The post-apocalyptic action-comedy series by Peacock, Twisted Metal, rounds up its 2nd season this week, with the release of episodes 10, 11, and 12 together, making it a wild and explosive binge. After introducing us to the eccentric wish-granter, Calypso, and his high-stakes death race tournament, Twisted Metal, the series had finally left us at an important juncture, when lovebirds and teammates, John Doe and Quiet, had been split up at the beginning of the final elimination. Now we witness the wild events of the elimination and then the final round in season 2 episodes 10 and 11, respectively, while the final episode 12 deals with the aftermath of the tournament and the lives of the surviving competitors
Spoiler Alert
What is the final eliminator all about?
At the end of Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9, the competitors were seen to have been snatched away from the gala party and directly put in their vehicles for another sudden elimination round. But the fact that John and Quiet had been split up and even put in two identical versions of their car, Roadkill, made it clear that this was no ordinary round. While it initially seemed like the split meant that the couple would now have to face each other, the beginning of episode 10 now confirms that this is not actually the case. Rather, it seems like John and Quiet have been split up because of their previous mistake of making two separate wishes at the wishing well, and although Calypso had pretended like the mistake had been corrected, he had clearly lied. Now, in the final elimination round, each of the six competitors is given a target to eliminate in order to make it to the next round.
Only six competitors—John, Quiet, Mayhem, Axel, Raven, and Vermin—are allowed to participate in the round, while the four remaining racers—Sweet Tooth, Stu, Mike, and Mr. Grimm—are called in for questioning. The rules of the tournament, which had been clearly mentioned at the beginning, state that none of the competitors are allowed to hurt or kill anyone except for during the various rounds, and so the four are separated from the rest of the group by Calypso, also, in a way, giving them a sort of free pass to the next round in the process. Stu is held responsible for murdering Dave and is told to defend himself in front of the others, who would then decide what to do with him.
Although Stu had left the crime scene to make it look like Dave had hanged himself, the man ultimately tells everyone what had happened. He is able to convince everyone, including Mike, that Dave had technically died by his own actions, and so Stu is spared. Mr. Grimm, on the other side, is accused of murdering Mr. Harold, the paper-bag friend of Sweet Tooth, but the latter asks Calypso to let the man live so that he can crush him in the next round of the tournament, which would be entertaining as well. But the competitors do face some punishment, as Mike is stabbed in his shoulder by Calypso for having ignored his former teammate’s cannibalistic tendencies, and the numerous souls living inside Grimm are taken away, leaving him to compete alone from here on. Meanwhile, Stu finally decides to side with his best friend and compete in the tournament along with Mike, leaving Sweet Tooth all alone, which the clown does not really mind.
Back on the battlefield, Raven is given the duty of eliminating Vermin, which she is successful in doing fairly early into the race, with Vermin not only making an exit from the tournament but also dying as well. Meanwhile, Mayhem finds it a tough job to even attack Raven, who is her target, as the COO of New San Francisco has been using a superior car with electromagnetic weapons. John’s target is Axel, and it is obviously very difficult to face the extremely powerful contender, but John is even more driven to bring down Axel because the latter’s target is actually Quiet, and he has no qualms attacking the young woman. Quiet undoubtedly is in the toughest situation in the race among all the competitors, for she is assigned to eliminate Mayhem, which she naturally does not want to do, as the girl has almost become like family to her by now. The battle continues amidst a raging Watkins storm, which is basically a unique but dangerous electrical storm that makes the atmosphere radioactive, which had been featured in season 1 as well.
Why does Axel save John and Quiet?
In her pursuit of Raven, Mayhem temporarily loses control of her car after the vehicle is struck by the dangerous lightning, but she is eventually able to continue in the battle again. However, Raven turns out to be the real villain in this round, as she does not hesitate to continue attacking her opponents even after she has qualified for the next round by eliminating her target, Vermin. Firstly, Raven knows very well that John is a tough contender who will be difficult to deal with in the final stages of the tournament, and moreover, she also bears a very personal grudge against the protagonist for having escaped from her city and refusing to drive for her at the beginning of the season. Thus, Raven now attacks John, hoping to catch him off-guard and eliminate him as well.
However, as John and Quiet both manage to dodge the electromagnetic pulse fired by Raven, Mayhem gets caught by it, and her car is immediately wrecked, meaning that she is out of the tournament. But the protagonist and Quiet are much more concerned about Mayhem’s safety, as there is a risk that she is either already dead or might lose her life very soon. They quickly run out of their cars, despite the fact that they are still being pursued by the remaining drivers, and go to help Mayhem out of the crash, and this turns out to be a crucial moment. Raven sees them outside their respective cars and decides to shoot them, as this is an extremely easy opportunity to eliminate them together.
But it is ultimately Axel who jumps in the way and allows himself to be shot by the electromagnetic pulse, sacrificing his life in the process. As was revealed in the previous episode, Mayhem was actually the baby girl Axel had rescued many years ago and had started to treat like his own daughter. Although he keeps this matter a secret from everyone, including Mayhem herself, he has made a promise to himself to not lose the girl or let any harm come her way once again. When he sees Raven about to attack John and Quiet, they are literally holding Mayhem in their arms, which would mean that the pulse would kill Mayhem as well.
Therefore, Axel jumps in the way of the pulse without any hesitation, and he also takes the chance to tell John and Quiet to always take care of Mayhem and keep her company before getting shot in the back and dying from the attack. Despite his tough exterior, which was a direct result of the unfortunate experiments he’d been subjected to, Axel turns out to be a true guardian and protector to Mayhem, and he must have also noticed how his estranged daughter had grown a very strong bond with John and Quiet. Therefore, he does not mind saving them as well, for the sake of Mayhem, despite Quiet literally being his target in the elimination round.
What happens in the final round?
Twisted Metal season 2 episode 11 features the final round of Calypso’s Twisted Metal tournament, which is just a pure and simple death rumble situation. The remaining contenders, John, Quiet, Sweet Tooth, Raven, Stu, Mike, and Grimm, are put inside a battle arena in their respective vehicles all at the same time. Being the final round, the rules here are very simple—the last contender remaining alive, or able to drive their car, will be the winner of the Twisted Metal tournament, and their wish will be granted by Calypso, as promised earlier. It is also now revealed that the tournament was being watched by thousands of people remotely, as there are now fans and haters of each of the competitors, and the turmoil of the racers was basically used for entertainment of the audiences, much like we have been seeking thrill and enjoyment out of the Peacock series.
Incidentally, people from both inside the cities and the wild lands outside have been watching and following the tournament, as Calypso does not differentiate between them, in sharp contrast to the social divide that exists in this world. This even makes Calypso consider himself the most just and honest entertainer in the history of humankind, as his competition works as a great unifier between all classes and inspires everyone to take risks and toil through the tough times, just like the racers, so that they too can succeed in achieving their dreams one day. Calypso pretends like his tournament is a very noble event, symbolic of the toils of human life, while in reality it is just a violent bloodsport, which is really rigged in his favor as well.
This becomes evident when Calypso decides to shake things up in the tournament and introduce one last surprise, in the form of a ruthless demonic robot called Minion, which he has designed and brought to life himself. Minion is not a competitor, as it has no intention of winning the tournament and having its wish granted, and its only purpose is to attack the racers and kill them. Therefore, it is possible that all the competitors might die at the hands of Minion, and there will be nobody left alive, at least for a significant amount of time, to enjoy life as the winner of the tournament. According to Calypso’s plan, the winner is supposed to die within just minutes of being the sole survivor and winning the competition, which he definitely did not reveal earlier.
Does Mayhem really betray her friends?
As it turns out, Mayhem had actually known about the existence of Minion from before, as she had snuck into Calypso’s laboratory by following him around the facility and seen the thick cables used to power up the demonic robot. Although Mayhem did not know the exact purpose of the beast, she had figured out that it would surely be used for some villainous plan, and she had immediately decided to inform her friends about the situation. However, when she was about to enter John and Quiet’s room, she heard them conversing about her. Overhearing this conversation made Mayhem change her mind about telling the couple about Minion, as she felt that they did not actually care for her.
In this conversation, John and Quiet were discussing how they cannot keep thinking about Mayhem, though it should be more important to keep themselves safe and ensure their own survival. Although Mayhem had been eliminated, she still wanted to participate in the tournament as part of either John or Quiet’s team, but John now admits to his girlfriend how taking Mayhem along will only slow them down and how the teenager is always going to be a liability to them. As she overhears all this, Mayhem obviously feels hurt and let down, as she starts to believe that her friends do not care for her at all, but she does not understand the fact that John calls her a liability because of the genuine love that they both have for her.
Therefore, Mayhem decides to join Calypso after she is given the chance to do so, following her failed attempt to escape the facility. She agrees to sit beside the villainous organizer and enjoy the final round of the tournament from this cruel position, and she claims that seeing her old friends getting hurt, or even dying, will not bother her at all. However, this claim turns out to be false when John gets terribly injured and seems to be dead during his battle with Minion, and Quiet jumps out of her car, essentially quitting the tournament on her own, to help him out.
In these crucial minutes, Mayhem realizes that she does care for her friends, as she also realizes how they had always stood by her side. Thus, Mayhem takes down Calypso’s guards and escapes captivity, threatening to kill Calypso if she is not allowed to do so. She then rolls up in Sweet Tooth’s ice cream truck to help Quiet resuscitate John by giving him CPR with the help of a makeshift machine. Mayhem then also helps her friends escape the battlefield, as they are both out of the competition, and the Twisted Metal tournament comes to a close.
Who wins the Twisted Metal tournament?
By the beginning of the final round, the competitors were already used to the extremely violent nature of the tournament, and therefore they did not hesitate to launch an attack on each other. John and Quiet continue working together in order to win the competition and have their wish granted, and they manage to shoot and kill Mike by executing their strategy. Stu, who is in the same car, remains alive, but he is unable to control the vehicle, as he is shocked and aggrieved by the sudden and violent death of his best friend. The car crashes into a wreck as a result, and the team is believed to be eliminated. Raven had been using an electromagnetic shield to defend her car from all attacks at the beginning of the round, much to the dismay and anger of Calypso.
As soon as Calypso uses his powers of dark magic to disable Raven’s charm, she and her car are once again vulnerable to attack, and she decides to make the first move on John. Unfortunately for her, John’s car is equipped with missiles strong enough to blow her car apart, and Raven also dies on the battlefield after having one last imaginary vision of her best friend, who was also confirmed to have been her lover, Kelly. The entry of Minion then wreaks havoc on the Twisted Metal tournament, as the remaining survivors, meaning John, Quiet, and Sweet Tooth, are immediately attacked by it. The clown is ultimately killed by the robot as well, while John and Quiet had both exited their vehicles, which meant that they were out as well.
Although it seems for some time as if there is no winner to the Twisted Metal tournament, a twist in the tale reveals that Stu is actually alive, as he had only lost consciousness earlier, and his car is still in a drivable condition as well. Thus, it is Stu who wins the competition, despite always being considered one of the weakest participants, and it is now time for his reward. Stu had wished to be taken far away from all the dangers and violence of the post-apocalyptic world, to some place where he could live in peace with his best friend, Mike. Calypso ultimately grants his wish, but a very cruel interpretation of it, as Stu is made an astronaut living in a spaceship just in the blink of an eye, and to make matters worse, the dead body of Mike is also sent to space with him.
Who does the protagonist team up?
During Twisted Metal season 2’s ending, John, Quiet, and Mayhem travel far away from the location of the competition and move into the cabin in the woods that John’s family owned. The place happens to still have running electricity, most possibly from a generator, and the three start living here as a family. However, things take a sudden turn when Calypso appears on the TV one day and falsely accuses John and Quiet of setting off the deadly explosion that had taken place at the venue of his tournament when it was over. This explosion, which had been caused by Calypso himself, had killed thousands of people, including city-dwellers, and now the city authorities want to seek revenge against the perpetrators.
Naturally, they target John and Quiet, and to make things even worse for the couple, Minion finds their location and immediately launches an attack on them. It is also revealed that Minion is actually a modified and altered version of Krysta, meaning that she is alive, in a sense, but is now an antagonist. John, Quiet, and Mayhem somehow manage to escape, with the crucial help of Stu, who has now returned from space and has trained to become a hitman with sniping skills. Thus, in In Twisted Metal season 2’s ending, John teams up with Stu, Quiet, and Mayhem to not just protect themselves from the United Treaty of Insiders, which is a union of all the governments from the walled cities, but to also bring down Calypso, who is the root of all problems.
