AppleTV+'s new comedy-drama series, Stick, premieres with great potential, with its first three episodes available to stream this week. Centering on a failed professional golfer whose life is currently in ruins, the series stars Owen Wilson, who successfully embodies his unique acting style in every performance, making protagonist Pryce Cahill a relatable figure. Episodes 1, 2, and 3 of Stick introduce us to Pryce and the difficulties of his current life, along with the young golf prodigy he suddenly discovers and decides to help.
Episode 1 of Stick opens with Pryce Cahill, a salesman at the Pro Green golf center, selling a majestic dream of golfing greatness to what appears to be a regular customer. Although the customer is not exactly athletic and admits that his wife constantly tells him to live a healthier life, Pryce uses words that are far from the truth to convince him to buy the most expensive set of golf clubs in the store.
Creator: Jason Keller
Stars: Owen Wilson, Peter Dager, Lilli Kay
The customer knows the game is going to cost a fortune, but the words of praise and encouragement the salesperson has just lavished on him are enough to convince him to buy the expensive game, just to get some sort of validation. Pryce, excited by the offer, visits his boss's office immediately afterward, hoping to get an advance on the commission he just earned. However, the boss isn't too keen on the request, as Pryce has accepted numerous advances in recent weeks, to the point that the employee now owes him money.
It turns out that Pryce Cahill is going through a tough time, although his identity isn't limited to being a simple salesperson in a sporting goods store. Pryce was once a brilliant professional golfer who was quickly making a name for himself in the sport. Numerous framed newspaper clippings, certificates, and awards still hang on the walls of his home, but to everyone's surprise, his career ended as quickly as his popularity grew. We still don't know what exactly led to Pryce's downfall, but there are numerous hints in the first three episodes. One of his most famous YouTube videos isn't about his sporting abilities, but about his meltdown in a golf competition about 15 years ago. After a series of bad shots, which ended with the ball in the water, Pryce had an emotional outburst, furiously throwing his clubs and even kicking his playing partner. All of this was livestreamed and later uploaded to YouTube.
Unsurprisingly, this was the last time Pryce Cahill played professional golf, as he was understandably banned by the sports association, and he himself also lost his passion for golf. Although the exact reason for this meltdown, or rather, what triggered such a reaction, has yet to be revealed, there is a clue at the end of Episode 1, when Pryce watches a home videotape in the present. Everything seemed to be going well in his personal life, as he lived with his beloved wife, Amber-Linn, and was planning to start his own family. Eight years after their marriage, Amber-Linn conceived and gave birth to a son, whom they named Jett. Following in his father's footsteps, young Jett also wanted to be a golfer, but something happened to the boy, causing him to no longer be in Pryce's life.
Most likely, Jett fell ill and passed away, causing Pryce to lose interest in golf and suffer this very public breakdown. It was likely this same unexpected incident, and his reaction to it, that led Amber-Linn to file for divorce, as they are now separated. While Amber-Linn has managed to cope with the loss and currently holds a prominent professional position, Pryce apparently couldn't do the same, leaving his life in a complete mess. His house is extremely cluttered and unkempt, suggesting that he no longer cares about anything in his life, not even his surroundings. Since the house belongs to both Pryce and Amber-Linn, she wanted to sell it, but had allowed him to stay there until he found a new home.
However, more than two years have passed since then, and seeing no signs of Pryce looking for a new home or even changing his life, his ex-wife decides to force him to leave and sell the house. Despite her best efforts, which include paying him $75,000 in compensation, she is unable to convince him to leave and allow her to sell the house, and he considers going to court a better alternative. Since Amber-Linn is genuinely concerned for Pryce's well-being, she obviously wants to avoid such a situation, as her ex-husband will end up losing more money in court, but he doesn't agree with her plan. In fact, Pryce's only source of income, aside from meager commissions from the sporting goods store, is scamming people in bars with the help of his best friend, Mitts.
However, he decides not to allow the house to be sold until everything changes when he spots a young man at the local golf course. Although Pryce is far from the athleticism or golfing prowess he achieved in his prime, he still frequents the local golf course, perhaps to give paid lessons to the elderly women who visit him, or even to scam them. During one such visit, he sees a young man hitting a series of magnificent shots on the practice area. Already impressed by the boy's ability to execute almost every shot perfectly, he approaches him and soon discovers that the teenager can not only swing powerfully but also place his shots brilliantly.
Pryce immediately wants to know more about the boy, but when he sneaks onto the course and practices shots without paying, he has to flee to evade the owner. Pryce only manages to discover that the boy works at a nearby department store and goes in search of him. He manages to find him, but the teenager, Santiago Wheeler, better known as Santi, has no interest in hearing what the man has to say. Santi is quite concerned that the older man is harassing him for some reason, having tried to give him unsolicited advice on the course, and is even more surprised when his mother tells him about Pryce. After having no success with the boy, the protagonist seeks out his mother, Elena, and tells her his intentions. Realizing that Santi could be a generational talent in the world of golf, Pryce wants to help him have a professional career in the sport and also find fame and fortune, sponsoring him and even becoming his coach, mentor, and agent. Therefore, he asks Elena's permission to take her son around the country to compete in amateur and semi-professional golf tournaments, assuring her that he will, of course, pay the expenses.
After reflecting on the offer for a while, Elena accepts, albeit with some conditions, as she, like Pryce, also wants to take advantage of the situation. He always knew Santi had exceptional golfing ability, winning every junior competition he entered, but the boy stopped playing at 15, his life having taken a turn for the worse. To ensure his son wouldn't take unfair advantage of him and also to secure his own income, he tells Pryce he must pay him $100,000 upfront before leaving with Santi, and only then will he give his permission and physically accompany them for the entire trip. Despite the enormous amount being demanded, Pryce decides to take a risk and tries, unsuccessfully, to raise the money from old friends and acquaintances.
His last resort is to go to his ex-wife and tell her he's ready to move out of the house and let her sell it, but only if she pays him $100,000 instead of the proposed $75,000. Although he has no problem paying Amber-Linn the extra amount, he refuses to pay after learning of Pryce's extremely risky plan with Santi. He continues to look out for his well-being and, therefore, believes he's about to lose everything in gambling. However, Amber-Linn finally changes her mind after watching Santi play golf and, even more importantly, seeing how excited Pryce is about the young man's talent. So, she pays Pryce the $100,000 in exchange for him signing all the documents for the sale of the house. She then gives Elena the full amount, preparing for a long campaign.
Although Elena initially agrees to Pryce's plan to ride out in Mitts's RV, she suddenly changes her mind after calling him one night for no apparent reason. It turns out that Pryce is in police custody at that very moment for having accumulated an astonishing 31 unpaid parking tickets. Clearly, he was in no condition to pay them, though the cops understandably find it hard to believe since the man still drives his old Porsche. Pryce admits that he never imagined you could be sent to jail for not paying parking tickets, but he learns the hard lesson when he's arrested and taken to the station to be booked.
He first asks Mitts for help, but he doesn't answer, and it's at that moment that Elena calls him to clarify something, when a man loudly cursing in the background confuses her, and she learns what's been going on from the cop. Almost immediately, Elena decides to cancel the plan, even unpacking all her clothes and telling Santi to return the $100,000 check to Pryce when he gets home. Elena fears that Pryce has been hiding something from her and that he might be a corrupt man with a criminal record, so she wants to avoid being linked to him and, above all, keep her son away from him. It's safe to assume that Elena's ex-husband, Santi's father, could have been one of them, so she's terrified by the idea that the protagonist might even remotely resemble him.
Later, in episode 3 of "Stick," it's revealed that the reason Santi decided not to play golf again was because his father, who also coached him, was exceptionally harsh and belittling when he didn't perform well. Therefore, it could even be that the man physically assaulted Santi, and this is also the reason Elena was concerned about Pryce's anger issues, which she learned about online. It takes a lot of persuasion, especially from Santi himself, to change Elena's mind once again, and they eventually embark on the golf trip.
The first competition Santi enters under Pryce's tutelage and guidance is technically insignificant, as it is an amateur tournament with no prize money. Being a small and completely unknown competition, the winner also gains no fame or recognition that could help their professional career. However, the stakes are raised—literally—when Pryce secretly bets on the young man against the other competitors, and suddenly a whopping $500 is at stake. Therefore, when Santi gets off to a strong start and looks like he'll easily defeat the much older opponents, Pryce is elated, but he becomes equally angry and frustrated when the young man suddenly loses his way.
Santi's most glaring weakness is his inability to stay calm and get back on track after bad shots, which almost ruins his game immediately, whether on the course or during simulations. It doesn't help that Pryce loses his cool in such situations and yells at Santi, berating him for wasting his talent by losing focus. Unbeknownst to Pryce, these words are extremely degrading and provocative to Santi, as his father used to behave this way every time he missed a shot, causing him to lose all interest in the sport. The teenager leaves the course immediately and disappears for a long time, much to Pryce's concern.
Luckily, Santi meets a young woman named Zero during this time, who had been fired from her job as a waitress at the golf club minutes earlier. The two teenagers quickly bond over their anger and hatred toward people, mostly men, who boss everyone around while trying to appear to have everything under control. Zero patiently listens to Santi's ramblings and then supports him, offering brilliant advice. He tells him that Santi should show Pryce where he belongs with his performance on the golf course and prove once and for all that he doesn't need the advice of a failed professional golfer.
This inspires Santi to return to the golf course for the ninth round, and there's no turning back. Although he had completely lost his way before after a bad shot in the fifth round, the teenager has regained his formidable form, and none of his competitors come close. Thus, at the end of Episode 3 of "Stick," Santi easily wins the competition and takes home the trophy, although the previous incidents greatly damage his relationship with Pryce. Nonetheless, we can expect Pryce to work hard to clear up the misunderstanding, especially since he has now discovered Santi's father through Elena, and the group will continue to bond, almost like a family.
Comments
Post a Comment