Stick Season 2 Starts November 4, and Owen Wilson Is Trying to Win a Major at 50

Photo: Chris Heaton, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Stick was the nicest surprise on Apple last summer, a golf comedy with Owen Wilson as a washed-up pro coaching a teenage prodigy, and season two begins November 4 with two episodes, then one a week through December 30. Ten episodes in all. The trailer came out on October 8 and it flips the premise. Pryce Cahill is not coaching this time. He is playing.

The idea is that Pryce, egged on by his old rival Clark Ross, played by Timothy Olyphant, bets on himself and tries to become the oldest golfer to win a major. That is a sports-movie setup, and the show has always been more of a hangout than a sports story, so I am curious how it balances the two. Wilson is at his best when he is a little pathetic and a little hopeful at the same time, and this gives him both.

Photo: Zach Catanzareti, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rhea Seehorn joins as Amanda, a coach who works with Pryce, and after Better Call Saul she can do no wrong with me. Billy Zane, Rex Linn, Sasha Alexander and Missi Pyle are also new. Peter Dager, Marc Maron, Mariana Trevino, Lilli Kay and Judy Greer are all back, and Maron grumbling in a golf cart remains the show's secret weapon.

Photo: Joynas, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Apple's comedies tend to get better in their second seasons once they stop explaining themselves. Did you watch the first year, and do you want Pryce to actually win, or is losing the point?