REVIEW: ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Episodes 3 – 4

Welcome to Wrexham Episodes 3 – 4 land on FX and HULU this week as the show continues to lift the curtain on the day-to-day operations of running a Football club in the lower divisions in the UK. This week’s narrative highlights the need to turn over a new leaf as the club prepares for a brand new season. As the rebuilding process begins, the American owners face their first set of unforeseen headaches and major expenses for the club.

Previously, the docu-series laid the groundwork for how the likes of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney had invested in Wrexham Association Football Club (W.A.F.C.) and the current state of affairs at the club. The episodes were imbued with a lovely sentiment and charm and set forth the lofty goal of attempting to turn this team into a successful club both on and off the pitch and win promotion. The end of the prior episode was really grim but accurately depicts the life of a professional footballer within the depths of the National League. The club had released around 10 players as well as the current coaching staff, causing a need for these positions not only to be filled but to be filled by the right people that would excel on behalf of the club.

The show continues that balance of splicing in the comedic talents of Reynolds and McElhenney to great effect, which has been interesting to see as the show focuses far more on the latter personality as the series progresses. While Reynolds is obviously a beloved celebrity with a huge fan base, it makes sense that McElhenney takes center stage, given he’s pinned as the sports-oriented investor who was the initial driving force in the first place. Based on the framing of the episodes, he also seems to have played a significant role in helping the club land a new coaching staff and a significant player signing. Oddly enough, McElhenney definitely shows far more versatility on camera and genuinely seems passionately involved, caring about every result, which we don’t see from Reynolds quite as much.

While the tone and the direction of the overall narrative paints a rosy picture of the business achieving some unbelievably unattainable goals, there are just some elements of the show that don’t particularly sit well with me. The fly-on-the-wall docu-series spotlights the fans and the community of Wrexham, and to this point, they’ve done quite well in being able to capture people’s authentic opinions. However, within episodes 3 and 4, there are a number of sequences where fans are found mid-discussion about the upcoming season and the current transfer business. It comes across as horribly manufactured, forcing segue opportunities. Not just that, but the framing of the camera shots is uncomfortably close to some of these poor people, and it really undercuts the show trying to create something that is genuine.

Building from that, episode 4 gets into how McElhenney and Reynolds utilize social media and their business connections to expose the club to a worldwide audience. In some instances, fair play to them for using their leverage to drastically increase the brand of the club in order to increase revenue streams. Listen, as a Football/Soccer fan, I’d love to see my own club be as aggressive as this because it’s obviously yielding results. However, given the show is a docu-series, it begins to feel more opportunistically promotional on the brands featured as opposed to a documentary.

Yet, this is also the reality of Football across Europe, and while Wrexham have found themselves household names as angel investors, every large club around the world is also attempting to aggressively gain that same market share in order to drive their team and the business forward.

Now, what I really love about the show is the constant spotlight on the fans of the town, the players, and the coaches. These interviews and conversations steep the show in the stark reality of life and capture the truth about the sport as a whole. Which is to say Football can be a brutal sport and the competition can’t be bought overnight, it has to be earnt. There are serious consequences to screwing up as well, and unlike American sports where the lowest team takes the number 1 draft pick, in this, Wrexham will fall into a lower division as bigger business opportunities fall away.

Welcome to Wrexham Episodes 3 – 4 loses a little focus in places, but at its core, it captures the nature of a sports documentary with a compelling “will they slay the dragon” scenario. After the current episodes, it’s a lot harder to call this an underdog story, but as a documentary, it’s fascinating to see what obstacles Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds face as owners in order to transform this club into a successful team.

Welcome to Wrexham Episodes 3 – 4 are available now exclusively on FX and HULU with two new episodes coming weekly.