Rebecca sings Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” while delivering her father’s eulogy in Ted Lasso season 2, episode 10, “No Weddings and a Funeral,” which is a strange scene within an otherwise heavy story about the difficulty of grief. The Apple TV+ series is deft at blending comedy with more serious emotional arcs, and the funeral scene is a perfect example of that balance. But why exactly does Rebecca choose to sing that song at that particular moment?
“Never Gonna Give You Up” actually plays three different times in Ted Lasso season 2, episode 10. First, Rebecca hears it when her mother blasts it through the house in the morning. Rebecca says that she hates the song, but her mother says it makes her happy. Then Rebecca sings it at the funeral, eventually getting the whole crowd of mourners to in. And at the very end of the episode, Rick Astley’s original music video plays at the end of an old home videotape.
Each of these three instances is significant in its own way. When Rebecca stands to give her father’s eulogy, she completely freezes. Their relationship was complicated: as she states just beforehand, Rebecca hated her father for cheating on her mother. It's the kind of complicated emotional moment that Ted Lasso season 2 handles so powerfully. She still clearly has some love for him in her heart, but she doesn't know what to say, leading to a paralyzing blitz of unprocessed grief. In lieu of anything else to say, she tearfully starts singing “Never Gonna Give You Up,” and there are a few reasons why. Most simply, it’s a catchy song, and it was probably stuck in her head from hearing it that morning. Second, she knows her mother loves the song, so her decision to sing it may have been a way to convey the love she really has for her parents, even though she has trouble forming words.
The fact that the Rick Astley song is also on the home videotape at the end of the Ted Lasso funeral episode hints it was a favorite of both of her parents. That would make it particularly significant at the funeral. It’s also a song about refusing to let go of a loved one – something Rebecca is being forced to do before she was ready because of her father’s sudden ing. Rebecca doesn’t want to give her father up, even though her feelings about him were complicated and messy.
There’s one other reason “Never Gonna Give You Up” is the perfect song for Rebecca to sing at the funeral – it’s inexplicable. She effectively Rickrolls a whole funeral, singing the heavily memed song at what seems like the least appropriate time. And yet, she has her reasons, unknown to many of her listeners. It’s a bizarre blend of comedy and sadness that’s a perfect representation of the nature of grief – an emotion that manifests in unexplainable and confusing ways. Ted Lasso season 2 has experienced some backlash for having less drama than season 1, but it's still accomplished some impressive feats with its writing, and turning a Rickroll into a powerful emotional moment may be its crowning achievement.