Diksha Sundriyal
In Apple TV+’s ‘The Dink,’ Jake Johnson stars as Dusty, a has-been tennis prodigy who doesn’t know the purpose of his life anymore. He still refers to his past glory days when introducing himself and wishes his father had a better perspective on him. However, he is held back by his own fallacies, and it isn’t until he takes an unexpected detour that he realizes that there is much more to life than he thought. The person who plays the most significant role in knocking this sense into him is Candace, who is also starting a new chapter of her life. As they help one another, it starts to look like there is more to their connection than just friendship. But it turns out to be a misunderstanding. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Dusty and Candace’s Love Story Never Takes Off
One recurring aspect of comedy, including sports comedies, is that in their quest to find themselves and their true purpose in life, the characters also end up finding the love of their lives. Happy endings are incomplete without the protagonist falling in love with a person they will spend the rest of their lives with. ‘The Dink’ begins with a similar intent and sets up Dusty and Candace’s story in a similar manner. It starts with their grumpy-vs-sunshine character meet-cute, where they don’t like each other. Then comes Dusty’s humbling arc, where he starts to see Candace as more than the pickleball lady. They text each other at all hours of the day, and she even introduces him to proper country music, which he falls in love with.
Then there is the late-night movie watching, her showing him a dress she is going to wear to a party, then spending the night in the same space. In between this, we also see Dusty giving serious thought to falling for a woman much older than him, and whether his feelings are strong enough to overcome the age gap and give it a go. For the most part, the relationship seems primed to progress into a romance that eventually culminates in Dusty finding redemption through tennis, pickleball, and, most importantly, his father. While the other things happen, he and Candace do not. He shows up at the party, pretends to be her boyfriend, dances with her, and then kisses her on the dance floor while everyone, including her ex, watches.
And Candace is grateful for this gesture. Since her divorce, she has felt like the loser in their equation, especially with her ex getting all their friends and getting into a relationship with a beautiful, smart woman, while Candace is still single and somewhat lonely. However, this is all that it was to her: a kind gesture from her new friend and pickleball partner. She never thought of Dusty more than this, and it never occurred to her that he felt like he was being led on. She admits that she may have made a mistake by adding some raunchy songs to the playlist she made for him, and that their friendship may have progressed too fast. But it was likely because they were both lonely souls seeking a connection at a vulnerable time in their lives.
She is happy she found that connection with Dusty, but she is not physically attracted to him. She makes her feelings clear when he talks about his own, apologizes for mistakenly giving him the wrong signals, and hopes that they can go back to the way they were. Dusty doesn’t take this rejection well. It takes him some time to come to terms with the fact that perhaps his feelings were misplaced, and Candace is right, they should just be friends and pickleball partners. Eventually, he comes around and apologizes to her for his outburst. She forgives him and even joins him in beating Andy Roddick at the duel organized by Chuck. By the end of the film, they have both undergone significant transformations, but there is no romantic entanglement between them.
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