Alright, let's be real: Episode 3 of Stick totally nosedived the moment they introduced that girl-Zero. It's like the writers hit pause on everything that was working about the show so far, then dumped in a character that felt like she'd been pulled straight out of some Gen Z marketing focus group. You know the type: hyper self-aware, spouting vague platitudes about "mental clarity" and "living in the now," all while acting like she's too cool to even exist in the same plane as the rest of us mere mortals.
Zero is introduced as a bartender-slash-waitress at Sparling Meadows (because of course she is), and within minutes she's suddenly the moral compass and emotional coach for Santi, the actual young protagonist who we were just starting to get invested in. The show basically stops just to let her deliver this half-baked wisdom, like she's some kind of Gen Z Yoda. It doesn't come off as helpful, or insightful, or even mildly grounded-it just feels smug and irritating.
And that smugness is the real problem. Zero doesn't feel like a character; she feels like a stereotype masquerading as empowerment. She's that stock "alt girl who knows better than everyone" trope who has no patience for the world but still makes time to drop life-changing advice on a boy she's known for all of five minutes. Like... how does she suddenly know exactly what Santi needs to hear? She's not been set up as wise, or experienced, or emotionally insightful. She just appears, says some vaguely "deep" nonsense, and we're supposed to clap?
There's this painfully obvious attempt to make her cool in that hyper-curated Gen Z TikTok way: aloof but somehow emotionally attuned, sarcastic but sincere when the plot needs her to be, and dressed like she's perpetually ready for a Depop photoshoot. It's like the writers tried to craft someone "relatable" for a younger audience but forgot to actually give her a personality beyond the vibe.
What makes it worse is that she doesn't mesh at all with the tone or pacing of the show. Stick had been rolling with a nice balance of awkward comedy and character growth, especially with Pryce and Santi's dynamic. But when Zero arrives, it's like someone flipped the genre switch to "Teen Drama Meets Twitter Therapy Session." The dialogue shifts from character-driven to message-driven, and not in a subtle way. It's all very "listen up, viewer, here comes the Important Emotional Beat." It's exhausting.
And honestly, she's just not likable. That sounds harsh, but it's true. There's a difference between a character being edgy or challenging and one who just radiates this unearned superiority. Zero treats everyone around her like they're dumb or hopeless until she decides to grace them with a nugget of wisdom. There's no vulnerability, no backstory to justify why she's like this, no charm-just this wall of ironic detachment and faux-deep one-liners.
At best, she's a narrative speed bump. At worst, she's the show trying way too hard to be "in touch" with a demographic that can see right through this kind of pandering. If she's going to stick around (god help us), they're going to need to actually flesh her out beyond the Tumblr-era buzzwords and ironic eye-rolls. Because as it stands? Zero is the least interesting, most grating part of an otherwise solid episode-and she might just be the character that breaks the show if they don't figure her out fast.
