Heels season 2 review: Starz's indie-wrestling show dials up the drama
This is the kind of small-town sports series—not unlike Friday Night Lights—that's built to last
Some shows are just worth the wait. Nearly two years after wrapping up its freshman run, Heels, the Starz family drama about an indie professional wrestling league in rural Georgia, has stepped back into the ring with a long-awaited, much-improved second season (out July 28). Picking up in the dramatic aftermath of the headlining match at the Georgia State Fair, in which Duffy Wrestling League owner and wrestler Jack Spade (Stephen Amell) confessed to intentionally humiliating his younger brother Ace (Alexander Ludwig) in an earlier match to turn him into a heel, the eight-episode new season dials up the drama with the Spades seemingly more fractured than ever and the DWL under the ever-present threat of closing its doors amid financial troubles.
For the uninitiated (or those who need a refresher), it’s been a year since Jack and Ace’s father, Tom “King” Spade (David James Elliott), who could no longer face the reality that his life’s work was about to go up in flames, died by suicide. Having barred Ace from wrestling to encourage him to focus on football, Tom decided to bequeath his most prized possession to Jack, who seems largely unaware of the hornet’s nest of liabilities that he has inherited and the backroom deals that his old man and business partner Willie (Mary McCormack) made to keep the DWL running. The season premiere, “Ten-Bell Salute,” flashes back to the wake of Tom’s tragic passing and finds Jack and Ace, in stark contrast to where they find themselves in the present, agreeing to join forces to fulfill Tom’s original vision for the DWL. Jack came to rely on Ace’s talent but lashed out when his younger brother was at risk of leaving to join a rival league. It wasn’t until Jack’s wife, Staci (Alison Luff), threatened to leave with their son, Thomas (Roxton Garcia), that Jack decided to come clean to Ace—only for them both to lose the championship belt to Wild Bill’s (Chris Bauer) valet, Crystal Tyler (Kelli Berglund), in an improvised ending at the end of last season.
The writers, to their credit, don’t spend the next batch of episodes attempting to avoid the elephant in the room. Although they both need some time apart to grasp and articulate the source of their conflict, Jack and Ace are able to recognize how their own actions have contributed to their unhealthy sibling rivalry over the years and eventually arrive at the conclusion that the current state of their relationship cannot last. Amell and Ludwig continue to anchor this strong ensemble, with an extended one-on-one scene in a motel room that stands out as one of the best and most intimate conversations that their characters have ever had. Amell is a master of easygoing, self-deprecating humor in real life, but the actor seems to relish the more vulnerable moments when Jack bares his heart to the people he loves most, further proving that he has an acting range that’s much wider than Arrow allowed.