Ted Lasso discourse reaches inevitable breaking point: Roy Kent is CGI
Some Ted Lasso fans are having a hard time believing Brett Goldstein is a real boy
Ted Lasso takes are a dime a dozen these days. Has the show lost its way? Do we need a Christmas episode? Where’s the conflict? Of course, while all those questions are answerable (No, yes, the conflict is that Ted’s nice, but his coaching doesn’t win games), one remains unanswered: Is Roy Kent CGI? That’s top of mind for the brain trust over at the /r/TedLasso subreddit. And honestly, it’s a fair question. Roy Kent is basically a Pixar character in terms of how his slight gestures can turn on the tears for millions around the world. But we’re here to put it in plain terms: Actor, writer, and comedian Brett Goldstein is not a computer-generated creation, like Jar Jar Binks or Watto (we think).
This conspiracy theory was brought to the wider internet by film critic Guy Dolbey on Twitter. But the question about whether or not Brett Goldstein was born in the primordial ooze of the uncanny valley has few believers. Posts on the topic only register a handful of upvotes, and that’s putting it generously. Still, it is funny to read the words “Roy Kent is CGI AF” and “Just watched. Had to search. Roy Kent is definitely CGI. Must have imported him straight from FIFA.” Another person adjusted their Apple TV settings because they thought Kent was CGI, which what? What were they adjusting? The bitrate? The language? One could even call these responses heartwarming, especially if you’re a believer in the advancements in CGI characters over the last decade.
Even scarier, some Redditors find this conversation comforting, saying they use it to confirm their sanity and potentially save their marriage. “My wife thought I was crazy until she Googled it and found this thread,” writes one Redditor. “Thank god for this thread. My husband doesn’t see it…I felt like I was going crazy,” writes another. “Every episode consists of me analyzing Roy and I can’t pay attention to anything else. His slow eye movements, blinks, and odd body movements have to be CGI! How are we the only ones seeing this?” We hate to burst your bubbles, but what this person is describing is what we in the biz call “acting.”
Nevertheless, this level of conversation is so much better than “is Ted Lasso too nice?” GTFO with that S.
[via Uproxx]