Twisted Metal Season 2 Is a Goofier, Bloodier, Funnier Death Race (With Heart)

TV shows based on video games are notoriously hard to crack. Add in the challenge of creating a compelling narrative arc built around a game series where the main narrative is “crazed maniacs try to kill one another with cars,” and it’s easy to see how the deck could’ve been stacked against Peacock’s Twisted Metal, returning for its second season to speed us through the summer heat. So the fact that Twisted Metal’s second round is just so damn fun is a delightfully pleasant surprise. There’s really no reason this should work as well as it does. 

The series’ first season took its time—probably a bit too much time— establishing its bizarro post-apocalypse universe, where the world pretty much ended around Y2K and now we’re a few decades past that. But thanks to this occasionally tedious Season 1 world-building that the series’ second season can get right to the good stuff: the eponymous Twisted Metal tournament itself.

Fresh off his big screen turn as Captain America in Marvel Studios’ Brave New World, Anthony Mackie returns as series lead John Doe, alongside Brooklyn Nine-Nine fan favorite Stephanie Beatriz as his partner Quiet (she didn’t say much in Season 1, hence the nickname). Joe Seanoa (a.k.a. Samoa Joe) is also back as killer clown Sweet Tooth, with Will Arnett still providing the trademark voice work for the literal fire-headed jester. (If there’s any visual you might remember from the PlayStation game series that inspired the show in the first place, it’s that smiling, fiery clown face behind the wheel of a rusty ice cream truck from the cover art.) Season 2 is rounded out with a who’s who of positively insane drivers thrown into the mix, ranging from a soul-sucking motorcycle rider, to a jacked shirtless bodybuilder who is literally half car himself (his arms connect into a pair of massive wheels). All this controlled chaos is orchestrated by mysterious and magical games master Calypso, played by Anthony Carrigan (another actor also coming off his own superhero hit, having played Metamorpho in DC’s new Superman reboot).

And why would these folks risk their lives to sign up for this Twisted Metal tournament, a kill-or-be-killed battle to vehicular death, in the first place? Well, the winner gets to make a wish (yes, a literal wish) that will be granted by Calypso if they win it all.

Twisted Metal Season 2 has fully embraced its premise, giving us the tournament fans have been clamoring to see brought to live action, with plenty of impressive car stunts, vehicular combat and wild weapons that those who love the games are sure to recognize. But in between all the wild kills and speedy escapes, the relationship between John and Quiet serves as a tether to make sure we still care about this world and don’t simply get lost in the action, as we even see John finally reunite with his long-lost sister, Dollface, a plot point teased through Season 1.