Heels Season 2 Episode 2 Recap/spoilers: The Journey Is The Obstacle

Jul 11, 2023

The "Heels" Season 2 premiere took viewers on a trip down memory lane and set up some future rivalries, most of which will seemingly unfold outside of the squared circle. Gully (Mike O'Malley), the Florida Wrestling Dystopia's vengeful owner, wants to ruin Jack (Stephen Amell) and the Duffy Wrestling League for embarrassing him at the South Georgia State Fair. Given that he isn't the type to let things slide, Gully will undoubtedly be a pain in Jack's butt moving forward.

However, the biggest talking point is the fractured relationship between Ace (Alexander Ludwig) and Jack Spade (Stephen Amell) following the Kleenex incident. The previous episode ended with Ace driving into the night and leaving Duffy in the rearview mirror, and it remains to be seen if he'll ever return to experience the epic highs and lows of South Georgian indie wrestling.

It isn't all bad news for the gang, though. Crystal (Kelli Berglund) managed to keep the DWL Championship in the company, even though she was never supposed to win it in the first place. Will Jack roll with the unplanned outcome and capitalize on her buzz, or will he stand in the way of her progress? Let's dive into Episode 2, "The Journey Is the Obstacle," and find out.

Episode 2 opens with Willie (Mary McCormack) receiving some worrying answering machine messages. News of the DWL's successful South Georgia State Fair show has been getting around, and other people want a piece of the pie. It seems that Willie owes some important people a lot of money, and the company has yet to receive its check from the State Fair people. More on that later, though.

Jack, meanwhile, seems oblivious to the aforementioned financial predicament. That being said, he does have to deal with Staci (Alison Luff) and Thomas (Roxton Garcia) being gone with no imminent plans to return home. Fortunately, Staci and Jack are still on speaking terms, as she calls to remind him about meetings that he has with county officials and Thomas' school.

Elsewhere, love is in the air as the womanizing "Wild" Bill Hancock (Chris Bauer) has been boinking Constance (Missy Yager), the State Fair commissioner. So, when Willie calls to ask him to retrieve the money they're owed for the show, he's confident that he'll be able to complete the job without much hassle.

"Heels" Season 2 is teasing the emergence of Crystal as a singles star. As previously mentioned, she won the DWL's top title at the State Fair after Gully tried to invade the show and steal it, but she wasn't supposed to and that's left Jack and co. with a booking predicament. As such, he tells Crystal that the plan is to invalidate her title reign and build heat for Jack. Crystal isn't happy about the decision, however, and she requests to defend it in the ring instead.

Of course, Willie has something to say on the matter, too. She confronts Crystal after her meeting with Jack and tells the new champ to be respectful and stop running her mouth. However, Crystal informs Willie that the DWL needs a women's division and apologizes for getting heated with Jack.

Elsewhere, Jack wants Ace to return to the company, but the younger sibling still refuses to answer his phone. He's on the road, hanging out in diners without any money to buy a meal. An old man offers to pay for his food, but Ace refuses. However, he does take money that the gentleman left to pay for his own meal instead, only to approach him in the parking lot afterward and offer it back. The old man refuses, so Ace returns to the diner and leaves it on the table. Later on, Ace visits a camping store and reveals that he's heading into the woods, but he needs equipment for surviving in the wild.

Jack and Staci finally meet in person for the first time since she left home to take a break from their marriage. Unfortunately, it isn't under the greatest of circumstances as they have to meet with Thomas' school principal and a district psychologist. It turns out that Thomas has been fighting, and they're concerned that being around wrestling has made him more prone to violence. Jack, meanwhile, tells a story about a bully from his old school getting punched in the face and growing up to become a better person as a result, which doesn't go down well with Staci and the school people.

After the meeting, Staci tells Jack that the school thinks their son has mental health issues, and his "fighting words" aren't going to help matters. She tells her husband that she's in no rush to come home if this is the way he's going to behave. He acknowledges her words and says that he's trying his best to rediscover the good man he was before. Of course, that'll be easier said than done, especially with Ace currently M.I.A. and mad at Jack for embarrassing him in front of the DWL's fan base.

Speaking of Ace, he finally makes his way into the woods and sets up camp. He's aware of Jack's voicemails, but he has no interest in responding to them. Jack wants them to fix things and continue their brother vs. brother storyline in the DWL, but Ace seems intent on leaving the wrestling business — and Duffy — behind.

While most of the DWL roster was happy to see Crystal get her big moment, the title scene is admittedly a mess. Gully has been tarnishing her victory by cutting promos about the DWL being a free-for-all where anyone can go into business for themselves. Meanwhile, Jack and Bill admit that they've booked themselves into a corner, but they're confident that their combined brain power will enable them to come up with a solution.

In the storyline, they take the belt off Crystal since she wasn't booked as a competitor. Bill then accuses Jack, Ace, and Crystal of poisoning him at the State Fair show, hence why he soiled himself and didn't win the title. Crystal, however, says that she'll no longer be called a valet and tells Jack that she can beat him. This leads to a match, which Crystal wins by overcoming both of her male colleagues' attempts to sabotage her. The decision pays off in the end too, as the DWL fans are firmly on Crystal's side.

Sadly, the episode doesn't end on a happy note. Following Crystal's title celebrations, we cut to Ace in the woods, living life on the wild side. He listens to Jack's voicemails, but it proves to be his undoing as he falls off a cliff and gets stuck in a tree. The episode ends with him crying for help as The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" plays.