Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Season 3 of Ted Lasso.The Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso might be best known for its namesake, a man who oozes positivity in nearly every moment of his life, no matter who he's around, where he is, or what personal pain he might be going through. Jason Sudeikis' portrayal of the American football coach turned British football coach of AFC Richmond has become one of TV's most loved characters.

He isn't the only one though. Right there with him, a man very much his opposite, is the perpetually grumpy Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein). For two seasons, his immense gruffness and neverending scowl made the aging player the source of much conflict for everyone around him. Season 3 of Ted Lasso, however, hasn't focused on Roy Kent's stories as much. That doesn't mean he's not around. He's still there about as much as he ever was, interacting in the plots of others. It's there, in the background, that Roy continues to grow.

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Roy Kent Still Cares About Keeley Even After Breaking up With Her

Roy (Brett Goldstein) and Keeley (Juno Temple) holding hands on 'Ted Lasso"
Image via Apple TV+

One of the best parts about Ted Lasso had been the relationship between Keeley Jones (Juno Temple), a feisty former model, and Roy Kent. The two brought out the best in each other, with Keeley getting to feel loved and treated right after the disaster that was her life with Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), and Keeley's fun side getting Roy to relax just a tad and open up. We also got to see Roy grow in his relationship with his young niece, Phoebe (Elodie Blomfield). When the three of them were together, you could envision Roy and Keeley as great parents one day. Season 2, however, saw drama invade their relationship. That led to Roy and Keeley breaking up in the first episode of this season. We see them as they break the news to young Phoebe.

This being a sitcom, Roy and Keeley can't stay together so early. It's like Ross and Rachel from Friends. If they find their happily ever after in the second season, where's the conflict needed to create more stories? Hopefully, this means that Roy and Keeley will get back together, though please, don't make it end up the constant Ross and Rachel back and forth. It also gives Roy's character a chance to grow. Brett Goldstein, in a recent interview with Town & Country, said of Roy,

"You have this character of Roy who had suppressed all of his emotions his entire life, except rage—the only one he let out was rage. And then he fell in love with Keeley, and he was opened up by Ted, and all these feelings fell out of him. I don't think he knows how to cope with them. He has no skills for managing these emotions and these feelings. His tragic flaw is he doesn't feel worthy of love. He doesn't think he deserves to be happy or deserves to be loved. He's self destructive and he's shuts it all down and he's like, 'I'll just work, I'll just do football and nothing else and then I'll just die and it'll be fine.'"

For Roy to grow, he first has to lose. That doesn't mean we see Roy turning into a blubbering mess, spilling his guts out to anyone who will listen. Still, he's slowly growing. He'll mention it to Ted, and even Jamie, rather than hiding it. He confesses it to the team rather than denying it, even though it all makes him very uncomfortable, and, as usual, very angry. A perfect example of Roy Kent's background growth in Ted Lasso is his response to learning that a nude video of Keeley has leaked online. When he hears about it in the locker room, he pauses, completely stopping what he's doing. He's crushed for her rather than himself. Without saying a word, we see how much he still loves her. Roy goes to Keeley and asks how she is, but then he messes it all up, his selfishness getting in the way, when he asks Keeley who the nude video was for. This crushes Keeley and she walks away. Roy immediately knows what he's done. He let his self get in the way of what Keeley is feeling and messed everything up. He curses himself, and while it's a bad moment for him, it's also one of growth, because he recognizes what he's done.

Roy Kent and Jamie Tartt Are Blossoming Into a Bromance

Roy Kent, played by Brett Goldstein, and Jamie Tartt, played by Phil Dunster, going for a jog on 'Ted Lasso'
Image via Apple TV+

The two best relationships on Ted Lasso have nothing to do with an intimate, sexual romance. It's the love between friends that makes the series so heartwarming. Topping the list is the friendship between Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), AFC Richmond's owner, and Keeley. They are each other's emotional support. When one needs to talk, the other is always there. They openly talk about what the other means to them, constantly compliment each other, and say "I love you" out loud. They are the epitome of best friends.

Then there's Roy and Jamie Tartt. Ted Lasso's earliest episodes focused on their rivalry. While Roy was the gruff older player, Jamie was the younger, cocky, self-centered arse. When Keeley and Jamie break up, and she ends up with Roy, it only made things even more intense. But then we dig deeper into their characters. Jamie has a horrible father who treats him like garbage. Jamie wants only for his dad to love him. This led to perhaps the most emotional moment of the series, when Jamie finally stands up to his verbally abusive father, punching him in the locker room in front of his teammates. He freezes, in shock. It's then that Roy goes up to him and wraps his arms around Jamie, letting his former enemy cry on his shoulder.

Season 3 sees them now bonded over both having lost Keeley. Roy's not going to talk about it a lot, but we see how much Roy now cares about Jamie by how he takes him under his wing. He gives Jamie personal coaching, taking him out at 4am every morning for a jog. A recent episode showed Roy growing in the simplest of ways. When out in Amsterdam, with Jamie annoying Roy by pointing out every landmark he sees, Jamie decides that they'll ride bikes to the countryside to find a real windmill. There's just one problem: Roy never learned how to ride a bike. He says that his grandfather was supposed to teach him but he died, and now he's realizing that by never learning to ride, he's disrespecting his memory. Roy is on the verge of tears. He says, "Can we stop talking about it and go back to me just taking my negative emotions out on you whether you deserve it or not." Wow, talk about growth and awareness. It's then that Jamie, "for Grandad," teaches Roy to ride a bike in a sweet montage.

Ted Lasso's Personality Is Rubbing off on Roy

Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), and Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) standing together in the locker room on 'Ted Lasso'
Image via Apple TV+

It's impossible not to grow and become a better person when you're surrounded by the positivity of one Ted Lasso. Ted makes everyone around him a better person, Roy included. It was a struggle for Roy to accept his age and retire from the sport he excelled at, but he's found a new purpose as an assistant coach alongside Ted and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt). Coaching forces him to share part of himself through teaching. You can't be selfish and be a coach at the same time. You literally have to give parts of yourself — that's growth.

But it's more than growth from coaching that's affecting Roy. It's also the closeness of being around Ted and Beard so much. It's even altering his personality. He finds himself dropping stupid Lassoisms while trying to stop himself to no avail. He laughs during a training exercise in which the players have to wrap red strings around their, er, members as a way to keep them closer together. This display of joy causes Ted to turn to Coach Beard and point at Roy, amazed and proud of how Roy is changing.

Ted has also showed Roy how to care. When Ted is shaken because he thinks his ex-wife is about to get engaged, Roy says, "Ted, I'm so sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" He's not pretending to be nice. He really cares. Though when Coach Beard calls for the Diamond Dogs (the coaches' male support group) to mount up, Roy says, "Never f*cking mind" and bails to his office. He might be growing, but he can only take so much. Still, he's listening, as he'll shout something from the other side of the door from time to time.

The ideal example of the change Ted has created in Roy is when Ted forces him to talk to Trent Crimm (James Lance), the journalist covering the team for a book. Roy hates him so much that he won't let any of the players talk to Crimm. When Ted makes Roy talk to Trent, we see the source of his anger. Trent once wrote a very negative article about him that Roy has kept with him ever since. He reads the article to Crimm. "I was seventeen years old. This f*cking wrecked me," he says. He accepts Crimm's apology and tells the team, "Oi, you can talk around this prick now." Roy Kent may be growing and becoming a better person, but he's still Roy Kent.

New episodes of Ted Lasso Season 3 premiere every Wednesday on Apple TV+.