There’s a trope that certain franchise hopefuls tend to use that always gets on my tits. You know the one: when a film/tv adaptation of a known property decides to ditch a lot of the accuracy to create it’s own rules and universe only for the final moments to reveal that *gasp* it’s all been an elaborate story to set up the universe you was familiar with all along! One of the more relevant examples of this in recent years is video game adaptations like Mortal Kombat and Uncharted taking a year zero approach and ending the movie in the exact place you wish the damn thing had started – simply put, it drives me fucking nuts. Why the hell do we have to wait for a sequel or second season (that might never even come) to get the faithful adaptation we deserve?
Anyway, I only bring this up because the final episode of Twisted Metal goes and does the exact same thing – and yet I didn’t erupt into a frustrated ball of rage when it happened. In fact, more the the point, I was legitimately elated; how did Twisted Metal succeed where others have failed?
When we left our cast of motor revving maniacs, we were about to launch into a full scale destruction derby as everyone had gathered in their heavily armed rides to settle a bunch of scores once and for all. Riding in the newly fashioned Roadkill, Quiet and John Doe are a stone’s throw from making their final destination of New San Francisco and standing between them and the successful delivery of their mystery package lies Agent Stone and his troops. However, the good news is that Roadkill have Miranda and Poppy from the Convoy at their backs, with the former raring for a scrap with her signature race car, Twister, ready to bring the pain. However, the bad news is that the breathing wild card known as Sweet Tooth has shown up look to also settle a score with Stone and he doesn’t care who he obliterates along the way.
However, when the dust settles and the fires die, John and Quiet manage to make it in time to their destination in time to give Raven her package. However, this is where things go really Pete Tong because the deal was for John to gain residency in San Fran and it apparently doesn’t extend to any plus ones whatsoever, but in a selfless (but still pretty violent) act, Quiet ensures that her partner can get the life he’s always dreamed of by shooting him so he can’t turn down his prize.
Time passes and after a month we find John growing increasingly despondent about his picturesque new life while Quiet spends her days driving around and robbing Milk Men in order to feed all the lost souls who can’t get into major cities. However, there’s far more to John’s lifestyle that meets the eye and it seems that Raven has orchestrated everything to manuever him into a very particular scenario. It seems like there’s still much more twisted metal left in John’s future.
If I’m being honest, SHNGRLA shouldn’t work as a season finale at all as it loads all the action at the start of the episode while leaving the second half of the instalment to essentially set up a second season that, at time of writing, hasn’t even been confirmed yet. The big twist is that Raven has been manipulating John to such an extent that everybody he interacts during his time in New San Fran is a plant in order to steer him toward his new destiny – to be Raven’s champion in a newly announced tournament held by the mysterious Calypso that will grant the winner with their most fondest dream. Or, in other words, the actual plot of the damn games.
Like I said earlier, usually this sort of plotting get right on my damn nerves, however, Twisted Metal manages to do it right primarily because the show kept itself so far away from a tournament setting, I was genuinely (and pleasantly) surprised when it finally deep dived the games outside of the odd, rapid fire reference or easter egg. Suddenly, out of nowhere, we’re getting shot of a shadowy Calypso mulling over placing brackets with the promise of such fan favourites as Mr. Grimm and even Axel getting teased! In fact, if done right, the pain-driven, man-vehicle, Axel, could be as fun and out there a character as Sweet Tooth. Elsewhere, more teases are gleefully doled out when Quiet comes across another memorable game character, Dollface, in the closing moments who reveals herself to be John’s sister and I for one will be pissed if Peacock doesn’t renew the show for at least one more season.
However, there are those who have been understandably miffed that Twisted Metal has skimped somewhat on the all-out, auto carnage that made the games so fun, but the seven minute bout of epic destruction that opens the episode should go some way to appeasing that as numerous characters go head-to-head with pleasingly explosive results. Bullets whizz all over the place, Twister outruns a missile, Sweet Tooth is betrayed by Stu and Mike and Agent Stone takes a goddamn hatchet in the mouth in a beautiful, orgasmic taste of what the show could repeatedly accomplish if it gets the budget to do it justice.
And yet, the most intriguing parts of the episode are the bits that finally bring John’s arc full circle. Having matured enough to realise that a quiet life within the borders of San Francisco isn’t what he actually wants, John is further tempted by Raven who reveals that she has full knowledge of his forgotten past and it’s to our heroes credit that he turns that down too, paying off the lessons he learnt after losing his beloved first car. In response, we find out exactly how manipulative and callous Raven truly is after getting a taster in the first episode when she fakes having a loving family to draw the Milk Man in. The secret package both John and Quiet was risking their lives for turns out to be nothing more than a tub of ice cream (not even the right flavour she ordered) and every single person John bonds with in the settlement – even a prospective date – are all taking it to keep him exactly where Raven wants him. The fact that all this manages to hold the attention when technically it should suck the life out of the epidode after such a frenzied beginning. However, the second season baiting ending and the cementing of the new status mean that if/when we get a second season, it can launch off the starting grid with the same speed and relentless energy that carried it through the previous ten episodes.
After a early start that saw the show struggle a little with the handling of it’s own tone, Twisted Metal managed to gain the necessary traction to finally burn the required rubber and give a show to properly test its twisted mettle.
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