Episode 5 (and Zero) Just Ruined Owen Wilson's Stick for Good
Apple TV+'s Stick is five episodes in, and it's now official: the show has completely lost the plot—assuming it ever had one.
What started as a weirdly sincere golf comedy starring Owen Wilson is now barely about golf and definitely not a comedy.
Episode 5, titled "The Birdie Machine," picks up with Santi competing in a U.S. Amateur Qualifier… but instead of listening to Pryce (Owen Wilson's character, who just dropped $100,000 to train him), Santi decides to take advice from Zero—the show's aggressively overused wildcard played by Lilli Kay. Yes, the same Zero who showed up last episode and instantly became the main character.
From this point on, the show seems hellbent on making everything revolve around Zero. Every scene, every conflict, every preachy speech—it's all filtered through their ideology. Meanwhile, Owen Wilson—the face of the entire marketing campaign—is basically standing in the background like an unpaid extra.
Then there's the show's emotional core, or what's left of it. The only compelling storyline—Santi's toxic relationship with his emotionally distant dad—is shoved aside for yet another Zero monologue. Pryce's past trauma with a character named Jett also pops up again, but it plays more like a forced after-school special than real character development.
Even the show's basic logic has started to buckle. Pryce gives a stranger (Santi's mom) $100K to coach her son, then willingly gets sidelined by another complete stranger (Zero), who can't even be bothered to learn the rules of golf before stepping in as caddy.
The tone is all over the place too. One moment the show wants to be quirky and upbeat, the next it's trying to drop tragic monologues like it's Manchester by the Sea. The result is a shallow, confused mess. It's like Ted Lasso without the jokes or heart—or, for that matter, any understanding of sports.
So who is this show for? It doesn't respect golf fans, doesn't give Owen Wilson anything to do, and doesn't even seem to like its own premise anymore. If Stick gets a second season, it'll be a miracle—and a warning sign that Apple will greenlight literally anything.
At this point, even Happy Gilmore 2 sounds like a smarter bet.