Twisted Metal season 2 is back this week with two new episodes, delivering surprising deaths this time around. Here’s what goes down.
S2 E6: MKAW1SH
This episode begins in John’s past, where he first encounters Calypso on a dark mountain road. There’s a bit of foreshadowing in their conversation.
The qualifying round of the tournament continues. John and Quiet go back for Mayhem, which loses them time, and she’s not keen on their help. Quiet takes out one of the other drivers with a well-placed axe. Pretty much every vehicle is damaged in the furious race.
Raven is the first to make it to New Tournament City. From her conversation with Calypso as she turns in her package, it’s clear they know one another. I’m curious to see if he’s met the other drivers. He did say he wants to “be known” or “be seen.”
Sweet Tooth is more focused on killing Grimm than making it through this round. When Stu gets them in to turn in the package, Sweet Tooth threatens him. That shouldn’t be surprising since he’s a known killer.
Dollface tries to use the EMP on Grimm, but it shorts out. She gets impaled by another driving team she didn’t see. I like how she used her package in a unique way to destroy her attackers.
The qualifying round ends, and Calypso puts all the drivers on a bus. As they are transported, he explains the next set of rules. I had to laugh when he forbids them to kill outside of the competition, and they collectively groan.
Calypso puts the drivers up in a high school. That they willingly submit to medical exams is hilarious. When Raven objects to her room assignment, we see an element of Calypso bordering on supernatural. I’m intrigued.
One by one, Calypso calls each of the driving teams in a "going to the principal’s office" style meeting to declare their wishes. They actually make their wishes in an old-fashioned wishing well. The episode concludes when John makes a wish to bring his sister back to life. I’m interested to see what happens because each team was given only one wish, so with his and the one Quiet made, they've broken the tournament rules.
S2 E7: H1TNRVN
We’re getting a look at the repairs and modifications each of the teams makes to their vehicles. Axel confronts John about DollFace. He recognizes John’s guilt.
Then the teams reveal their wishes to each other. Some of them are as expected, but a couple of them are interestingly different. Of course, there’s lots of smack talk.
Calypso declares the tournament name is actually Twisted Metal. Round one is called Warehouse District Warfare. There are twelve teams, but only eight devices will allow them to pass the finish line. He gives Quiet and John an advantage for finishing last in the qualifying round. That sounds odd but it fits with his love of mixing things up.
The location device Calypso gave Quiet and John says Calypso Industries on it. There’s definitely more to his story there. After DollFace’s broken mask distracts John, Quiet takes over the driver’s seat of Roadkill.
The first exit pass is located by several teams. Due to the icy floor surface, it exchanges hands several times. When Mayhem finds the second one, it’s already taken. She steals Chucky’s car, after killing him, and finds out it’s interactive and calls itself Quatro.
Grimm hitches a ride on Sweet Tooth’s ice cream truck to make it through the finish line. This sets off Sweet Tooth once again. John loses the boomerang missile, but it ends up working in his team’s favor, and they make it to the end of round one.
Calypso takes the Preacher baby away. It would’ve been fun to see John and Quiet have to deal with the infant’s screaming for more than a few minutes. Mayhem and Quiet have a heart-to-heart talk about their first murder experiences.
The episode concludes with John explaining to Quiet about why he was off in this round. He also confesses to her that he made his own wish.
There are plenty of crashes, firefights, and fistfights in both of these episodes. Some of the drivers are feeling the effects of their choices of entering the race or with whom they partnered up. I like how the dynamics are changing because, otherwise, the episodes risk becoming boring.
New episodes of Twisted Metal season 2 release Thursdays on Peacock, with the finale scheduled for Aug. 28.
Although Peacock hasn’t signed off on it, season 3 and season 4 are planned out. It’s a crazy, goofy, energizing series we want to see come back for more installments.