Reindeer Games

Season One, Episode Five

"*You know, I suggest we take a moment and sit with the fact that we haven't had a suicide in nine days! This is why we do this job.*"
―Ms. Fleming
**Reindeer Games** is the fifth episode of the first season of Heathers. The episode was written by Jessica Wood and Jason Micallef, and was directed by Adam Silver. It aired October 27, 2018 on the Paramount Network.

The world through JD's eyes; the police interrogate Betty Finn and JD; anonymous text messages tying JD to his crimes hound him.

## Summary

Betty reports J.D., and the two of them are detained and interrogated by the police. The cops doubt Betty's story, and J.D. walks away. All is not well for J.D., however as an anonymous number pesters him with the mounting evidence of his crime spree. He tries to stage a big moment to send a message, but when the moment comes, he finds out that Veronica is frustrated by being treated as an accomplice.

## Guest Cast

Guest Stars* Jamie Kaler as Big Bud Dean
* Shannen Doherty as Dr. Destiny
* Nikki SooHoo as Betty Finn
* Birgundi Baker as Lizzy
* Drew Droege as Mr. Dennis
* Deanna Cheng as Ms. Fleming
* Matthew Rocheleau as Mr. Waters
* Karen Maruyama as Mrs. Finn
* Vic Chao as Mr. Finn
* Michael D. Roberts as Captain Lehman
* Romel De Silva as Kyle
* Adwin Brown as Seth
* Annalisa Cochrane as Shelby Dunnstock
* Jeremy Culhane as Dylen Lutz
* Brett Cooper as Trailer Parker
* Allyn Morse as Annie
* Paige Weldon as Lily
* Maisie de Krassel as Young Veronica
* Jen Caldwell as Cathy Ishmael
* Phil Biedron as Police Officer
* Roshawn Briscoe as Secuirty Guard
* Emma Shannon as Young Heather Chandler

## Multimedia

### Images

* Stills
* Behind the scenes

### Videos

'JD's POV Betty Finn Recounts Her Attack' Official Preview Heathers Paramount NetworkHellscape with Heather Duke 5 (Heathers Episode 5 Recap) Paramount Network
## Trivia

* The episode title refers to a line of dialogue spoken by Heather Chandler to Veronica as she declares Veronica a social outcast in the original film.
	+ This, in turn, refers to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer being excluded from activities due to him being different from the other reindeers: 'all of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph, join in any reindeer games'.
* The episode was originally intended to air April 11, 2018 but was delayed.
* JD tells Lizzy Jackson that she "truly shined a light on Westerburg"
	+ 'Shine a Light' is a song from Heathers: The Musical.
* Westerburg achieves 10 days without a suicide during this episode.
	+ This would place the events of the episode as 10 days after the events of Date Rapes and AIDS Jokes, assuming that everyone believed Ram's death to be suicide.
* Filming for Selma Blair's scene took place on August 2, 2017.
* The date and time from the lock screen of Veronica's phone reveals that the end of the episode occurred on Friday August 04, 2017. This suggests the majority of the episode took place from August 02, 2017 to August 03, 2017.
	+ However, the series is implied to take place in 2018, the year that it aired. It is possible that August 2017 was when scenes from this episode were filmed.

## Distribution

* The episode was originally set to premiere April 4, 2018 on the Paramount Network but was delayed..
* Following the delay of the series, it was then due to air August 7, 2018 on the Paramount Network.
* On October 4, 2018, it was announced that episode would finally air October 27, 2018 on the Paramount Network.
* On October 22, 2018, the episode was made available online - along with the entire season - ahead of its network premiere on October 27, 2018, on the Paramount Network.

### International premieres

* July 12, 2018 (Iceland)
* July 18, 2018 (Spain)
* July 25, 2018 (Eastern Europe)
* July 25, 2018 (Nordic region)
* August 12, 2018 (Greece)
* August 17, 2018 (Cyprus)
* August 17, 2018 (Turkey)
* September 28, 2018 (Australia)
* April 12, 2019 (UK)

## References

1. ↑ IMDB - Heathers Episode #1.5
2. ↑ Rotten Tomatoes - Heathers Season 1 Episode 5
3. ↑ Spoiler TV: Upcoming Episode Titles - Various Shows 8th February 2018
4. ↑ Paramount Network - Paramount Network to Delay Premiere of “Heathers” – Statement
5. ↑ Selma Blair on the set of Heathers
6. ↑ Spoiler TV: Upcoming Episode Titles - Various Shows 8th February 2018
7. ↑ Paramount Network - Paramount Network to Delay Premiere of “Heathers” – Statement