Stick Season 2’s two-episode premiere raises the stakes between Pryce and Santi as they start to go on separate journeys. Both characters find renewed success in the sport they love, which leads them to consequential choices about their professional futures. Golf once brought this unlikely mentorship together, and these two episodes suggest that it will again. It’ll just take time.
In both Stick Season 2, Episode 1, “Sirens in Soft Spikes,” and Stick Season 2, Episode 2, “Don’t Be Summer Mayonnaise,” Pryce and Santi are at odds. Meanwhile, everyone around them is in a really good, solid place, including Amber-Linn. Now that Judy Greer is a series regular (Such a smart decision, by the way), this show needs to do way more with her.
Amber-Linn setting Pryce up on a date is a reasonable starting point – she cares about him. But there’s a chance to get to know her independent of her relationship with Pryce now that she will be on the show more. The same is true for Timothy Olyphant’s Clark Ross! Regardless, these first two episodes do a great job at depicting what’s on the line for the characters this season.
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Is Santi Ready to Go Pro?
The biggest question and the topic of most conversations in these two episodes is about whether or not Santi will go pro. Even when it’s not the explicit content of a scene, it’s the underlying subtext that weighs on the characters. Santi, in particular, literally can’t talk or think about anything else. His aspirational tunnel vision is more than understandable after his meteoric rise in the first season. My favorite scene amid all of this is between Pryce and Santi in the RV.
In retrospect, it feels like the calm before the storm for these two characters. Santi really understands Pryce and his career at that moment. He asks reasonable questions about Pryce’s history in the sport and with his late son Jett. He’s curious, not accusatory. It’s Pryce that never really asks Santi more questions about why he wants to go pro – why the money matters to Santi now or anything else. Pryce has the hindsight to know the warning signs of going pro too young and to be wary of agents, just as Stick introduces Jeremy. Mitts even agrees with Pryce that going pro turns the sport into anything but a game.
The reality is that Santi won’t understand what they mean until he lives it. He’s only 18! He’s so young. Santi sees the appeal of the money and fame and access to the game and its resources. He also sees the regret in Pryce – he doesn’t hide it as well as he thinks. So, for Santi, the best choice he can make is to go pro and be his own pro. He has to experience his own wins and losses. Maybe then he can see that there are some universal experiences in professional sport. On the other hand, maybe Pryce can learn that things could be different for Santi.
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Are Mitts & Elena Ready for the Next Step?
Either way, I wish that Elena was a more active participant in any of these conversations. More often than not, the scripts write Elena as more invested in the idea of Pryce returning to the game. The first season depicts Elena as a business savvy woman. One would assume she’d be interested in Santi’s career.
Alternatively, it’s nice that these episodes focus on Elena and Mitts’s romance. Their relationship is one of the standout dynamics in the first season, and this season premiere moves them in an interesting direction with potential ripples. It’s genuinely moving for Mitts to say that he would sell his house for Elena – Stick knows that’s a big deal. With their choice to move in together, it feels like Elena and Mitts are in their own bubble during these episodes.
It pops when distance seemingly separates them (Elena stays in California, Mitts goes to Ohio). It’ll be curious to see how that space – after having practically none in the RV – does or doesn’t test their relationship. On the other hand, these episodes don’t do much for Zero’s arc or their relationship with Santi. Again, it seems like Stick doesn’t know what it wants for Zero just yet, which is a little frustrating when everyone else’s stories are well-drawn.
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Is It Time for Pryce’s Comeback Story?
For example, these episodes effortlessly fold Timothy Olyphant’s Clark in as a series regular. It’s hilarious that Pryce has more chemistry with Clark than he does Beth, the woman Amber-Linn sets him up with. It’s clever for Stick to stage this massive, tense conversation in a calm, public space. That juxtaposition is endlessly watchable. It’s also fascinating because it’s never clear what game Clark is playing or why he wants Pryce to return to professional golf.
The money feels like an obvious draw for him. However, it is an intriguing parallel that Jeremy seems to be in Santi’s ear for the same reason. Relatedly, it’s shocking, given their history, that Pryce is honest with Clark about how Pryce wonders if he’ll never be as good or better than he was. Clark has a genuine reaction to that – or so it seems. Clark’s belief feels real when he expresses real frustration with Pryce because Clark tried – with less talent than Pryce – and failed. Owen Wilson and Olyphant are as good at those dramatic beats as they are at the hilarious halt-worthy moments when Clark manifests. It’s exciting to imagine a season of these two working together more.
Not to mention, Stick builds anticipation around Pryce’s “meltdown.” In “Sirens and Soft Spikes,” people bet on it. In “Don’t Be Summer Mayonnaise,” Mitts fears it but knows Pryce has grown. Pryce has, so his meltdowns manifest differently. For example, going to Clark could be a self-sabotaging opportunity. Or, it could be an honest reflection of Pryce’s development where he finally bets on his own success. What a great place to tee off Stick Season 2!
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