Comedy
Trying
With ‘Trying,’ Apple TV sheds a light on the beauty and burden of adoption. But foul language and sexual moments cause some strife.
Lonnie “the Hawk” Hawkins was a big deal. Operative word: was.
Back in 2010, Lonnie was professional golf’s undisputed star, standing atop the PGA’s worldwide golf rankings and winner of three of the sport’s four major tournaments.
He would’ve had a fourth, too—which would’ve completed the fabled Grand Slam, joining such golfing greats as Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods—but a missed putt at California’s Pebble Beach ended his quest. And it practically ended his career, too.
But Lonnie still has dreams. He still has goals. Even though he’s been swinging away on a fourth-tier pro circuit for years now, he wants to do the impossible: Win a few events, re-qualify for the PGA tour and win that pesky fourth major. And he might just do it, too, thanks to a new caddie, a new focus and Netflix.
Not that Lonnie’s drive to the U.S. Open will land in the middle of the fairway. The Hawk will need to do his share of scrambling. And plenty of obstacles stand in his way.
First, there’s his new caddie. Sam was living out of a car when Lonnie invited her to join Team Hawk. She knows nothing about golf: For her, a club is a suit of cards, a tee is a letter in the alphabet, and a driver is another role she serves on Lonnie’s bus. But she’s a quick study and knows how to motivate her mercurial employer.
Second, Lonnie will need to contend with another Hawk on the course: his son, Lance. Lance and Lonnie have a complicated relationship, but the kid’s good. Real good. So good that Lonnie’s a little worried that Lance just might overshadow Lonnie’s own career. That can’t happen. Not if Lonnie has anything to say about it.
And we can’t forget Golden Fisk, Lonnie’s seemingly charmed rival. The two have a long history, and Lonnie would love to wipe Golden’s glinty grin off his oh-so-tanned face.
Finally, let’s namecheck Lonnie Hawkins’s biggest obstacle and greatest enemy: Lonnie Hawkins.
Lonnie’s a jerk. A self-obsessed, shallow, heel of a human being—one who has shanked his share of shots in the game of life. Lonnie will need to come to terms with his own shortcomings if he wants to nail the putt on this redemption story.
But it might be rough.
Netflix doesn’t make it any easier on Lonnie. Or, I might add, on the viewer.
Will Ferrell, who plays the title character in The Hawk, has never been known as a high-brow comedian. While Ferrell is a legit funnyman who’s done some pretty good work without being crass, he’ll do anything for a laugh. And he shows it in this streaming series.
If the competitive but quiet world of professional golf was an intense chess match, then Lonnie would be a 5-year-old with a temper and a 9-iron. He’ll dance on the ninth green like a male stripper, trash-talk his opponents like an Oakland Raider and create more on-the-green chaos than a caffeinated wolverine.
And when Lonnie gets around people, the problems increase exponentially. Ribald jokes and references are common. Lonnie and his estranged wife, Stacy, regularly reference sexual organs and acts. Violence and even death play on this course, too.
And then, of course, we must contend with the language. R-rated profanities are more common than golf balls in the lake, and here, “birdies” reference more than one-under-par golf shots: They indicate certain hand gestures as well.
The series will surely chronicle a redemption story—not just Lonnie’s redemption on the course, but off of it, as well. No character would be set up as so dysfunctional unless there was a turnaround somewhere in play.
But for Plugged In, The Hawk won’t be playing through. It just didn’t make the cut.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
When Old Henry—Lonnie’s longtime caddie and only friend—collapses and dies on the golf course, Lonnie is forced to do the unthinkable: withdraw from a tournament. But the golfer has other issues to deal with, too. His estranged wife, Stacy, is upset because Lonnie maxed out their shared credit card to buy satellite reception for his tour bus. Lonnie worries that his son, Lance, may eclipse his legend in professional golf. Oh, and he needs a new caddie, too. Luckily, he finds one: a woman named Sam, whom Lonnie recruits from a parking lot.
Lance works out shirtless in a high-tech facility. When Lonnie calls Lance and a man answers, Lonnie seems to think that his son may have taken a male lover. “Love is love and all that crap,” Lonnie says, suggesting his acceptance. (In reality, Lance is engaged to a woman named Natalie, which Lonnie should know but can’t seem to remember.) Stacy wears an outfit that exposes some cleavage. Lonnie dances in a comically sultry manner on the golf course to Sisqó’s ribald 1999 hit “Thong Song.” He and Lance talk about various critical body parts (using one of them as a measurement of length when advising Lance on a putting technique).
Before he dies, Old Henry drives Lonnie’s tour bus wildly unsafely, causing a series of car crashes on the road and nearly hitting innocent pedestrians. After he dies, Lonnie becomes irate about the need to quit the tournament. “I’m two feet from the pin!” he complains. But he agrees to accompany Old Henry’s body to the morgue. And, as he does so, he tries to steal Old Henry’s watch and the cash out of his wallet. (Lonnie’s thrown out of the ambulance for doing so.)
Lance claims to be “jacked up on creatine.” He chastises his father for his unhealthy dietary habits, especially as Lonnie sips a shake. “Why don’t you just do meth?” Lance asks him. (“Because it’s not as delicious,” Lonnie tells him.) Lonnie drinks wine in a bar. Other characters drink wine and beer. Lonnie squirts a bottle of liquid at fans at a golf tourney. “It’s water!” he says—using air quotes that suggest it’s not water at all. He marks his ball with a $100 poker chip, suggesting a fondness for gambling.
It’s suggested that Sam, Lonnie’s new caddie, lives out of a car—though apparently, not her own. We hear a reference to meditation.
Characters use the f-word about 20 times, the s-word 25 times and the c-word four times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “crap,” “d–n,” “h—,” “d–k” and “t-ts.” We also hear a racial slur. God’s name is misused about seven times, four of those with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is abused once.
The episode hinges on Old Henry’s memorial service. And Lonnie’s family wonders whether Lonnie is going to show up.
“He’s gonna come,” Lance says. “Old Henry was his only friend.”
“Golf was his only friend,” Stacy, Lonnie’s estranged wife, says. And indeed, it doesn’t seem that Lonnie can be bothered: He’s in the middle of another golf tournament, so he texts in a eulogy for his longtime caddie.
In that eulogy, Lonnie says that Old Henry is at “God’s 19th hole. Our final round. Our final tour. A tradition like no other.” And then he calls Old Henry a “friend. A father. Sometimes even a son. And sometimes we were the only thing each of us had.” Given that the text is read aloud by Lance, Lonnie’s real son, the words are a bit hurtful. But the crowd seems to appreciate it.
We hear that Old Henry was actually a better father to Lance than Lonnie was, teaching him how to play golf and coaching him on his game. Old Henry’s daughter admits that her father “was a good dad when he was around. But he was never around.”
We hear a few religious and spiritual references. Someone says that “we cannot know what the universe holds in store for us. Its designs are mysterious.” Stacy tells Lonnie that there’s “nothing in God’s bag of miracles” that could put Lonnie back on the PGA tour again. Lonnie asks if Old Henry’s service included a gospel choir. Lance’s fiancée, Natalie, tells a stressed-out Lance that she’ll bring out “singing bowls” and “give you a sound bath” when they get home.
Lance asks Natalie to perform a sexual act on him on the drive home. We hear that Old Henry’s daughter was the result of Henry liking to “make sweet love.” Lonnie becomes visibly aroused when talking to Stacy, and he asks her to kiss him (even though she’s with her new boyfriend). Sam simulates a sex act on Lonnie’s golf bag while on the course. References are made to other sex acts.
We hear crude references to body parts. Stacy hawks her line of alcoholic iced tea at Old Henry’s funeral. Characters drink wine. Lonnie tries to steal Old Henry’s watch again. Characters say the f-word more than 15 times and the s-word about a dozen. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “h—,” “d–k” and “t-t.”
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
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