"Ephron on three": Masculinit(ies) in Ted Lasso
In Season 3, Episode 11 of Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, Mae–the show’s matrimonial barkeeper– softly recited Philip Larkin’s “This be the Verse,” a poem about the emotional scars parents leave their children. Coming as it does near the end of the series run, the poem references the trauma(s) the main character has inherited from his parents, and ties together many of the themes of the series, namely how “hurt people hurt people.” In keeping with the tone of the series, however, the pub owner’s reading of Larkin’s poem does not serve as a moral repudiation of Ted’s parents or their generation.