Taylor Gates is an Indiana native who earned her BFA in Creative Writing from the University of Evansville. She fell in love with entertainment by watching shows about chaotic families like Full House, The Nanny, Gilmore Girls, and The Fosters.
After college, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a writer, editor, and filmmaker. Today, she’s a sucker for dramedies — especially coming-of-age stories centering around complex female and LGBTQ+ characters. She has been with Collider since May 2022.
Apple TV has gradually established itself as one of the best streamers around, churning out high-quality projects and actually giving them a chance to find an audience. Holding an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, Stick Season 1 garnered solid reviews, but it never got the attention of juggernauts like Severance, Widow’s Bay, or even the comparable feel-good sports dramedy Ted Lasso. Thankfully, it was still renewed for a sophomore installment, with the opportunity to find its swing (pun intended) and capitalize on all the potential present from the start.
Stick Season 2 sees all the characters grappling with big decisions. The end of Season 1 teased that Pryce (Owen Wilson) might find himself back on the course as a player again instead of staying on the sidelines as a coach — a plot point that takes center stage in this second outing. Though initially reluctant, considering he’s been out of the game so long and is now decades older than most of the other competitors, Mitts (Marc Maron) and Clark’s (Timothy Olyphant) encouragement eventually convinces him to pick up the clubs again. Of course, he’ll need some serious practice to have a fighting shot. After the devastating revelation that his former coach, Butch (Rex Linn), is suffering from Alzheimer’s, he enlists Butch’s daughter Amanda (Rhea Seehorn) to help him prepare, though the fact that Pryce and Amanda have a romantic history that didn’t end well the first time around threatens to complicate things.
Meanwhile, Santi (Peter Dager) debates whether to take a full-ride golf scholarship to IU or go pro. Pryce insists that Santi should pick college in order to get an education and work on his mental game, but Santi is tempted by the glamorous life an agency offers if he chooses to sign with them. Santi’s decision also influences Elena (Mariana Treviño), who struggles to be taken seriously as Santi’s manager while juggling big advancements in her relationship with Mitts, and Zero (Lilli Kay), who is trying to achieve her own goals.
One of the biggest criticisms of Stick Season 1 was that Santi and Zero often acted like cliché, whiny teenagers. Luckily, they’re written with more maturity and nuance in Season 2, making their characters both more likable and interesting. Dager does an excellent job of portraying how much pressure Santi is under as he is forced to make enormous, life-altering decisions at just 18 years old while being pulled in countless directions, and it’s a treat to watch Kay develop relationships and find purpose outside of Santi. The inevitable conflict this causes in their dynamic is more sophisticated and intriguing than in the first season.
Seeing Pryce attempt to become the oldest person to ever win the US Open is both fun and inspirational, showcasing the message that you’re never too old to follow your dreams. Though there are plenty of nice training montages, Stick doesn’t shy away from addressing the emotional work Pryce needs to do as well, forcing him to interrogate why he constantly self-destructs. One of the strongest storylines involves Amanda making him see a sports psychologist to unpack his trauma. The few childhood flashbacks peppered throughout are a bit on the nose and unnecessary, but it’s genuinely moving to watch Pryce’s mental health journey unfold.
Apple TV+ has some of the best TV shows of the last decade, but there are also plenty of hidden gems worth a look.
Season 2 beefs up Olyphant’s role from a recurring part to a main character, and it's a decision that really pays off. While he made for a delicious antagonist in Season 1, it’s a blast to see him become part of the gang without losing any of his hilariously egocentric personality. He continues to steal just about every scene he’s in, and one particular storyline involving him and Missi Pyle’s character is one of the wildest of the series so far.
Stick Season 1 struggled with pacing — a problem it hasn’t figured out how to fix in Season 2. It’s a breezy watch, with every episode around 30 minutes, but many of them end without feeling like much progress was made. The show also occasionally suffers from the “second-screen viewing” phenomenon, where similar conversations are had multiple times in case viewers missed them the first go-around. While the plot mainly suffers from sluggishness, a few plot points are brushed over too quickly and without much build-up, especially for Amber-Linn’s (Judy Greer) arc.
Seehorn is a welcome addition, even if the material she has to work with is a mixed bag. She shines brightest when the show focuses on her dynamic with Butch, which she plays with heartbreaking restraint and groundedness. Caring for an aging parent who has both reassuringly good days and discouragingly bad days is all too familiar for countless people, and her performance is sure to make many feel seen.
Four love stories, four completely different ideas of what it means to be somebody's person. This is the one that matches how you actually fall, and what it would ask of you.
You do not fall for strangers. You fall for the person you have already been talking to for years, which is the slowest and by some distance the most durable way anybody has found to do this.
You want a partner, not an audience. Somebody who wants their own life as badly as you want yours, and who would never ask you to be smaller to make the relationship easier.
The intensity was never the problem. The secrecy is. You are drawn to a love that lives entirely in private, and to the particular ache of wanting somebody you are not supposed to want.
You do not do this cautiously. When it happens for you it is immediate and total and it rearranges everything, and you would not accept a smaller version of it.
Unfortunately, Stick doesn’t handle the romantic tension between Amanda and Pryce with the same amount of nuance. There are moments where it’s easy to root for them (a silly yet sexy strip golf scene is particularly clever), and Amanda’s tough-love approach is mostly enjoyable, but their conflicts can be overly simplistic and even a bit childish. The way they behave in their relationship when they face challenges isn’t too dissimilar to Santi and Zero, which is a problem considering there’s a 30+-year age gap between the two couples. The same can be said for Elena and Mitts’ dynamic, which never feels as authentic as one would hope.
Stick Season 2 may suffer from some of the same problems it faced the first time around and doesn’t always go as deep as one might hope, but it’s still a perfectly pleasant watch. Santi and Zero’s storylines are both more compelling than ever, Olyphant’s upped screen time is a true delight, and Seehorn and Linn prove to be great additions. The show’s handling of mental health and aging parents sets it apart, sending important messages without ever getting too preachy or saccharine. The show's return might have secured a hole-in-one, but it’s still well under par.
Stick Season 2 premieres November 4 on Apple TV.
A breezy and frequently moving sophomore season.
