WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Stick season 1, episode 9.
Stick season 1, episode 9, “Showtime,” finally starts to sharpen its focus, pick up its pace, and set Owen Wilson’s golf dramedy show up for a strong season finale. Although some areas of Stick season 1’s penultimate episode continue to run thin or stray from what makes the show really work, it’s a great continuation from last week’s series-best episode, “Clark the Mark”, led by Timothy Olyphant’s godsend of a performance to rival Wilson’s beat-up ex-PGA pro, Pryce Cahill.
Stick is proving that, just like in golf, it doesn’t matter how rough you start out, because it’s all about how you finish. While Stick hasn’t gotten any more convincing in actual areas of golf knowledge and fandom, its story and character dynamics have finally picked up steam at the right time. Even though it would have been so much better had the series not completely floundered with its middle episodes, Stick impressively reversed its course in clutch time.
Stick Episode 9 Proves It Works Best When Pryce & Santi Stay On Course (Literally)
Episode 9 Keeps Things In The Playing Field & Features Real PGA Golfers
Looking back on Stick after episode 9, its biggest problem has surely been how much energy and focus were spent on plot elements and character conflicts that took place off the golf course. It may be too late for Stick to fully redeem itself, but its last two episodes have made it much easier to overlook its typical laundry list of weekly episode complaints.
Stick episode 9 features cameos from PGA pros Keegan Bradley, Max Homa, and Wyndham Clark. For golf fans who have been patient with Stick and were hoping for more golf authenticity from the show, the three PGA pros add a great touch, but are still a far cry from the upcoming guest list in Netflix’s Happy Gilmore 2.
Had the creative team behind Stick put more emphasis on creating a sense of genuineness around the game, we’d likely be having a much different conversation heading into the finale.
CBS golf broadcasters Trevor Immelman and Jim Nantz also appear in multiple scenes of Stick episode 9, adding their signature brand of commentary to the fictional PGA Tour event, the Ready Safe Insurance Invitational. I appreciated their candor about Santi’s decision to hit a drive into the fairway of a neighboring hole to avoid a bunker because it really is, as they put it, “insane.”
This type of legitimate golf presence and endorsement from established PGA personnel is exactly what Stick needed and what many fans had hoped for when they first pressed play. Had the creative team behind Stick put more emphasis on creating a sense of genuineness around the game, we’d likely be having a much different conversation heading into the finale.
Stick’s Various Flaws Have Hidden Its Most Fundamental Problem – Santi
Santi Is Hard To Root For & Unconvincing As A Teenage Golf Prodigy
Plenty of Stick viewers have cast shade at Zero’s character for throwing a wrench in the emerging teacher-student relationship between Pryce and Santi. Since Stick season 1, episode 4, Zero became the only one whom Santi would listen to on the course, even though she had little to no golf experience. Meanwhile, Pryce, a former PGA Tour champion, called the shots from the sidelines.
These elements around Santi, including the nonspecific arc about his strained relationship with his father, made it seem like they were the roots of some of Stick’s most fundamental problems. Seeing Santi back in the spotlight with Pryce in episode 9 reveals that his character, which the entire concept of the show is centered around, is the true issue.
I’m unsure what the audience is supposed to think about Santi when he seems more interested in calling Pryce out than in going pro or winning the tournament.
His character is missing a core aspect of any athlete in any sports movie – a competitive spirit. He’s reluctant to return to the game because his dad was too hard on him, a character who was smartly included in Stick episode 9’s twist ending. I get that. Still, after being given an unheard-of, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive a sponsor’s exemption as a no-name, his behavior on the course is too childlike to be taken seriously.
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There are just too many times when Santi looks like a deer in headlights or gets overly rattled by Pryce or Zero without showing an ounce of resiliency. I’m unsure what the audience is supposed to think about Santi when he seems more interested in calling Pryce out than in going pro or winning the tournament.
If Stick is going to lean into the starstruck and fragile teenage side of Santi, then having him end up in second place on the leaderboard after three rounds of his first PGA tournament simply can’t happen (even though it does). Not only is it unrealistic on a near Like Mike level, but it’s undeniably ridiculous whether you understand golf or not.
It’s been a needlessly volatile debut season for Stick, but I’m still rooting for it to make a comeback finish – one that can’t rely on a predictably cheesy happy ending.
I am looking forward to seeing how Santi reacts after his father shows up in episode 9, but for the sake of Stick’s longevity, he cannot win this tournament. A better lesson and ending would be Santi properly handling disappointment, something that he has blatantly struggled with throughout the series so far.
Also, if he doesn’t sign up for Clark’s golf academy, the “same one” that bred players like the world’s number one golfer, Scottie Scheffler, it would be a colossal mistake, regardless of any storybook justification Stick’s ending may try to come up with.
It’s been a needlessly volatile debut season for Stick, but I’m still rooting for it to make a comeback finish – one that can’t rely on a predictably cheesy happy ending. Stick needs to definitively show viewers what this show is all about with its season 1 finale. If it’s not the golf comedy it’s marketed as, there has to be something more to it.
- Stick is sharpening its focus & pace with its last 2 episodes
- PGA pros & personnel add some much needed golf authenticity
- Introducing Santi’s dad is a good penultimate cliffhanger
- Santi has no competitive spirit, which is very unusual for an athlete protagonist
- It’s still unclear what type of show Stick wants to be after nine episodes
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
