Warning: Reviews of Ted Lasso season 4 episode 3 will contain spoilers.

Throughout the course of a TV season, it’s inevitable that the main character will take a backseat for an episode or two. Ted Lasso season 4 episode 3 is a prime example of this because Ted (Jason Sudeikis) feels less essential to the story than in previous weeks. It’s another table-setting episode, mostly, as the coaches search for a striker after one of their established strikers learns she’s pregnant. Since it’s still early in the season, I’m not too worried that the grander stakes of the story haven’t revealed themselves, beyond the financial worries of the women’s team, but there’s a growing worry that a reason for Ted Lasso season 4 existing hasn’t felt fully formed yet.

There’s loads of conflicts set up in episode 3, but few, if any revolve around Ted. There’s Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) and her inability to keep a standing date with Matthijs (Matteo van der Grijn) because of ongoing drama within Richmond. We want to see Rebecca succeed in both her work and personal life, but her romantic relationship doesn’t feel as fleshed out here, mostly because Matthijs is an unexciting character so far. I don’t want Ted Lasso to force her to choose between a romantic partner and her job, but some kind of existential drama needs to come about sooner or later in order to make this worthwhile.

Similarly inconsequential are this week’s ongoing shenanigans with Keeley (Juno Temple) and her quest to make sure the women’s team, and their upcoming, opening friendly match goes off without a hitch. Except the delivery of their kits has been delayed, so she goes on an extended fetch quest to find them. Season 3 of Ted Lasso really struggled to find a place for Keeley, leading to some truly regrettable plotlines. While her foibles so far in season 4 haven’t felt completely out of character in the way they were before, again, the show will need to find something more compelling for her to do going forward.

Though I’ll never complain about Roy (Brett Goldstein) going out of his way to make sure she’s satisfied. I’m not sure how much character growth we’ll see from Roy this season either outside of his relationship with Keeley. It’s a real shame, since he’s been one of the strongest characters of Ted Lasso since the beginning, so only seeing him as a romantic interest – though they’re somehow not officially dating after all this time – feels like some wasted potential.

Where I do see potential going forward after season 4 episode 3 is in coach Chilton’s (Tanya Reynolds) fractured relationship with new Richmond striker Gemma (Abbie Hern), who previously played with her but gave up football for law school. Obviously we’ll learn more about Gemma as Ted Lasso rolls on, but I only see upside here, as we still don’t know much about Chilton or Gemma. The same goes for Richmond’s other new member, Lizzie Davies (Faye Marsay), a single mother. As I mentioned before, the life of a women’s footballer isn’t all glitz and glamour, and many view it as a kind of part-time job to supplement their primary income elsewhere. This kind of push-pull could easily be dramatically fruitful, for both Gemma and Lizzie, and hopefully the show realizes such before it gets too late in season 4.

Lest it go unmentioned, “Richmond’s Got Talent” remains a very funny episode overall. The runner of Susan Boyle somehow coming into conversation – and Ted’s subsequent misunderstanding of who or what that is – threatens to be too cute or become unfunny, but it works because of the dedication and line readings of the cast. There’s even a solid bit about Richmond legend Danny Rojas’s sister Maria (Paloma Cinco) and her misbegotten tryout that subverts expectations. Much like the women’s team’s season, Ted Lasso season 4 feels firmly established after episode 3. Here’s hoping the show can introduce a narrative backbone in order to keep things interesting.