Heels – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Swerve

Episode 5 of Heels Season 1 begins with Crystal delivering an amazing promo in the ring. Jack is impressed; Ace not so much. Either way the main event is shaping up to be a good one but for one simple fact – Bobby is afraid of heights. That’s not particularly great given one of the highlights of the match includes a super kick to the face from the top turnbuckle.

Willie interrupts though with big news – South Georgia State Fair want the DWL to perform. In order to do so though, they’ll need to pit on one heck of a show.

Speaking of performing, Bill gives a press conference about his behaviour but continues to act as a performer while doing so. He promises that he’ll be back and better than ever, after attending rehab of course. Jack sees straight through this though and after his scathing words to Willie, wants no part of him. So Bill naturally turns his attention to Staci, doing his best to rile her up while she’s working.

Meanwhile, Jack briefs the gang about the upcoming fair gig, while Ace shows up fashionably late. In fact, he’s decided on a new valet, which just so happens too be Tricia from the bar.

This causes issues, especially when Bobby and Crystal are called in to the office for a new development. The line between real life and character continues to blur, with Crystal even pushed out from her role in the main event.

The meeting with the trio of fair organizes goes ahead, with Jack doing his best to win them all over. However, Thomas does a pretty decent job sealing the deal, managing to talk about the storyline and win the promoters over.

Outside, Bill continues to stir thing up, speaking to Crystal about how much of a draw she is. Given the storyline sees her a smaller part of the show, Bill encourages her to go off script, in no uncertain terms.

One match that is on the verge of going off-script though is the battle royal. Behind the scenes, Cottonmouth decides to throw the match to Rooster. Only, Rooster changes his mind when it really counts and sticks to the usual script. This certainly riles the crowd up though, as they all throw debris into the ring in anger.

Backstage, Jack speaks to Rooster about the match, doing what he can to try and help him out in the future. Given the hostilities between them, things seem to have alleviated somewhat.

One thing that hasn’t been alleviated though are the tensions between Crystal and Ace. In fact, this spills over in the ring as Crystal takes charge of the mic and riles the crowd up. Tricia gets a cacophony of boos for her entrance – but undeniably gets the crowd going. Jack though is absolutely livid.

Ace too is livid, taking his frustrations out on Bobby with some stiff shots to the face. They also go off-script, with Bobby even doing a superplex off the top of thee cage. This is followed by him actually breaking Bobby’s leg for real. The crowd are completely silent, the stretchers are wheeled in and everyone heads backstage. Only, one person stays in the ring – Bill.

He riles the crowd up, taking his opportunity to step on the Spade brothers and open up a three-way ladder match for the belt. The improvised promos work the crowd up good, but there’s undoubtedly a lot of simmering tensions here.

Through everything, Jack and the DWL win their spot at the fair. However, Jack is far from happy with Ace and makes his feelings felt in the hallway, pressing him up against the soda machine. Unfortunately Thomas sees all of this transpire and hurries off in fear. As the episode closes out, there’s lots left unresolved as the future of the DWL hangs in the balance.

The Episode Review

The idea of a tripe threat ladder match – a collision of the past and present – actually works really well in the context of the DWL and portraying a solid storyline. It’s just a shame it comes off the back of Wild Bill improvising and causing no end of problems.

While Crystal’s promo was good, thee amount of hostility and simmering emotions behind it makes what follows incredibly difficult to watch. The stiff punches were clearly not fake whole Ace breaking Bobby’s leg is a shocking moment, one that sees him turn into the heel after breaking his leg. Whether Bobby will be okay or not remains to be seen.

One thing’s for sure though, this conflict is far from over and Heels has been a really solid drama from start to finish. What’s next our gang? We’ll have to wait and see.