Favorite Characters: Jamie Tartt (Ted Lasso)

*Jamie-related spoilers.*

Honestly, the mere fact that I’m giving Jamie Tartt a Favorite Characters post might be a spoiler in itself. I always found Jamie entertaining, and even at the depths of his cocky “prick” persona, you could see some of the deeper things that were informing his character. But if you’d told me back in season 1 that Jamie would eventually rise to Favorite Character levels for me? I don’t think I’d have believed it.

When Ted comes to London, Jamie Tartt is the star of AFC Richmond. The young hotshot footballer is completely full of himself, at one point singing his own chant—which is just his name in time to “Baby Shark”—while thrusting his pelvis to the beat. He’s the polar opposite of a team player, hogging the ball and denigrating his teammates. In his mind, he’s the superstar and everyone else is just bringing him down.

The first thing I want to say about this is that none of Jamie’s arrogance is false advertising. He is the best player on the team, an exceptionally talented striker who scores the overwhelming majority of Richmond’s goals. But for Ted, cultivating a collaborative team culture is far more important than winning games, so he and Jamie are coming at things from entirely different angles. Of course, this is a recipe for clashes.

So Jamie pushes it. He waltzes in late and takes off early from training, sometimes wanting to skip it altogether on the weak claim that he’s hurt. Other players bully Nate for his amusement, a situation that suits him just fine. Despite Ted’s insistence on practicing extra passes, he refuses to give up the ball. Ted, for his part, doesn’t back down, not caring how many goals the young star scores—when Jamie won’t be a team player, Ted benches him.

But Ted Lasso is a show all about becoming your better self, and Jamie is no exception to that. He does, however, have to go through some highs and lows to get to that point. Rebecca relinquishes him back to Manchester City, and he leaves his former team to join a reality show. When he’s promptly voted out, he finds himself in an unhirable position with a flaky reputation, and he comes to Ted asking for a second chance. Which he gets.

This is the start of Jamie’s rehabilitation. He’s been humbled and recognizes that not every coach would’ve taken him back, so he tries to be more on board with Ted’s way of running things. It takes time, as a lot of the players assume he’s the same old Jamie (and the previous season, he led Man City in the victory that resulted in Richmond’s relegation to a lower league, which has to involve some lingering resentment.) Jamie frustrated by the setbacks, but he keeps trying to win their trust until finally, even Roy is willing to work alongside him.

I just love the way the show depicts Jamie maturing and opening up as a teammate, a player, and a person without sacrificing the specific essence that makes him Jamie. I get a kick out of the coaches coming up with a special “prick signal” to indicate when he needs to bring a little attitude on the pitch. I like that he’s thrilled at the prospect of talking to Dr. Sharon when he realizes that therapy is just talking about himself for an hour to someone who has to listen. When the legendary Zava joins the team in season 3, it’s great to see Jamie take his feelings of envy and turn them into a desire to train harder and improve himself. It kills me that Roy’s niece Phoebe invites Jamie to her “Uncle’s Day” celebration for Roy, and Jamie not only comes but brings a cheeky yet thoughtful gift. As he grows kinder and more collaborative, he remains vain and a bit ditzy, genuinely becoming a better version of the person he already was.

Nowhere is Jamie’s growth more apparent than in his revelation about Total Football in the middle of season 3. When the team first adopts the fluid playing strategy, it’s a mess and the guys can’t get it together. But Jamie, who’d been exempt from the earlier versatility drills and told to stay in his striker position, realizes why they’re playing wrong. Rather than be up front, he needs to be in the middle, orchestrating the plays as passes go through him, not to him. He needs to use his role as the team’s best player, not to score all the goals, but to let everyone else pivot around him as he recognizes who’s best positioned to score at any moment. It’s a beautiful scene of growth for a character who’d already come a long way, and from there to the end of the season, I only love him more and more.