People in the west get real sensitive when someone mentions communism. But Ted Lasso thinks there is one type of communism that everyone can get behind — rom-communism. Spoilers ahead for Ted Lasso Episode 5. In the episode, "Rainbow," Ted Lasso gets the rom-com treatment. It's not about romance (though, there is a hint of that) and more about the love between a man and his football team. Roy Kent realizes his love interest has been AFC Richmond all along (don't worry, Keeley's not the jealous type) with a little help from a lot of rom-com references.

The episode starts with Ted outlining the tenants of rom-coms to his team to help take the pressure off. "Look, the point is, fellas, if all those attractive people with their amazing apartments and interesting jobs — usually in some creative field — can go through some lighthearted struggles and still end up happy, so can we," Ted says. "Now it may not work out how you think it will. Or how you hope it does. But believe me, it will all work out, exactly as it's supposed to."

Whether or not this is sound coaching advice is yet to be determined. But the rest of the episode leans into the tropes featured in those rom-coms that star the likes of Drew Barrymore, Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, and Jennifer Lopez. Not dissimilar to the Christmas episode's references to Love Actually, some movies and rom-com actors get more attention than others in "Rainbow." (Let's hear it for the Meg Ryan representation.) Although I am very much aware that many of these movies were inspired by other classic films, here are all the modern rom-com references in "Rainbow" that I caught.