Twisted Metal - “SDDNDTH” & “VAVAVUM” Review
Twisted Metal, as a concept, thrives on momentum. The series at its best channels the anarchic energy of its source material: cars turned into weapons, characters as avatars of chaos, and an apocalyptic stage where every clash feels both grotesque and exhilarating. Yet with episodes eight and nine of season 2, “SDDNDTH” & “VAVAVUM”, the show takes its foot off the gas, and the results are frustrating.
“SDDNDTH” largely builds itself around Axel, the most tragic and physically extreme figure of the tournament. We are shown glimpses of the man behind the machine: once a cake decorator, later a hitman, and eventually a victim of his own brutality. His backstory is heavy, even haunting, and in a vacuum, it’s effective. But Twisted Metal doesn’t exist in a vacuum – it exists in the promise of vehicular carnage. And here, Calypso’s “bonus round” strands the characters inside the school, with no cars, no races, and little more than bare-knuckle skirmishes in empty hallways.
The choice drains the tension from the series’ central conceit. Axel eventually erupts in fury, but by then the damage is done. Instead of escalating toward a crescendo, the episode spins its wheels, substituting fights with conversations, and conversations with bickering. The character work is fine – great, even – but it feels misplaced in a series whose very identity is in the title, and the problem continues into the next episode.
The conceit of a prom night for post-apocalyptic killers is admittedly hilarious, and the costuming and details (Axel in a bow tie!) show some spark. Yet the episode feels like a further interruption. It circles through all of the expected jealousies and betrayals, and on paper, these arcs could really resonate. But in execution, the prom setting cheapens them, reducing conflicts that should be resolved on the battlefield to soap opera beats staged against high school decorations.
By the end, however, Calypso reasserts control, drugging the contestants and throwing them back behind the wheel. It is only in those final moments that the pulse of Twisted Metal returns. The cars roar again, and the prospect of next week’s three-part finale suddenly feels alive with potential. But it comes after two full episodes that largely squander the series’ greatest asset: its speed.
Twisted Metal has proven it can mix chaos with character, and violence with vulnerability. But these two installments showed the danger of imbalance. Without its vehicles, the show risked becoming something it isn’t equipped to be. “SDDNDTH” and “VAVAVUM” may have felt like wasted track, but the promise of next week’s finale looms large, and I can’t wait to see how the season ends.