It’s great to have this show back, even if that happy fact comes with the knowledge that this is the last season premiere it will ever offer. Three seasons is not a long run, but it’s also a purposeful arc that the creators have always been upfront about, and which it’s highly unlikely they’ll decide to change. Ted sitting sad in the airport with his son next to him did keep his mind preoccupied for a good portion of the episode, but fortunately he hasn’t lost much of his sense of positivity. I laughed out loud for a few seconds when he responded to Rebecca’s angry analysis of her main rival’s prospects by asking if Rupert was going to play this year, and taking the team into the sewer systems may have been exactly the motivation they needed. It wasn’t great fo repress, however, and Nate, who has now had the car Rupert almost towed replaced with a fancy gift, was eager to take advantage of his onetime boss and mentor’s misfortune to appease his new bad role model, Rupert. Ted handled things very well by refusing to give in and dish it back, instead endearing himself to the entire room by joking with himself as the target. Keeley is definitely in over her head at her new company, with no idea what a CFO was until Rebecca came and told her, and the more interesting development is that she and Roy are apparently separating. I loved Phoebe’s reaction in the car and the look on Roy’s face, two things that suggest Richmond AFC isn’t the only underdog to root for this season.
