Summary
A relatively standard tournament round leaves more room for character drama to come to the forefront in “H1TNRVN”.
The first major round in the Twisted Metal tournament isn’t especially interesting, which, it turns out, is by design. Episode 7 of Season 2 uses the opportunity to allow lingering drama to bubble to the forefront, especially in the aftermath of Dollface’s death in the previous episode and John going behind Quiet’s back to make his own wish. It isn’t the most exciting half-hour, but it’ll probably turn out to be an important one, pushing John to a confession by the end, and also giving Mayhem some welcome focus.
The terms of the tournament’s first official heat aren’t even especially clear. It’s essentially a game of capture the flag, with each racer tasked with retrieving a collectible ticket that allows them to cross the finish line safely. But you can tell it’s not of any great importance since several racers get through it by the skin of their teeth, sometimes by flagrantly cheating. Nobody minds. John and Quiet even get a minute’s head start and a radar showing them the location of the tickets, on account of finishing last in the qualifier, but John’s head is still so all over the place after the wish debacle that they’re soon lagging way behind anyway.
John’s guilt is the point here. In some ways, it’s important character development. This is a guy who has spent most of his life in a world where putting himself first was the only way to survive, so the fact he can’t do that anymore — at least not at Quiet’s expense — shows how far he has come. And I have to say I’m thankful that this wasn’t unnecessarily dragged out. John is cagey about it for an episode, then he’s forced to admit the truth at the very end. We obviously don’t get to see the repercussions in Episode 7, but it’s a relief this wasn’t dragged out through the entire remainder of Twisted Metal Season 2.
Elsewhere, as mentioned, Mayhem gets some focus. It was only in the previous recap that I worried she might perhaps have less to do following Dollface’s demise, since she was largely introduced as a foil for Quiet whenever John wasn’t hogging her. Here, though, Mayhem breaks off on her own, and while John and Quiet are almost getting themselves killed by not being on the same page, Mayhem is trying to make her own mark by killing Chuckie Sloop and stealing his car, which is fitted with an onboard AI named Quatro, with whom she immediately begins to bond. (Side note: Chuckie and Quatro are both separate characters in the games, which seems to be the direction the show’s going in, which makes it a bit weird that Quatro’s essentially Chuckie’s car. But I can’t say I’m incredibly well-versed in Twisted Metal lore.)
This is Mayhem’s first kill, a coming-of-age moment if you like, and it leads to the best joke of the episode, when Mayhem recounts the experience to Quiet very unambiguously in the context of having lost her virginity. It’s a throwaway scene, but it’s funny, allows for some parental — or perhaps surrogate sibling — development for Mayhem and Quiet, and if nothing else distracts from the ongoing tension between Quiet and John.
I should also note that the Holy Men meet their end in “H1TNRVN”, but the baby they claim is the reincarnation of Preacher Jebidiah does not. Once again toying with the show’s approach to supernaturalism, the baby seems possessed of preternatural strength, and in the absence of the Holy Men, Calypso takes the child into his care, which probably doesn’t bode well.
Either way, Quiet finally notices something is amiss with John, and Twisted Metal Season 2, Episode 7 ends with him confessing to having made his own wish. The fallout will have to be explored in the next double-bill, though.
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