I have never been big into racing games so it should be no surprise that I have never played the Twisted Metal video game series that debuted way back in 1995. What is surprising is that both my wife and I were drawn to the Twisted Metal TV show.
We loved Stephanie Beatriz from her role as Rosa on Brooklyn 99 and Anthony Mackie from Marvel movies. Combine that with the fact we like a fun action shows every now and then and the show was advertised every 5 minutes when we were watching Mrs. Davis and we decided to give it a try. From the very first episode, we knew we would not be disappointed. Is it the greatest work of art ever? Oh god no. But it is highly entertaining and quite funny.
Although this may sound like a lot of other shows out right now: an adventure in a post apocalyptic world, twisted Metal manages to be just different enough to make it stand out. First, it is more of a comedy than a dreadful, violent slog. Instead it is a amusing, violent romp. The true strength of the show are the characters. Not only is the budding relationship between John Doe (Mackie) and Quiet (Beatriz) fun and entertaining, but the side characters are all awesome as well. Not surprisingly, the best of these side characters is Sweet Tooth, a psychotic murdering clown voiced by Will Arnett. Yes I wrote "voiced" because Sweet Tooth is HUGE and Will Arnett is not. So they actually have a second actor, wrestler Samoa Joe, do all of the physical acting. Because Sweet Tooth is constantly under a maniacal clown mask, the gimmick works perfectly. Although quite dark, this character is very funny... as long as you remember none of this is real. If you forget that, he is the thing of nightmares!
While the first season was a chance for John Doe and Quiet to get to know each other while the audience got to know each of them, the second season is all about a tournament... to the death. The first season introduces a bizarre post apocalyptic world where a select few "insiders" are able to live in a civilization inside walled cities while the majority of people are fighting for survival on the outside. Mackey plays a "milkman" who delivers things between the walled cities. He meets Quiet along the way and they bond.
Season two revolves around all of the reoccurring characters battling it out in the most extreme demolition derby ever created. The only catch is that it seems everyone in the race was taught to shoot by The Imperial Empire's Stormtroopers. They can never seem to hit anything with the machine guns.
And this is where it becomes really unique. My least favorite part of the show is the action. Because the show doesn't have a very high production value, the battles don't look great. Plus there is that pesky problem of so many characters wearing plot armor that it seems no one can actually get hit. It is kind of like watching a WWE "wrestling" match where you know it is fake but it is still kind of entertaining.
The show is really driven by its characters, a simple but fun story, and some decent writing. It is a great palate cleanser after watching something super serious like The Pitt. It also isn't always "destination viewing" as we sometimes scroll our phones a little while watching. So it isn't the best show but rather a worthwhile diversion.
