There’s a new DWL champion in town! The final moments of the ‘Heels’ season finale saw Crystal on top. HL spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Kelli Berglund, who broke down Crystal’s triumphant moment and more.
Crystal took charge and ended up as the new DWL champion in the Heels season finale. With Jack and Ace on the ground after a brutal fight in the ring, Crystal climbed the ladder and snatched that championship belt. Considering she started out as just a valet, this is an incredible achievement for Crystal.
So where does Crystal go from here? Kelli Berglund told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that Crystal’s likely “freaking out” a little bit. She admitted that Crystal’s win will be an “adjustment” for everyone in season 2, and she also wants to learn more about Crystal’s troubled family. Read our Q&A below:
Kelli Berglund as Crystal on ‘Heels.’ (STARZ)Crystal’s the new champion! What was your reaction when you read that in the script? I feel like at the beginning of the season, Crystal was probably the last person we would have expected to be on top.Kelli Berglund: I love it for that reason. We’ve been rooting for Crystal this entire time and we want to see her win, but I don’t think we ever expected her to be the one climbing the ladder, which is why it’s such a shock. It was such a shock to me when I read it. It made me cry. It was exciting. It felt like a full-circle moment for her. Even now, every time that I watch the episode it still gets me. I still cry because on the day when we filmed it, I was crying as I was walking up there, climbing up that ladder, and snatching the belt. It was a very overwhelming, emotional thing for Crystal and for Kelli, so it was by far one of my favorite things that I filmed this season.
Where do you think she goes from here?Kelli Berglund: It’s really interesting, I’ve thought about this a lot. I think part of Crystal is panicking because she totally just stumbled into the spotlight. She wanted her moment, but I’m not sure she wanted it to happen in front of thousands of people accidentally. She did the right thing by saving this match because it would have been a disaster for them if somebody didn’t step in when they were beating each other up and ruining the end of the match, but I think that she knows she’s been in this place for so long and looked at a certain way and wants to be acknowledged, but this is just taking a huge leap into something else. So I think just as a human, she’s freaking out a little bit. What does this mean? By technical terms, snatching the bell means that she is now the champion. So does that mean they have to form a women’s league for her to be able to wrestle? Could she wrestle the guys? I’m not sure what it means. I think it puts her in a position of leadership, which I think is really cool, and probably a position of equal respect with some of the others here like Jack Willie, maybe Ace. Ace just might be pissed off he didn’t get the bell. But it is kind of a question mark, and it’s going to be an adjustment for every single person at the dome going into a season 2.
We’ve seen over the course of the season how Ace can’t really handle not being the center of attention, not being the face. We see him walk out at the very end of the match. Do you think he could ever be truly happy for Crystal?Kelli Berglund: I’m not sure. I think he can, and I like that we see a friendship and this kind of broken relationship seems like it’s on its way to being mended before they ever go out. When she shows up as Bunny Bombshell, he’s all about it. Before they go out, they do that little fist bump like they’re in this together and want to be cool and want to be on good terms. But I think mainly he is just so angry with his brother at this point. I think Crystal’s just involved by association. It’s not really her fault, but especially coming from this high of he thinks everything’s all good to then finding out what Jack did to him, that just sends him into a spiral. That’s why he starts beating him up for real. He’s just fed up. He was so excited to get the belt, so I’m sure a part of him is really upset. If I had to guess, and this is more of an Alexander question, I think his emotions and his anger, and his frustrations really lie with his brother at this point.
Kelli Berglund and Alexander Ludwig on ‘Heels.’ (STARZ)Obviously, it’s a little bit more complicated because they are brothers, but is there a part of Crystal, who may be scared to trust Jack?Kelli Berglund: I think so. I think there’s a lot of heavy trauma and toxicity between the two of them just because of what they’ve dealt with with their father. That’s weighing on both of them heavily. Jack feels like there’s a lot of pressure on him to keep the dome running and make sure Ace is okay because Ace is just kind of off the rails all the time. But I think in the past, Crystal has known that these people are human and they’re dealing with their emotions and that’s why she hasn’t really said anything. She’s been kind of in the background because she is happy to be here. She doesn’t want to make anyone upset, but she also knows her place and wants basic respect, which is why I think sometimes she challenges it because she wants to see how much she can get away with, which doesn’t seem like a lot ever. But we see a nice little bond starting to form between Jack and Crystal throughout all these episodes where it’s like, okay, maybe we are on the path of you can see me as an equal, you can acknowledge my ideas are smart and that I know what I’m talking about. So I think that will definitely be expanded. I mean, there is no reason to look at Crystal and think that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about because she’s proven herself so many times. I think she just respects them as people and that they’re dealing with a lot, but there comes a point where you can deal with this trauma and this heaviness on your own, and then it starts affecting the people around you in a really, really negative way. I think we’ve seen that with these two brothers in the way they treat each other, the way they treat Crystal, and the way they treat other people and their business. I think Crystal’s not going to be as afraid in season 2. I think she’s going to stand up for herself a little more.
Wild Bill and Crystal became the most unlikely duo. How did you react when you saw Wild Bill was going to actually sh*t his pants? Kelli Berglund: I do love this weird little Crystal-Wild Bill thing. I think he sees a lot in her, which she does really appreciate, even though he is such a shit show. He’s somebody acknowledging that she has talent, and I think at first he was just doing it to piss off Ace and Jack and try to get under their skin because that’s just what he does. But there’s that moment in episode 5 where none of those guys are around and we’re at the autograph signing and these kids ask for a picture with Bill. He’s like, “No, Crystal’s going to get in this, too. She’s gonna be a star.” And then he has that whole dialogue with her before she decides to go off-script. He was probably tried to stir sh*t up, but that ignited something in her. It’s weird, honest, playful, insane when the two of them are together. I don’t think she has any problem standing up to Bill, which I think is very funny. But she’ll put up with this just for the sake of being a part of this community, so at least he opens the door for her. In ways, he protects her and wants to showcase her. I think when he does actually sh*t his pants, she’s like, okay, we’re not going to make a big deal out of this. It’s going to be fine. I’m saving you guys. Bill won’t be in there. We’re trying to help each other. That’s what I guess she signed up for being his valet, even though part of her hates it. She’s like, you know what? I’m going to be Bunny Bombshell. It’s going to be great. I’m going to support my wrestler. That’s what valets do, and then it just gets crazy.
Where would you like to see that dynamic go? I feel like it’s almost a father-daughter-type relationship. Kelli Berglund: It does almost feel that way, especially because we don’t know Crystal’s backstory. We don’t really know where her family lives. I think it’s pretty clear that her parents aren’t very present in her life. We have a lot of crazy characters in this town and in this show. I think he could be a real catalyst for some success for Crystal now that she has the belt. We’re not quite sure what that means. Is crystal ready for all this success? Does she want to go on to a larger league and be on TV. Maybe Bill can help with that. That glimmer of acknowledgment and knowing that she has talent really means a lot to her, which is I think it affected her so heavily for her to go off-script. That’s the first time she heard anything like that besides from Bobby and her friends. To get her that excited about herself, and she rightfully deserves to feel excited about herself, it’s probably very overwhelming for her because she’s been stuck in this position of just being in the background and being a valet. Maybe this will drive her to make some poor choices after getting her so worked up. Maybe she’ll act on impulse potentially because Bill’s not the best influence. I will say that we feel for Bill in some of these episodes. He is a human, he does have emotion, and I think maybe this fatherly thing is brought out because of Crystal. They bring out good things in each other.
Do you have any other hopes for season 2? I would love to know more about Crystal’s backstory.Kelli Berglund: That is honestly number one on my list. I’ve written some of these things down just to talk with our producers about, just potential ideas. Number one, and I think this is the case with a lot of characters on the show. I want to know how they got here. I want to know their backstory I think it’d be really interesting to do a deep dive on Crystal. Just in the way that I have pieced it together in my head, without knowing too many details because I just didn’t, I think she probably comes from a broken family. Maybe her parents dealt with alcohol. She talks about it with Jack in the car how her mom’s drinking gin all the time, so I’m sure that was problematic between her and her family. She probably has to step up and be the adult and contain her emotions and get herself through life, which is why she’s so contained in season 1 and we see her have a grip on her emotions most of the time. I think that probably comes from that. I want to know when she got into wrestling, why she got into wrestling. Is this something she was watching on TV? She said she’s been going to the dome since she was little. But why did she start doing that? Also, I would love for her and Willie to be this female power duo. I feel like we’ve seen Crystal in a very female versus female situation, like her versus Trisha, her versus Willie in some way more towards the beginning of the season. We haven’t seen her really establish a friendship with another female, so whether that’s Willie, whether that’s a new girl that comes into the dome to be a female wrestler, that’s one thing I would love to have in Crystal’s way and see how she handles it.
