The small town of Duffy, Georgia loves its local wrestling organization, the DWL (Duffy Wrestling League), which was originally started by Tom “King” Spade (David James Elliott, JAG). After Spade passed away about a year ago, his oldest son Jack (Stephen Amell, Arrow) took over the floundering organization. By day, Jack works at a local lawn care store in order to make ends meet and provide for his wife Staci Spade (Alison Luff, New Amsterdam) and their 8-year-old son. By night, he writes the scripts for the wrestlers, giving the audience what he believes they want. It is these storylines that differentiate the DWL from its competitors—the audience wants to feel invested in the characters. Jack fights as a “heel”, the villain in the ring, which he loves. In his recent efforts to rebuild the business, Jack recruited his younger brother Ace (Alexander Ludwig, Vikings) to be a “face”, or good guy. While Ace loves the cheering and adoration that comes with being a face, he’s still a bit immature outside of the ring. Attendance at the Dome has improved ever since Ace came aboard—the audience loves him—but despite selling out the shows, the organization is still struggling. The Dome has a leaky roof, and is in constant need of upgrades and repairs. There’s not enough money to pay the wrestlers a living wage, so they all have day jobs in order to keep their lights on. Even though Jack never really got a long with his father, he has become obsessed with making the DWL successful, with most of his free time spent on the business, often neglecting chores that need to be done around the house. He also spends a lot of his personal money to get things like cameras and fog machines for the Dome. And this usually ends up causing some tension at home.
Despite being like a family, there’s also some tension within the organization, due to Jack’s tight control over the scripts, storylines, and who wins the matches. This is definitely a big concern for Rooster Robbins (Allen Maldonado, Black-ish, The Last O.G.), who constantly feels like he is being passed over for title matches and the championship belt. Ace’s valet Crystal Tyler (Kelli Berglund, Animal Kingdom, The Goldbergs), who has been with the organization for two months, also feels ignored by Jack and business manager Willie Day (Mary McCormack, In Plain Sight) whenever she tries to bring up the fact that can wrestle and would like to do more than just be a ring girl. However, others like newcomer Bobby Pin (Trey Tucker), who just arrived from Texas, is just happy and excited to just be a part of the DWL, constantly calling his parents to let them know about every little development in his new career. DWL wrestlers Big Jim Kitchen (Duke Davis Roberts, The Son), Apocalypse (James Harrison Jr.) and the luchador-like Diego Cottonmouth (Robby Ramos) also seem quite content. However, there’s a threat looming for the DWL. Charlie Gully (Mike O’Malley, Snowpiercer), the eccentric owner of the rival FWD (Florida Wrestling Dystopia) organization is eager to take the DWL down. Gully sends former DWL wrestler Wild Bill Hancock (Chris Bauer, For All Mankind, True Blood) to Duffy to schmooze and scout Ace for the FWD. However, Jack isn’t going to let that happen, and goes to some despicable lengths in order to prevent his brother from leaving. This ultimately causes a rift between the siblings that could end up tearing the whole DWL apart.
I was pleasantly surprised by this series. I had originally tried to watch the series when it first aired on Starz, but had some trouble getting into it. However, now being able to binge the entire 8-episode first season together on the DVD release, I found the series to be a lot more compelling. Each episode usually ends in a way that makes you eager to find out what happens next (and you don’t need to wait a week to do so). The first season has a great overall story arc that feels not only complete but also open enough for more seasons (the series has already been renewed for a second season). The complex relationship between Jack and Ace is a rollercoaster ride, with lots of ups and downs. Flashbacks to their rough childhood with their tough father also help to fill in some of the blanks to explain why these men are the way they are today. Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig give strong dramatic performances, feeling like they really could be brothers, and really deliver when it comes to the ring.
The season also gives many of the other characters their own arcs, growth and storylines over the course of the season. One that I particularly enjoyed was that of Crystal. At the beginning it seems like she will be more of a throwaway character as Ace’s valet/girlfriend, but as the season goes along, Crystal becomes more fleshed out, and more and more integral to the larger storyline. The other female characters like Jack’s religious wife Staci and former valet-turned-business manager Willie also have interesting arcs, which set up some potential storylines for next season. The series also has more humor than I expected. There’s often fun, odd side discussions between the wrestlers, and the goofy/naïve newcomer Bobby Pin is always good for some laughs whenever he’s on screen. Plus there’s the over-the-top, and rightfully-named Wild Bill Hancock, who just seems to get crazier as the season progresses.
The wrestling in the series feels very realistic, natural, and sometimes a bit brutal. Never once did I think of this series as actors pretending to be wrestlers—it felt like these characters really were wrestlers, slamming and throwing each other around the ring. There are some pretty amazing acrobatic moves, especially from Crystal and Ace. It’s no wonder the crowd at the Dome is always going wild and love their hometown heels and faces! The series also does a nice job of explaining any wrestling lingo to the audience in a way that’s not just boring exposition.
Lionsgate Home Entertainment’s DVD release looks and sounds solid, though I don’t understand why TV shows like this are still getting DVD-only releases when the are initially shown in HD (or even 4K) on streaming and cable. This is a kind of hazy, gritty looking show, and the DVD video presentation looks quite good overall. The picture is generally clean, with a nice but muted color palette, but it lacks that extra level of clarity and detail that was present in the show’s original airing on Starz. That said, the SD presentation never really detracted from my enjoyment of the show, except for one moment during season finale, as Jack and Ace are driving in the car—the brightness looks off, making it very obvious that the views from the car windows were green-screened. The audio track provides clear dialogue and makes excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to put the viewer in the middle of the action, providing an immersive and exciting viewing experience. The viewer is constantly surrounded by the roar of the crowd as the wrestlers take to the ring.
The 8 episodes of Heel‘s first season are spread across 2 discs, which are packed in a standard keepcase without a slipcover. One disc is placed on a swinging tray in the middle, while the other is placed on the peg on the right side of the case. Both discs have plain white labels with simple black lettering. Each disc offers episode selection and a Play All option, but unfortunately there is no supplemental material at all.
What’s Included:
- All 8 episodes of the first season:
Disc 1: “Kayfabe”, “Dusty Finish”, “Cheap Heat”, “Cutting Promos”
Disc 2: “Swerve”, “House Show”, “The Big Bad Fish Man”, “Double Turn” - 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English SDH
Episodes: (7:42:43)
-
DVD:
Extras:
-
There is no bonus material included on this release.
Final Thoughts:
Heels is a fun and engaging drama following the lives of those in a small town wrestling league, struggling with internal and external threats as they to take the organization to the next level. The cast is great, and wrestling action looks very believable. The 8-episode season makes a great weekend binge. Lionsgate’s DVD release looks and sounds pretty solid, but unfortunately doesn’t include any bonus material. The release comes recommended based on the quality of the series itself, but fans may wish to go with the Digital release, which is offered in HD and is currently about half the price of the DVD at most digital retailers.
Heels – Season 1
47% Off $34.98 $18.65 (as of December 1, 2024 14:38 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Heels
(as of December 1, 2024 14:38 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
