The Big Bad Fish Man
Episode 7 of Heels Season 1 begins in the past, with Jack out on a road trip with his father. The pair get talking about wresting, with Jack adamant that Ace should be part of the DWL. However, his dad believes Ace’s destiny lies with football. As the two get into a heated chat, Jack’s father pushes his son back, “You don’t come for my sht boy,” Back in the present, Wild Bill signing up for the DWL has certainly riled up the FWD, and in particular Charlie Gully. Tickets are selling like hotcakes for the state fair and in retaliation, the gang decide to step up their marketing efforts. And by marketing, they fly a helicopter over to the DWL and throw posters up on their walls. Elsewhere, Crystal apologizes for going off-script but Jack wants none of it. Staci is a little more compassionate to the girl, but her husband has bigger problems to deal with right now. Charlie’s little PR stunt gets both Jack and Bill hot and bothered, with the latter determined to train hard. Part of this comes from the upcoming main event but also to try and stick it to Charlie Gully. Jack organizes traffic but he has a very difficult decision to make when it comes to this match. Who wins the triple threat main event? Well, Jack wans to give up the belt but both Ace and Bill give a compelling reason why they should win. Bill is the big star, given he’s the draw for the tickets. So by rights, Bill thinks he should get the title and win the crowd over. But yet, Ace is the underdog. Him winning would signify a passing of the torch. Either would be a good winner but the choice is ultimately Jack’s to make. Meanwhile, Staci is given a big opportunity, offered to sing the national anthem at the Georgia State Rodeo. Given this will be broadcast on live TV, it’s a huge moment for her. Jack is delighted when he finds out, as it seems this family’s fortunes may be on the rise. Crystal decides to do open tryouts to be a wrestler. She absolutely kills it too, squaring off against Bill and managing to impress those in attendance – including Willie. When Jack finds out, he’s not particularly impressed. Willie fights in her corner though and suggests he turn the main event into a fatal four way, with Crystal getting involved. It’s actually a stroke of genius, booking-wise, but Jack doesn’t want to entertain the notion. Ace heads up to confront Gully. He’s pissed about the flyers but the leader of FWD is clever. He knows exactly how to get under his skin, calling Ace a hero and calling out the dysfunctional nature of the DWL. Ace believes in the nature of storytelling but Gully sits him down and tells him to get out from under Jack’s thumb. Gully has been somewhat of an enigma this season but here we find out he was sexually abused by a priest when he was 12. This explains his drive and dystopia gimmick, seeing the world as a sick, twisted place – somewhere he can make a boatload of money from his crazy wrestling promotion. In fact, Gully convinces Ace to jump ship and he’s about to announce it after their most-recent show too. An excited Ace rings Crystal while he’s in the middle of partying, encouraging her to show up too. Instead, she drives over to Jack’s place to let him know what’s going on. Staci is not happy when Jack skips out on movie night, and decides to drive up to Jacksonville to give him a piece of his mind. That evening though, Ace finds out that Gully has his own agenda. It turns out Rooster was just the bait to reel Ace in, who’s the big prize for the FWD. Despite Rooster winning the belt that night, Gully intends to take it off him with a pop-up show on the exact same date as the state fair, instead giving it to Ace. Just before Ace is due to head out on stage, Jack sneaks up behind him and knocks the owner out. “Don’t come for my sht boy,” He rasps, echoing his own father’s words we heard from the start of the episode.
The Episode Review
The penultimate episode to Heels sets everything up nicely for a deliciously entertaining finale next week. Quite how everything is going to be wrapped up, and who wins the main event, remains to be seen but it does look like a real cracker. This episode brings up the interesting debate around storytelling in wrestling too. According to Gully, wrestling fans aren’t smart and just want to see big fights. And yet, there’s a reason why federations like WWE, with their stale brand of storytelling, are losing loyal fans in favour of something more exciting and organic like AEW. The same can be said for conventional TV too, with stale storytelling in some shows paving way for exciting foreign dramas like Squid Game to take the world by storm. Alongside this though, Heels brings up an interesting dynamic to the main event. Willie’s idea of throwing Crystal in there as well is, quite frankly, genius. The whole inter-gender match-ups haven’t really been a thing in mainstream wrestling since the days of Chyna in the 90’s and to be honest, Crystal is as integral to this storyline as anyone. Maybe she’ll win the belt? Regardless of which way the result swings, it does seem like Ace is going to have second thoughts and go back to the DWL, showing his loyalty to his family after Jack traveled down to Jacksonville to save him. But at what cost? Will Staci stay with Jack through this? Or will Jack lose what he’s worked so hard to secure?
