Keeley Jones and Roy Kent may be the OTP of Ted Lasso, but even the most connected couples have fights. Spoilers ahead for "Headspace." In fact, it's their constant connectedness that leads to their temporary rough patch, and it takes Keeley watching Sex and the City on Ted Lasso for her to open up about how she's feeling.
Ted Lasso Season 2 has already covered Christmas movies and rom-coms, so perhaps it was inevitable that Sex and the City would enter the mix. SATC previously got a shoutout in Season 1's "Make Rebecca Great Again," when Nate told Rojas, "The only person I've seen lose their man more often is Carrie fucking Bradshaw." (Ooo, so Nate has shown evidence of being very mean before.) But this time, the pop culture reference hit close to home.
Keeley wants to watch her Sex and the City in peace. And it just so happens that the episode she's watching — "The Good Fight" — is speaking directly to her experience with Roy. Aidan has moved into Carrie's apartment in this truly iconic Season 4 episode (sure, every SATC episode is "iconic," but Sarah Jessica Parker and John Corbett's performances in this one are pure perfection). Aidan's incessant check-ins are driving Carrie a little bonkers. She wants to walk in without being bombarded ("He's all up in my face with, 'Who'd you see? Where'd you go? Who'd ya meet? What do ya know?'") and engage in "secret single behavior" (S.S.B.). It all comes to a head when Aidan suggests they clean out her closet to make space for his stuff.
While Roy hasn't officially moved in and isn't the most verbose guy out there (unless he's cursing someone out), his unrelenting presence is testing Keeley's patience. They work together. He's always at her place. He sits down right in front of her to read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and comment on its readability. (C'mon, Roy! The world covered this in the early 2000s!). As Carrie is telling Aidan to shut up ("I'm so sick of hearing you talking, talking, talking all the time!"), Keeley breaks down. "Fucking hell, Roy," she yells. "I just want to watch my TV show and you're fucking ruining it for me!"
Roy's hurt to find out that Keeley has been talking about this to everyone at AFC Richmond. But after some profound and unexpected knowledge about giving people space comes his way via Jamie Tartt, Roy takes Keeley's feedback. He prepares her a bath and gives her some much-needed one-on-one Keeley time. The "Roy's Sorry for Not Understanding Keeely" playlist he puts on even has Sade's "By Your Side," which played in the Sex and the City episode at the end and during Samantha's storyline after Richard gave some male full-frontal nudity. (Was that the only male full-frontal nudity of the show?? Again, iconic, I say.) Phew, Keeley and Roy are still good, y'all.
The Sex and the City episode also ends with Carrie and Aidan making amends and Carrie not actually wanting the space that Aidan gives her. But considering where Carrie and Aidan's relationship ends up (Carrie ends their engagement just two episodes later), it's not exactly the template that Ted Lasso fans should want Keeley and Roy to follow. So instead, it's probably a good sign that Keeley took the alone time that Roy gave her. Because years from now, I really don't need Keeley kissing Roy in Dubai after she has married Jamie.
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Images: Apple TV+