Heels Season 1, Episode 4 recap: Cutting Promos

Spoiler warning: The following article contains spoilers for Heels Episode 4.

In Heels Episode 4, “Cutting Promos,” the first anniversary of Tom Spade’s death hangs heavy over the entire Spade family. Wild Bill spirals out of control after his viral video results in him getting fired.

The previous episode finally showed us exactly how Tom Spade died. One morning he stepped onto his front porch and shot himself in the head, leaving Ace to discover his body. Well, in Heels Episode 4, we’re encroaching on the first anniversary of Tom’s death, and it hangs like a dark cloud over the entire Spade family.

MORE: Heels Season 1, Episode 3 recap: Cheap Heat

While unrelated to Tom, Staci, Jack, and Thomas get scared when their house’s poor wiring results in a fire breaking out in Thomas’s bedroom. Thankfully, Jack puts it out before it can spread too far (using Thomas’s favorite blanket). Staci assumes the squirrels ate through the wiring, and they’ll need to rewire the entire house as a result, as if they have the money to do that!

Jack assures her that more money will come in soon when he talks to their main sponsor Eddie Earl (the guy we met in the previous episode), about his new idea to create a huge viral social media marketing campaign for the DWL using old footage from the league’s golden days, like matches between Tom and Wild Bill in their heyday.

In the meantime, Jack, Staci, and Thomas are stuck bunking at Carol’s house. Wanting to host a family dinner, Carol invites Staci, Thomas, Jack, and Ace to sit down for a wholesome meal. But things quickly go south when Carol insists that Tom is burning in Hell after committing suicide, rattling poor Thomas. Despite Jack and Staci’s pleas for her to change the subject, Carol keeps going until Staci snaps at her. But the meal is unsalvageable after that.

Downstairs in the basement, Jack starts looking through the old material from his father and Bill to start cutting promos. Willie and Jack do request more money from Earl, but he shoots them down. Willie encourages Jack to keep trying to create a compelling promo to prove to Earl they have something special to share and that he might change his mind about not investing more into the DWL.

What’s even more surprising is that, in a rare moment of kindness, Jack actually lets Ace have creative input on creating said promotional material. The result is an amusing sequence shot at the local gas station where Crystal works. Bobby and Ace go head-to-head in the store, then in the car wash, to drum up attention for their epic new rivalry. Willie films the whole thing, and the team have a blast shooting it.

Despite Ace’s misgivings about becoming a heel, even he has slowly realized that “it’s fun playing the bad guy.” That’s one of the core themes of this episode is Ace trying to navigate how to play a bad guy without becoming one. We’ve seen that push and pull from Ace before, like when he made the gas station clerk cry in Episode 1 despite being a face at the time. As Jack says, you have to differentiate between who you are as a person and who the character is, something Ace is still struggling to do.

Another example is in this episode when he tries to make amends with Crystal after treating her like dirt in the previous episode. But then later, he sees her hanging out on her trampoline with Bobby and keys Bobby’s car in return. Not exactly the nicest move.

In contrast, Ace’s scenes with Thomas are always some of his best. After that disastrous dinner, Ace puts Thomas’s mind at ease regarding his grandaddy, so he doesn’t think Tom is somewhere burning in Hell for all eternity. He also gives him a new blanket to make up for the one Jack ruined.

Heels Episode 4 recap: Crystal helps Bobby develop his character

Crystal and Bobby spend a lot of time together in Heels Episode 4 as Bobby reaches out to her for assistance in creating a compelling character, especially now that he will be going head-to-head with Ace as his new rival. Plus, unlike Ace and basically everyone else in the DWL, Bobby actually respects Crystal, thinks she deserves better and genuinely believes she’s good at what she does.

MORE: Every Real Wrestler Cameo In Heels (So Far)

Bobby’s initial idea involves a bad rap and a flamboyant costume reminiscent of the ’80s golden days. But once Crystal sees how charming Bobby is when he’s just being himself or taking photos with fans, she realizes that his character should just be himself, a regular guy. Even Jack likes the idea, “a working man, a man of the people,” it just fits.

While Bobby and Crystal have a lot of fun hanging out together, getting ice cream, and then going on the trampoline to practice wrestling moves at her place, Crystal eventually recommends they don’t keep doing things in public. It wouldn’t be too “kayfabe” to see Ace’s valet buddying up to his rival.

Heels Episode 4 recap: Wild Bill’s downward spiral

In Heels Episode 4, we find out what made Bill pull that outlandish stunt that soon went viral on the internet. He gets pissed off because he feels like his company is more interested in cheap tricks and stunts, like a wrestling belt that lights up and makes noises like a toy, rather than respecting the craft. So as a major f**k you to his management team, Bill puts on the cheap new belt and strips naked on an airplane, and calls his boss a c**t hence the viral video.

You can catch new episodes of Heels every Sunday on STARZ.

Initially, Bill just gets sidelined, which is why he ends up holing up at Willie’s for the time being. But he quickly overstays his welcome and gets fired by his team. Bill takes his anger out by insulting Willie, her husband, and even her daughter, “I bet you wish I had paid for that abortion, too.” He goes way too far, and Willie punches him.

The next day, her husband Ted throws all of his stuff outside and lets him know there is a motel nearby where he can stay. Even Jack, who drives to the motel with the intent to tell Willie to stay far away from Ace, finds him too pathetic to yell at when he sees Bill kicking an ice machine and straining against his bad back.

In the episode’s final moments, Bill breaks out his old Wild Bill costume, climbs on the motel roof drunk, and starts screaming that he’s alive and for everyone to wake up. We see slowly as each motel room flicks its lights on. How soon before he gets kicked out of there, too?

New episodes of Heels stream Sundays on STARZ.