WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Stick season 1, episode 5.
Apple’sStickdrives itself into an even deeper bunker with its fifth episode. After the introduction of Zero inStickepisode 4, the series took a sharp change of direction after apromising three-episode debut. In episode 5, titled “The Birdie Machine,” Zero begins caddying for Santi as he competes in a US Amateur Qualifier tournament. Santi is unwilling to listen to Pryce, the former golf legend who just invested $100,000 in making him a pro, and relies on the wisdom of Zero to compete.
After episode 5,Stickmakes me even more excited forHappy Gilmore 2for all the wrong reasons. I’m beginning to realize that the plot is not the main focus of this show, but rather the tone.Stickis trying so hard to be bright and cheery, but it also wants to get tragic and deep, which just comes off as messy and disingenuous.Life is not like the people or events inStickat all, so it comes off as a hodgepodge of “hopium” seen through rose-tinted glasses. What’s more, the “golf comedy” is still painfully devoid of humor and sports knowledge.
Stick Continues To Be A Whiff By Forcibly Making Everything About Zero
Owen Wilson Is Becoming A Background Character In His Own Show
Just about every plot point and punchline inStickepisode 5 has to do with Zero. Their ideologies are included inan incredibly forceful and incessant way that is not entertaining at all. It’s not only that there’s too much preachy social messaging inStick, but that it creates this uncomfortable and cliché clash between generations that is overly stereotypical and antagonistic.
Of all the shows to get political, a golf comedy likeStickhas to be the most needless.
It’s truly uncanny the extent to which this show is taking Zero’s self-righteous character.Owen Wilson is becoming an afterthought in his own Apple TV+ show,as is golf and those who like it.Stickdoesn’t even portray the fraternal “golf bros” in good taste. Meanwhile, Marc Maron is just there to say what most viewers are probably thinking. I could not even guess who this show is supposed to be for.
WithStickepisode 5, this show is becoming so incredibly shallow and disappointing that there should be protests if it gets renewed for a second season, not if it gets canceled. I’m normally one to ride out full seasons, butthis show might be too ridiculous to keep watching.
Stick Episode 5 Further Proves How Little The Show Is Focused On Story (& Golf)
Many Story Elements Are Uninspiring, Uneducated & Implausible
Stickis actually starting to make no sense with its fifth episode. It began with a shaky premise ofWilson’s Pryce Cahill being shunned from professional golf after having a public meltdown. If he were as good asStickmakes him out to be, something like that would have barely left a stain on his reputation. Tiger Woods has gone through scandals worse than this throughout his career, and will always be the biggest name in golf.
The most implausible part of the show is Pryce’s arc. He gave a random stranger, Santi’s mom, $100,000 so he could coach her son, only to be sidelined by another random person, Zero. Then,Zero can’t even bear to listen to Pryce explain the rules of the gameso she can help Santi win. Genuinely, what is going on here?
The only intriguing story thread isSanti’s strained relationship with his estranged father, who rewarded him with attention and love when Santi achieved in golf and neglected him when he underperformed. Had this dynamic been at the heart ofStickrather than on the back burner, we could have actually had a promising show on our hands.
The golf logic inStickepisode 5 doesn’t even make sense. For example, Santi hitting the ball in a straightaway green side bunker with hardly any lip would not have been a big enough choke for him to double bogey the hole and drop from first to sixth place. Most golfers at his level would still have chipped that in for par, or bogey at worst.These errors would be easier to overlook if the show weren’t so falsely confidentabout its golf knowledge.
Apart from Zero and golf, Pryce’s backstory about Jett also feels forced and performative, like everything else inStick.There’s a Disney Channel-level sugarcoating of everything, and nothing seems real. For a show that’s so desperate to be relatable, its characters exhibit thoughts and behaviors that are inconsistent with how people actually deal with things. In this make-believe world inStick, grief doesn’t feel genuine, victory isn’t earned, and there’s nothing of substance to hold onto. Nothing sticks.
Stick Season 1, Episode 5
Cast
A disgraced golf pro seeks redemption by mentoring a troubled teen prodigy, igniting a journey of healing and second chances.
