Can People Change? A retrospective on Jamie Tartt and Kendall Roy
Ted Lasso and Succession both ask if people can change and the answers are fascinating
This article will contain spoilers for the finales of both Ted Lasso and Succession.
In the finale of Ted Lasso, perennial grump Roy Kent tells the Diamond Dogs that he has been spending a year busting his ass trying to change, but he feels like he hasn’t made any progress because, “I’m still me.” When Ted asks if he wanted to be someone else, Roy replies, “Yeah, someone better.” And then he asks the question, “Can people change?”
I want to talk about this because two of my favorite shows, Ted Lasso and Succession, both ended last week and I think they answer that question in vastly different ways. But despite the different answers, I feel like both have elements of truth to them. I want to explore that through the characters of Jamie Tartt and Kendall Roy.
At the start of Ted Lasso, Jamie Tartt seems to be set up as the primary foil to Ted’s niceness. He ignores what Ted has to say, he is rude to nearly all of his teammates, he picks on Nate, he treats his girlfriend Keeley with no sense of care. He is obviously a gifted player, but his attitude toward his teammates makes Ted want to break him down a bit.
In the episode “Tan Lines” in season 1, Jamie doesn’t put his hand in with the team before a game. When Ted asks him why, Jamie replies, “How about you and me make a deal? You get to keep on preaching your yeehaw bullshit, and in exchange, I’ll keep on ignoring you, because this team is tragic. I score all the goals, and I’m the only one (the fans) come to see.”
Standing face to face with Jamie’s arrogance is one of the few times that we see Ted lose his composure. They continue to struggle, until things begin to change during a scene when Jamie admits that he played tough just to show his dad that he could, and without caring about his mom’s desire to simply see him happy.
Jamie is transferred back to Manchester City, where he quits to be on a reality television show. When that doesn’t work out, he finds himself asking Ted for another chance. We see him come back to Richmond a more humble player, trying to make things right with Ted, Nate, his teammates, and even Keeley.
By the end of the show, we see Jamie forging a genuine friendship with Roy, encouraging his teammates, and even seeking reconciliation with his father. There are aspects of him that are the same, but overall, the Jamie Tartt we see at the end of season 3 is far different from the man we were introduced to in season 1.
Our introduction to Kendall Roy is seeing him in his car, listening to the Beastie Boys, and then walk toward the Waystar-Royco building on what he believes is the day of his coronation as the new CEO. He oozes confidence, entering the meeting with Lawrence Yee about acquiring Vaulter by saying, “Are we ready to fuck or what?” He is confident that he has the deal, only to fall on his face moments later when Yee backs out.
Over the course of the show, we see him broken down. Every time he tries to best his father, he comes out the loser. When he plans an epic birthday party, his siblings ruin it, making him look foolish. He claws for his sobriety, but ends up back in the claws of addiction, eventually leading him to his role in the death of a young waiter at Shiv’s wedding. Every time he begins to make some kind of progress toward being the kind of man that he believes he is, he falls back into negative patterns of arrogance and belittling those around him.
In one of the final scenes, he is speaking to the board about the GoJo offer. He says to the board, “This deal is a bad deal…If you want it to go through, you’ll have to fire me and find someone else to take it through, yeah?” He follows this up with a smirk, because he feels so secure in his position as the new CEO. “Let’s kill this GoJo bullshit and eat their lunch.”
Over four seasons, we see almost no growth from Kendall. One of the opening shots following Kendall in season 4 echoes the opening shots of Kendall in season 1. Despite the issues that he faces, Kendall emerges from the show essentially the same man that he was at the beginning.
Both Jamie Tartt and Kendall Roy are flawed, but largely sympathetic characters. Both have abusive fathers. Both have a strong sense of self-importance. Both live largely in a space that caters to them. Both are overwhelmingly unaware of the needs of others in their lives. And both know that something is wrong and their current path is not filling what needs to be filled for them.
But at the end of the shows, one is actually on a path to being a better man and one…is not.
The creators of Succession recently gave an interview to NPR and they discuss the question that Roy Kent asks, “Can people change?” Jesse Armstrong, the creator, head writer, and showrunner responded, “It's not that I don't think people are capable of change or growth. I guess I would say they happen rarely, slowly and not necessarily all in one direction, in that you're just as likely to devolve as evolve as a person, unfortunately, I think.”
Producer Frank Rich was more blunt in his reply. “I fundamentally believe that people don't change that much in real life…And a lot of people, particularly people who want power, whether it be economic or political power, keep doing the same things.”
The writers for Ted Lasso seem to also struggle with this question. When Trent Crimm answers Roy, he says, “I don’t think we change per se, as much as we just learn to accept who we’ve always been.”
But he is rebutted by Nate. He says, “No, I think people can change. They can. You know, sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better.”
As I’ve been pondering this since these shows wrapped, I think I fall into the “lightbulb joke” category. As in, “How many therapists does it take to change a lightbulb? Just one, but the lightbulb has to really want to change.”
When Jamie came back to Richmond, he was at rock bottom. He had lost his job, his colleagues, his celebrity, his girlfriend. The team is opposed to his return. Nate is opposed to his return. Even Ted is concerned about bringing what had been a toxic element back into the organization.
Kendall hits rock bottom numerous times, but obviously the death of the waiter and his decision to leave after the accident is a huge moment for Kendall. One of my favorite moments is in season 2, episode 4 where Shiv and Kendall have a moment in Logan’s office. Kendall tells Shiv, “It’s not going to be me.” They embrace as he cries in her arms. And then he says, “I would just ask that you take care of me. Because if dad didn’t need me right now, I don’t exactly know what I would be for.” Kendall spends the bulk of season 2 in a subservient role to Logan, but at the end, he turns on his dad, and at the beginning of season 3, we see him back where he was before the death of the kid.
What is interesting to me is that between the two of the characters, Kendall is the one who speaks endlessly about wanting change. He uses language that has all of the buzzwords of change and disruption, but when it’s actually time to make a change, he is incapable of doing it.
Why is it that the person who seems to desperately want to change is unable to and someone who seems more ambivalent is able to do that?
The lightbulb has to really want to change.
Kendall talks about wanting to change, but his goal is always money and power, and those desires keep him from making any kind of actual progress toward change. He needs that CEO job. He uses the same pleading tone with Shiv in the boardroom when he sees it all slipping away that he uses in season 2 when he is convinced that he will never be the CEO. If Kendall changes, he could lose everything.
Jamie has something that Kendall doesn’t. He has a Ted. He has someone to remind him that people are worthy of second chances. He has someone who believes in his ability to change. He has someone who will love him no matter how long that change takes. He has someone who knows that there are more important things than money and power.
And Jamie knows who he is. In episode 2 of season 1, Ted asks Jamie, “What would you rather be: a lion or a panda?” to which Jamie says, “Coach, I’m me. Why would I wanna be anything else?”
Kendall has no idea who he is. As he says in the finale, “I am like a cog built to fit only one machine…it’s the one thing I know how to do…I feel like if I don’t get to do this, I feel like that’s it. I feel like I might die.” He has no sense of himself, only of his role.
A person who knows who they are at their core can figure out how to be the best version of themself. We see that in multiple characters in Ted Lasso. Nate is adrift until he begins to realize who he is, not just who he is relating to a father figure in his life. Roy doesn’t start to change until he begins to let go of the expectations that others have had for him for his whole life. Rebecca changes when she sees value in herself, not in what she gains from her romantic partners. Ted changes when he allows himself to feel all of his emotions, not just happiness.
In The Matrix, when The Oracle meets Neo for the first time, she has a sign that says, “Temet Nosce,” which she translates as “Know Thyself.” It was only when Neo began to see who he was that he could truly become who he was meant to be. Kendall is never afforded that opportunity, but Jamie is. So Kendall never changes and Jamie does.
Knowing who we are and having others who will support us in becoming the best versions of ourselves is how we change.
It’s how we glow bright.