TWISTED METAL
Season One Couriers Of The Wasteland
The crucial point is that they all have big guns and fast cars
UK Paramount+, streaming 21 March US Peacock, streaming now
Showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith
Cast Anthony Mackie, Stephanie
Beatriz, Joe Seanoa, Will Arnett
When we say that Twisted Metal is a successful adaptation of the videogame it’s based on, don’t go expecting the next Halo or The Last Of Us. The game series is a largely plotless slice of pure action carmageddon, based around a near-future demolition derby where ordnancestuffed vehicles blast the hell of each other.
So it’s amazing they’ve managed to create a 10-part series out of that, let alone a half-decent one.
The gaming franchise had some twisted, dark, satirical ideas around the edges of its worldbuilding, and the TV show takes that and runs with it. In a lawless post-apocalyptic USA, fast-talking amnesiac John Doe (Anthony Mackie) is a kind of gnarly UPS guy, making deliveries to various surviving groups. Then he takes on a cross-continent mission, which means navigating some of the most dangerous, psycho-weirdo infested regions of the country.
He’s soon joined by the gloriously dour Quiet (Brooklyn Nine-nine’s Stephanie Beatriz, the best thing in the show), with everyone from a murderous clown to a creepy priest and an ultraright militia on their tail. The crucial point being that they all have big guns and fast cars.
It’s silly. It’s crude. It’s as subtle as a kick in the groin. It’s like Blood Drive (remember that?) take two – a show which was sent to the scrapheap too soon, so we’re fine with that. It has a truck load of witty game-related Easter eggs, brilliantly oddball support characters and, most crucially of all, car-nage that – when it comes – is impressive, high-octane stuff for the small screen. Dave Golder
In episode eight, “EV3L1N”, the young John Doe is played by one of Anthony Mackie’s four sons, Anthony Mackie Jr.