For a show that’s basically about lunatics driving around a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Twisted Metal has taken some appropriately odd detours when it comes to its storytelling choices. For every two episodes of jokey world building, we’ll get a stand alone episode that’ll throw in some flashbacks or a more epic-sized one that ties in all of its introduced characters so far and while this doesn’t sound particularly out of the ordinary for a normal, twenty-two episode show in general, it does feel noticably random for a thirty minute streaming show with only ten episodes. Still, while the narrative zig-zagging does tend to feel unfocused at times, it does fit a show where everyone in it could charitably be described as “unfocused”.
Hence, with the seventh episode, we find ourselves firmly back in world building territory as John Doe and Quiet finally get to Chicago and finally explore the delivery orientated world of the Milk Man in a bit more detail.
After a typically off-beat flashback that clues us in on the origins of the mountainous murder-clown, Sweet Tooth, we jump back to the present to find that John Doe and Quiet, now perfectly synchronized as a team and a couple, have finally reached Chicago to pick up their mystery package. After a needlessly atmospheric introduction via speaker to a mysterious, disembodied voice named Calypso (a huge deal in the original games), the duo nab what they came for and start the long road back to New San Francisco.
On the way back (after some uncomfortable looking, sex while driving), John suggests they stop at a Milk Man watering hole known as the Nut House in order to gas up and before you know it, Quiet is meeting the bizarre group of eccentric entities who make up John’s peers. However, in among such freaks with names like Pizza Boy and Mr. Slam sits the unhinged Bloody Mary, who just happens to John ex and immediately bonds with Quiet who is naturally desperate to hear of any embassing stories from his past.
Meanwhile, Sweet Tooth’s murderous tour of Stone’s checkpoints leads him, Stu and his gang of liberated followers to Blackfield Asylum, the high security institution where the hulking jokester spent his formative years after his career as a child actor violently hit the skids. As he gives Stu a tour of the place, Sweet Tooth’s nervous sidekick finds that the place still holds some gruesome secrets to the clown’s sordid past, but unbeknownst to them, Agent Stone has had quite enough of the maniac slaughtering his way through his outposts and enacts a plan to take him out.
Back at the Nuthouse – no, the other Nuthouse – the cheerful demeanor of the place changes dramatically when the news of John’s deal with Raven leaks and Quiet realises that Mary might not be as over John as she first claimed.
Keeping the momentum of the previous episode going, NUTH0UZ gives up a far better balance between all the numerous plot threads than we got in Episode 5 as we shift effortlessly from the introduction of the other Milkmen to the continuing adventures of Sweet Tooth and Stu. In fact, the whole episode somehow manages to impressively pull off a stealth origin story for Sweet Tooth while managing not to swamp the A-plot and unlike most tales that dredge up a character’s past, it doesn’t dilute the show’s most striking character in the least.
Leaning heavily on a plot point from Nope, we find the young Macus Kane as a highly strung child actor on a sitcom called Billy & 2 Scoops but is dangerously jealous of his co-star, an adorable dog who has become the beloved star of the show. Berated by his demanding mother and step-father, Kane decides to up stage his canine rival in the most shocking way possible. Instead of hogging the camera or stepping on his rival’s lines, Marcus simply murders the hound with a pair of knitting needles in front of a horrified, live, studio audience and gets promptly sent into care. Years later, when he shows up as Sweet Tooth with his thuggish entourage, he takes Stu down to his old cell to reveal that when the world fell and he escaped Backfield, he hunted down his parents and locked them in his old cell where they eventually starved to death.
The sight of a gargantuan, sweaty man in a clown mask, berating and stamping on the skeletal remains of his folks, while obviously absurd, actually works really well and is one of those instances where Twisted Metal’s more maniacal leanings manages to actually emotionally pay off despite the fact that the character in question is a 300lb bezerker with a penchant for decapitation. Despite a shaky start, the character of Stu is really starting to earn his keep here, as his nervous, but breezy nature brings out Sweet Tooth’s human side without compromising the fact that we’re dealing with a man whose best friend is a brown paper bag named Harold. Indecently, this leads to one of the funniest Harold jokes yet (Sweet Tooth leaves him with a gun) and sets up a nice little rivalry between the clown and Stone, whose trap leaves all of Sweet Tooth’s acolytes dead.
With a side story this juicy, you’d think that the rest of the episode would struggle to keep up, but not only do we get our first, real handle on Calypso – the mephistopheles-esque main antagonist of the games – but the Nut House proves to be an enjoyably stimulating place to visit that piles on the game cameos like nobody’s business. The main takeaway here is not only do we get a glimpse of John Doe’s past told through the wild eyes of Chole Fineman’s Harley Quinn-like Bloody Mary, but we get an idea of exactly how much he cares for Quiet when you compare the two relationships. Despite now being a Milk Man of great repute, Mary was never allowed to drive John’s beloved Evelyn and was always treated as someone to be protected or sheltered – but not only does John see Quiet as an equal, but the detail that truly fires up Mary’s jealousy is that John has no issue letting Quiet get behind the wheel. It’s a beautiful pay off to the intense relationship building of the last episode and proves to be one of Twisted Metal’s strongest moments so far. Well… that and watching Mr. Slam smash a watermelon with his massive penis.
Yep, while veering slightly into Garth Ennis territory, the crazy, Titty Twister vibe of the Nut House keeps that anarchic spirit running at full speed and delivers another kick-ass episode.
Probably now in the best groove it’s been in all season, things are looking up as we head into the final three episodes of Twisted Metal’s first season and if it can stay on this course of frenzied comedy (John desperately trying to stab through Pizza Boy’s voluminous puffer jacket) and weirdly touching moments (Mary giving a yearning glance at the bruise on Quiet’s back from lovemaking in the front seat of Evelyn), the show will have it made.
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