inclined to accept either easy narrative.

This half-hearted recommendation isn’t earned by the four episodes alone. Rather, it’s earned as much by the goodwill of those first three seasons as by a four-episode trajectory that suggests the season is improving. But if Ted Lasso Season 4 is to earn a full-fledged rec, it needs to become the goldfish. Forget the past and work on making this relaunch/reboot thing the best version of itself it can be. As long as it keeps trying to be both its past self and its new incarnation, it is bound to trip on the ball and end up face-first on the turf.

Ted Lasson Season 4 returns to the Dog Track August 5.

Ted Lasso Season 4 Trailer: