Heels season finale recap: Who wins the DWL championship belt?

All of Jack’s hard work finally pays off in the Heels Episode 8, culminating in an epic main event at the Georgia State Fair. But off-ring drama threatens to ruin everything, and many meaningful relationships are left in the lurch as the season comes to a close. That said, the finale has at least one incredible twist that not only makes for a great show in-universe but will keep fans wanting more. Heels Episode 8, “Double Turn,” is the perfect season-ender to a fantastic debut season.

The Heels finale begins with another flashback, this time all the way back to Jack and Ace’s childhood. We see how Tom was willing to pit them against each other even then. It’s easy to see how their father’s influence has molded their relationship from a young age, with Tom always putting Ace on a pedestal while talking down to and even abusing Jack.

Back in the present, we pick up immediately in the aftermath of Jack beating up Charlie Gully in his own ring. Jack and Ace are forced to hightail it out of the FWD before they get their a**es kicked by Gully’s security team. On the car ride home, Jack tells Ace his plans for the Georgia State Fair main event.

He wants to turn Ace back into a face, give him the belt, and have Bill go “monster heel.” It’s exactly what Ace wants and starts what will culminate in a depressing ending for the brothers knowing that they’re finally back on the same page, only for Jack’s decisions to bring about their ruin once again. Ace also reveals that he’s heard the rumor Jack planted the tissues in the crowd that night, which Jack wiggles out of giving a straight answer. At least they have a good laugh at Gully’s expense.

But the laughs end there for Jack because when he gets home and finds Staci and Thomas gone. She leaves him a note that she’s gone to Courtney’s. On the pile of tissues she found. Yikes.

Gully doesn’t intend to let Jack get away with humiliating him, and he has Rooster in his corner this time. Rooster tells Gully the only way he can beat Jack is by playing on his level. He accurately predicts that Jack’s next move will be to let Ace turn face again since all Ace wants is to be perceived as a good guy. To get even, Gully will have to mess with that promise.

Crystal has a significant decision to make herself. Bill presents her with an interesting proposition: become his new valet, the latest in a long line of Bunny Bombshells. It’ll get her back in the DWL. Even if it’s not in the role she wants, it’d be a start. Ultimately, Crystal begrudgingly accepts the position, and everyone is thrilled to have her back at the DWL. Even Ace is happy for her. Since Ace approves, Jack finally welcomes Crystal back and seemingly forgives her for going off-script.

With the promise of becoming a face once again, Ace is floating on cloud nine and happy to make amends with everyone he wronged, starting with Helen, the gas station attendant he verbally eviscerated back in the premiere. The problem with Ace is that he doesn’t genuinely care about Helen or her feelings. Ace cares more for how people perceive him than actually putting the effort in to change himself for the better. At least he does make good on his promise to get her tickets to the fair.

Heels Episode 8 recap: Staci and Jack reach a crossroads in their relationship

Things are getting worse for Jack and Staci. At the end of the day, Staci isn’t happy, and her finding out how low Jack was willing to stoop to sabotage his brother was the final straw. Beyond that, Staci is struggling to figure out what she wants to do with her life, especially as her marriage crumbles around her.

When Jack visits her at Courtney’s, they have a hard (and very well-written) conversation. Both of them bring up some good points. Staci isn’t happy with the man Jack has become to keep the DWL afloat. The act with the Kleenex was deceptive, cunning, and unkind. It shows that he’s capable of manipulation and she’s not attracted to that man.

But Jack also lets her in on some of the ugly stuff Ace has been doing, like what he said to Helen, implying Jack would kill himself like their dad, and breaking Bobby’s leg. So yes, Jack might be being a bad guy but as he says, Tom gave him and Ace a nasty mean streak and he’s had to be his brother’s keeper their entire lives.

It also reflects on how immature and frustrating the wrestling obsession is with the Spade men. Carol says something along those lines earlier in this episode when Ace asks her to go to the fair. She spent her whole life being told wrestling was fake just for it to matter more than anything else to Tom, and the same can be said for Jack and Ace.

Staci thinks Jack could make genuine progress with his brother if he started by telling the truth about the tissues. Jack doesn’t want to risk alienating Ace further after they’ve started making progress. Staci also thinks Jack would make a good face. After all, that’s the man she married.

For now, Jack and Staci’s marriage is left in limbo. Staci flat out tells Jack he could lose her if he doesn’t clean up his act. She decides to stay with Thomas at Courtney’s until after the fair when she and Jack can have a “real talk” about their future. And she’s no longer going to be in attendance at the fair because her singing at the rodeo was moved up to the same time.

Heels Episode 8 recap: The Georgia State Fair main event

At least some of Staci’s advice does get through to Jack, though, because he contemplates telling him the truth about the damn tissues. Unfortunately, the moment is interrupted by Big Jim’s arrival. He’s back for this special event.

Then just as quick, it’s showtime for the DWL and Staci. Staci does a phenomenal job at the rodeo, but that’s not surprising considering how talented a singer Alison Luff is. But it’s impossible not to watch the DWL performance without chewing your nails because there is so much on the line, and you just know that something bad is gonna happen. The first sign of trouble is when Bill takes a handful of pills before the event.

At the event, which is a big ladder match that does, indeed, involve an actual ladder that Jack, Bill and Ace (Bobby is refereeing) will have to fight to climb and reach the championship belt dangling above them all. The three men battle their little hearts out in front of the massive crowd filling the arena (definitely curious how they filmed all this amid COVID since I’m assuming a lot of the crowd shots are the result of clever editing). The match starts with Bill and Jack double-teaming Ace, which gets the crowd cheering for him again, the first time he’s heard that in a while, and you can tell he likes the sound.

But once the ladder comes into play, things go sideways for ol’ Bill as he literally s**s his pants in the ring. He can’t get up and risk never-ending humiliation, so he opts to play dead instead, forcing Jack and Ace to restructure things a bit. Same ending, but Jack takes Bill’s spot. It’s still Ace’s belt to win. The problem is, that’s the exact moment Gully and his cronies strike, and they do so to devastating effect. Gully and his dudes get the crowd chanting Jack’s name instead of Ace’s, and then they break out the DAMN TISSUES.

Of course, Ace has suspected that it was Jack behind the original tissue gate all along and seeing them now makes him think his brother has sabotaged him again. Face-to-face at the top of the ladder, the belt just inches away, Jack admits he did it the first time but promises that it wasn’t him this time. It doesn’t matter. That admission is enough to make Ace snap and he punches Jack for real, ditching the ladder altogether and attacking his brother in the ring.

Heels Episode 8 recap: The DWL gets a new champion

Things get completely out of control as Ace unleashes his rage on Jack, forcing someone to make a drastic move to save the event and the DWL as a whole. In a shocking (and amazing) twist, Crystal ditches her Bunny Bombshell getup and defeats both brothers. Jack is actually thankful for her off-script save this time and gives her permission to get the ladder and go for the belt! And the crowd (and me) LOVES it.

Seeing this and realizing the DWL isn’t going to go down after all, Gully says f**k it and charges toward the ring to grab the belt himself. But Bill sees him, and he does something rather selfless for once by getting up—s**t-stained pants and all—and knocking Gully out cold before he can get in Crystal’s way.

CRYSTAL GETS THE BELT! I yelled “YES!” at my television screen. The DWL finally has a new champion! But things are now terrible between Jack and Ace again. While Ace appears surprisingly happy for Crystal, the look he gives Jack is ice cold. There’s no way he forgives his brother anytime soon.

Um, so STARZ has to renew Heels for another season, right!?

All eight episodes of Heels Season 1 are now streaming on STARZ.