Note from Marvelous Geeks’ Team: With the ongoing WGA strike, it’s imperative that we state we stand in solidarity with all writers asking for better wages and the respect they deserve in this industry. No story comes to fruition without the idea born and nurtured inside a writer’s head. Writers are the beating hearts of everything we love — we stand with and for them.
If Ted Lasso Season 3 gets one thing right, it’s Colin Hughes’ arc, showing that the writers planted roots for an essential, heartwarming story from beginning to end. Fans picked up on the deliberate seeds sprinkled regarding Colin’s sexuality in Season 2, and “4-5-1” confirms it, with “Sunflowers” expressing his concerns while simultaneously giving him a bit of reprieve with Trent Crimm’s friendship and support.
Ted Lasso’s season (possibly, series) finale misses some marks with romances, but it brings to the pitch a searing, swoon-worthy kiss between Colin and Michael that’s beautifully worthwhile and memorable. It’s confirmation of many things, but above all, it showcases contentment, security, and adoration on full display. It shows the audience that a safe place like the romantic bliss Colin finds himself in is possible, and it’s worth celebrating. It brings his story full circle in a way where if there’s no spin-off or any sort of continuation, we can be sure beyond a doubt that he’s in good hands.
A large part of the series’ charm is its ability to make viewers care for everybody. We all have our favorite characters on any given show, but on a show like Ted Lasso, they’re each special. It’s challenging not to care about all of them, even when they mess up (see Nathan Shelley’s brilliant arc). And thereby, Colin’s narrative is much more fascinating because, in the earlier days, he’s somewhat of a bully who grows into a lovable kid, slowly chipping away at the insecurities he harbors in therapy. As we lead into his coming out journey, much of his arc in therapy starts to make clearer sense.
This careful excavation throughout the seasons cements why such a brief scene is so exquisite and powerful. When Colin tells Trent Crimm in “Sunflowers” that all he wants is to kiss his fella as freely as the team kisses their girls, it shows his heart’s deepest desires. Further, “La Locker Room Aux Folles” emphasizes why we should care and why it should matter when Colin comes out to his team. Despite Ted’s wonky metaphor that slightly kicks outside the goal, the point still stands—we need to care about who people choose to love. We need to care about how the people we love spend their quiet, loud, and vulnerable moments.
Romance matters tremendously, and as one of the few relationships in canon that leaves us with happiness, Colin and Michael’s kiss cements the importance of finding someone you want to show off. It emphasizes the vitality of sharing joy with one’s person. Viewers know very little about Michael, but we know enough about Colin to trust that if he cares about him, then he must be trustworthy for us to love as vehemently.
At the same time, much of this scene relies on the incomparable heart that Billy Harris and Sam Liu pack into their kiss, wordlessly underscoring how profoundly this instant matters to the characters. The most important people in Colin’s life know, and now, the entire world does too. For a brief moment, as the camera pans to them, Harris’ longing expression emphasizes exactly who Colin’s looking for and why. As they hold each other for what’s likely less than three seconds, Harris and Liu convey a thousand words in their closeness, allowing viewers to know, without a shadow of a doubt, why they’re everything to each other.
Thus, when they do finally kiss out in the open, it’s a full circle moment that brings the series’ most beautiful motto to life by highlighting the importance of companionship and relationships. No one on this pitch is sad and alone; for Colin Hughes and his fella, the kiss is a sign that they’re going to be alright—strong and capable men together, growing into the best versions of themselves by openly loving each other through it all.