Summary
Episodes 8 & 9 of Twisted Metal Season 2 constitute something of a team-building exercise, albeit in an unusual guise, and the character drama leads to some fun revelations.
There’s no vehicular combat in Episodes 8 & 9 of Twisted Metal Season 2, which, for an adaptation of a video game franchise built entirely around vehicular combat, seems a tad concerning. But fear not! This twofer instead uses a couple of fun gimmicks — basically the framing of a slasher movie and then the soapy theatrics of a high-school prom — to do a lot of character building, fleshing out dynamics in interesting and sometimes unexpected ways.
A lot of the groundwork done here will likely pay off further down the line, with our better understanding of the characters and their motivations heightening the stakes of the remaining tournament rounds. It also provides otherwise one-note supporting players with welcome depth and entertains on its own terms with a lot of funny dialogue and unexpected character pairings.
Let’s break both episodes down a bit.
Episode 8, “SDDNDTH”
“SDDNDTH” is very much a team-building exercise, with Calypso springing a sudden new round on the racers that doesn’t involve their vehicles or weapons. Instead, they’re pursued through the school by the Apocalypse 9 and forced to work together to kill them all, which turns out to be a good excuse for some fun gore and a fair amount of character development.
John and Quiet, for instance, aren’t on speaking terms after the wish debacle, and everyone knows it. They’re separated during the episode, and it’s Raven and Vermin, of all people, who help Quiet see that John’s decision wasn’t as selfish as she claims. Meanwhile, John and Mayhem get to know each other, while Axel gets a surprising amount of focus.
The cold open shows Axel’s past as a hitman, and he recounts more of his backstory to Dave, Mike, and Stu during an impromptu intervention, which helps Axel come to terms with his traumatic past and fight without the aid of gasoline. This is just as well since he’s able to take out most of the Apocalypse 9 on his own, but as Mike points out, it might not have been the best idea in the long run to heal him of his only weakness.
It also turns out that Sweet Tooth is infertile, so he decides to adopt Stu. The episode ends with a reconciled John and Quiet leaving their room only to step straight into Calypso’s wish chamber, and the door eerily shuts behind them.
It’s worth pointing out that Axel’s backstory, which involves him caring for a child who was ultimately taken from him, is going to matter in the next episode, and lays interesting emotional groundwork for a character whose entire deal is being half car. I’d also like to point out that I’m incredibly thankful that John and Quiet’s reconciliation happened so quickly, since it would have been really tedious to drag it out over multiple episodes, especially since, as is pointed out from multiple unlikely sources, John had his reasons.
(l-r) Tahj Vaughans, Lisa Gilroy, Johnno Wilson, Andre De Kim, Katherine East — (Photo by: Pief Weyman/PEACOCK)
Episode 9, “VAVAVUM”
In Twisted Metal Season 2, Episode 9, it’s prom night — sort of. And like any half-decent show about a group of eccentrics trapped in the same general vicinity, this one takes the opportunity to further a bunch of personal subplots and dynamics while keeping the overarching story in stasis. It’s a bit silly, but there’s still a lot to like here, and several quite important things happen.
Whatever’s going on with John and Quiet’s wish dilemma remains unclear, though. Calypso makes them both drink from the well, which will apparently solve the problem, but I take leave to doubt it. The lavish party, meanwhile, is in celebration of the winter solstice and involves everyone offering their blood to a tree in what I think Calypso mentioned was a Roanoke ceremony (that he may or may not have been present for), but he heals everyone immediately afterwards, and the whole thing quickly resembles a high school prom.
Some things to note: Stu offends Dave by making an ill-timed cannibal joke, and Dave storms off in a huff. When Stu follows him to apologize, he finds Dave feasting on a stash of body parts. He never stopped being a cannibal after all! It’s an obvious twist, but it builds to an unexpectedly brutal fight, which ends with Dave killing himself by skewering his eyeball with a coat hook and Stu making his death look like suicide.
Another key detail is that Axel recognises the bit of fabric Mayhem uses to tie her hair as the swaddling of the baby he used to care for. When he brings it up, Mayhem claims she has had it since she was a kid, so there’s a strong implication that Mayhem is Axel’s long-lost charge. Definitely something to keep an eye on.
Needless to say, this is all a ploy, and at the end of the episode, gas fills the dance, knocking out all the racers. When they wake up, they’re in their cars, ready (or not) to compete in the next round of the tournament. It’s not a particularly unexpected ending, but it is an effective one all the same, and will likely get us back on track — literally — after providing a bunch of fun character details that should hopefully factor in to the outcome of the remaining events.
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