The owner of the amusement park, Dial (Michael Ironside) sees the talent Jesse and Willy have together, and makes large plans to host "The Willy Show" in hopes of boosting sales and making money for himself. On the day of the first performance, everyone is set to begin, but Willy comes down with stage fright due to the children banging constantly on his underwater observation area. Willy scares them off by smashing against the tank, unintentionally damaging it. Jesse is devastated, and plans to run away feeling everyone has let him down. Later, while at the tank, Jesse notices Willy's family calling to him and Dial's assistant Wade (Richard Riehle) and other men sneaking into the underwater observation area and damage the tank enough that the water will gradually leak out in an effort to kill Willy. It is surmised that Dial is interested in collecting the insurance money, since he has a $1,000,000 life insurance plan on Willy.