3RNCRCS – Episode 2 picks up with John Doe (Anthony Mackie) and Quiet’s (Stephanie Beatriz) standoff as Sweet Tooth (Je Seanoa aka Samoa Joe) bears down on them in the distance. Seeing the cackling maniac coming, John reminds Quiet that there is a way out of this. At that, they both turn to fire on the approaching clown in his ice cream truck. John, however, is firing blanks. Embarrassed, he turns to Quiet and attempts to explain how this never happens to him. Realizing that the ammo is in his pocket doesn’t offer much solace as he’s already fumbling and dropping bullets and guns. While retrieving and loading the weapons, he realizes that his car and Quiet are gone. Lucky for him, he still has time to chase her down. As he puts the loaded gun to her head, she puts the knife to his crotch and they find themselves at yet another impasse.

Things only get much more when Evelyn starts sputtering and stops. John promises that if she scoots over, he can get them out of this alive. Climbing over her in the seat, John fidgets with the gear shift and steering wheel controls to get Evelyn back going, just in time too because Sweet Tooth has nearly reached them. A chase and shootout ensue with a bit of quipping between the protagonist and antagonist until John crashes Evelyn through the front glass entrance of a casino.

EAT Diner – Run down and decorated with graffiti, the EAT Diner couldn’t look more appropriate for the deserted desert. Inside, the scene is shocking as the cooks season and sizzle what appears to be human meat. Right in the middle of all the action are two cuffed men sitting in human-sized cooling pots. One of the men addresses the other as Stu (Mike Mitchell) and professes his love for him, but can’t help admitting that their current predicament is his fault. Stu didn’t know the woods would be crawling with “Butchers,” but that isn’t what Mike (Tahj Vaughans) is referring to. He’s talking about their exile because Stu got caught sleeping on duty. With their continued squabbling, they merely missed being rescued by the officers.

Agent Stone (Thomas Haden Church) declares the two men lucky, as they don’t usually find the pigs alive before the luau. Disgusted with the savagery and cannibalism Agent Stone orders his men to cut the two men free. He also happens to notice that their nearby clothes are that of guards. Mike is even quicker to intervene when Stu almost blabs that they aren’t officially guards anymore. Instead, Mike tells Stone that they were sent on a special mission to Seattle when their vehicle broke down and was subsequently taken by surprise by the “butchers.” Stone gives them the option of attempting to make their way back or joining “the law” and their quest to bring order back to the Divide States of America. They accept his offer.

Casino – Evelyn, John, and Quiet hide out in the casino while Sweet Tooth menacingly stalks them. Either way, they aren’t going anywhere fast without John changing a flat tire. Arriving at the breached front entrance, Sweet Tooth claps his hands, and the dark casino pops with pings, pangs, and bright lights. It doesn’t take Sweet Tooth long to find John when Quiet shoots him the bird and throws a beer bottle his way. Hitting the slot machine, it starts making jackpot sounds and draws the attention of Sweet Tooth. Scurrying away on the ground, John manages to sidestep a shotgun and get to his feet. Once grounded, he also manages to sidestep a flying machete. He even gets a lucky punch on the formidable clown, but only manages to hurt his hand before Sweet Tooth nearly knocks him out with a single punch.

What follows is a tormenting beat down. Clearly not fighting his way out of this, John attempts to relate with Sweet Tooth and proves successful. He tells the man that he’s been shot at for as long as he can remember and adopted the automated response of shooting back. That’s something Sweet Tooth can relate to and points out that John may have trust issues. John pushes his good look even further when he comments on how great Sweet Tooth’s singing skills are. Sweet Tooth appears genuinely touched, but that changes when John asks if he can leave. He thought John would want to attend his “show.” Of course, John’s coming to the “show,” he just wants to make sure that he can leave after.

Police Headquarters – Agent Stone and Shepard (Jared Bankens) give Mike and Stu the tour through what appears to be the Hoover Dam. Now attired in official police uniform and gear, Stone wants to know if they enjoyed their showers. Stu can’t remember the last time that his body felt warm water that wasn’t his own pee. Well, warm water isn’t the only thing Stone can offer them for their loyal recompense. There are also warm beds, warm blankets, and warm meals. This is, of course, if they can make it through initiation. As Stone leads them outside, he introduces them to a nearby broken-down supply truck. The only problem is, it’s broken down and needs protecting. Giving them a scoped rifle each, Stone lets them know that their initiation is to guard the truck from seagulls.

Casino – Back over at the Casino, Sweet Tooth digs into a handful of Skittles to help quell his pre-show jitters. Although John turns them down, he offers him some as well before thanking him for coming along willingly. Sweet Tooth is used to dragging people kicking and screaming to the “theater.” Sweet Tooth then goes on a tangent about the importance of a good stage name. The right one can just send a shiver down your spine, he claims. John accesses this as true seeing that there isn’t a person on the West Coast that isn’t familiar with the East Coast lunatic, Sweet Tooth. A bit of John’s past is revealed or the absence thereof when Sweet Tooth asks his name. John Doe is a sort of placeholder for the boy’s earlier memory in life is waking up in his car. John does have that half-burnt picture of what he assumes is his family but Sweet Tooth doesn’t need to know that.

Police Headquarters – Stu and Mike are knee-deep into their assignment while Agents Stone and Shepard monitor from nearby. Stu is apprehensive about the whole ordeal, sensing a problem, whereas Mike, on the other hand, just appreciates not being treated like an idiot. It doesn’t hurt that he also gets a 30-caliber rifle. As Mike rallies his buddy, they see a car pulling up from their perch. Stu, still curious, ask why the Agents refer to these people as “seagulls” when they seem like typical survivors. Shepard quips, “What else can you call a bunch of trash eaters.” The order stands that if they get too close to the supply, Stu and Mike are to execute them. Mike doesn’t even think a second about dropping one of the men with a clean chest shot. Stu falters his shot and is ordered by Stone to clean it up.

With the survivor now in the car, Mike has to take him via headshot. Lucky for Stu, Mike is his good buddy and an even better shot. Stone approaches and Stu a pep talk with the stern warning that anyone can miss, but he better not miss again.

Casino – Backstage and picking through his stage costumes, Sweet Tooth is still feeling sentimental and shares more of his previous life with John without being asked. The first thing, however, that John notices and shocks him is that Sweet Tooth is living back here. When asked, Sweet chalks it up to nostalgia and the group of “solid dudes” he used to live with. Looking around, John notices the “Blackfield Asylum Kane uniform.” When the world went to crap, he came to “Sin City.” John does the math and realizes that Sweet has been here for nearly two decades alone. Correction, Sweet hasn’t been alone; he’s had “Harold,” who is presumably some human body part in a brown paper bag. John can relate and does, bringing up Evelyn.

Sweet Tooth surmises that Evelyn is a special lady, but when revealed to be John’s car, he wants to know who Quiet is. Lighting up her glass-enclosed cage for John to see, Sweet Tooth claims to have found her rummaging around his vent system. He plans to starve her to death, 4 weeks is the record. Although Quiet has tried to kill John every chance she’s got and he doesn’t particularly care for her, she reveals that she has the keys to Evelyn. It merely just takes John asking to get Sweet Tooth to let Quiet out. After all, 4 applauding hands will be more rewarding than 2. Showing them to their reserved table, Sweet Tooth has even prepared them a feast of white tiger steak to enjoy along with the one-man play he’s about to put on.

Evelyn doesn’t waste a second digging into the meal and John joins and is surprisingly shocked by how good it is, although his focus is more on the realization that no one has ever survived three acts of a Sweet Tooth Production. With Sweet Tooth getting underway with the production, the two of them fear that they might actually die from boredom. Suffering through the show, it’s time for feedback. John’s claims that he enjoyed the show only incite Sweet Tooth for some unknown reason. He bursts into a bit of a physical tantrum. When he threatens to kill them if they don’t reveal what they really think, it is Quiet that speaks up for the first time. She is surprisingly harsh with the big man. The shocking thing, however, is that Sweet Tooth appears to be more concerned with what John thinks. He reluctantly agrees and points out that Sweet Tooth merely did a play about living in a hotel.

“Wasn’t it Mark Twain that said to write what you know?” In the talkative mood now, Quiet contributes Mark Twain to being an idiot. John makes the mistake of telling Sweet Tooth that he needs to get out there and experience the world. Perhaps get some fresh perspective. This leads Sweet to the idea of taking his show on the road. Who knows, he might even fall in love along the way. Elsewhere, Mike grows closer with his new officer buddies while Stu begins to feel left out. As a performer, Sweet Tooth appreciates a big exit and he makes his own by burning down the casino. He does, however, bring Harold along for his journey. Tire changed and back on the road, John and Quiet are still at odds. John’s got places to be and he’s already lost a lot of time, but is willing to drop his new passenger off as close to her desired location as possible. With that, she’s willing enough to admit that she is looking for someone. Going back to her silent routine when probed further inspires John to give her the name, Quiet.

She appears fine with it. Unfortunately, their journey is about to take another detour as their approaching vehicle is scoped out through the binoculars of Agent Shepard. At the front gate of Police Headquarters, he tells Stu and Mike to look alive as they’ve got a live one on the hook. Shepard tells them, they are going to stop them and request their open-road license. No license, no pass. The fast-talking wisecracking John tells Quiet that he’ll do the talking. His quips and quick wits prove ineffective and Quiet soon realizes she is staring at the man that branded her. John tries to stop her from jumping out heated but it doesn’t work. Drawing her pistol, Mike quickly hits her with the Taser and drops her. Jumping out to intervene, Stu hits him with the Taser and the episode wraps.

 

Twisted Metal Review

 

I am pleasantly surprised to see that episode 2 hung right there with the premiere. I did feel at times that the whole Casino was a bit overplayed. It was, however, nice to learn that Sweet Tooth had such a flare for the dramatics and the need to deliver. The acting certainly isn’t superb, but I can’t help but feel that everyone brings something a little unique to the table. Mackie continues to sizzle with his quick whips and Joe doesn’t do all that bad of a job playing the psychotic. Even with Quiet’s non-speaking roles, she does fairly well. Despite them always being at each other’s throats, I can feel a budding connection between her and John.

 

Despite the lack of major story plots, it’s extremely intriguing to learn more about each character. I really appreciated Stu and Mike’s ineptitude and even welcome their addition to the cast. I am interested to see what they offer from here on out. Another solid 6 out of 10 for episode 2!

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