[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Twisted Metal Season 2 Episode 12, “NUY3ARZ.”]
It just wouldn’t be Twisted Metal without a truly treacherous twist now, would it? After all, isn’t that what Calypso is known for? Granting wishes and warping them beyond all recognition, turning dreams into nightmares, is a specialty of his, after all.
In the Season 2 finale of Twisted Metal, titled “NUY3ARZ,” Stu (Mike Mitchell) wins the tournament and his prize, but not without its cost. A flashback reveals Stu’s wish: “I wish to go somewhere safe. Away from all this. Just me and Mike.” He looks back at Mike’s (Tahj Vaughans) body and snarls at Calypso (Anthony Carrigan), “Give me my f***ing wish.”
“Thank you for playing Twisted Metal,” the MC says, clapping his hands. Suddenly, Stu finds himself aboard a space shuttle drifting in orbit, far above Earth, alone, stranded with the corpse of his friend, doomed to float in zero gravity for eternity. “No. NOOOOOO!” screams the so-called victor. A perfect callback to the games, where most wishes went awry, bringing only grief instead of glee.
In the aftermath of the explosion, amid the rubble of the arena, Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz) and Mayhem (Saylor Bell) revive John Doe (Anthony Mackie) and take him to safety, while unknown thugs drag away the seemingly lifeless body of Sweet Tooth.
Viewers also get a glimpse of Calypso’s early days in a truly surreal, meta moment for the show, where a ponytailed Calypso is shown pitching Twisted Metal to NBC execs, complete with a pitch deck featuring potential celebs (Carson Daly! Wesley Snipes!).
John, Quiet, and Mayhem retreat to John’s family cabin in the woods, a hidden haven where their found family begins to carve out a brief, happy life together. But happiness is fleeting in this world.
After several weeks of peace, the trio is shaken by a broadcast from Calypso, who blames them for the bombing of the Twisted Metal arena, shattering their fragile calm. Using doctored footage and Quiet’s wish for the walls to come down, the authoritarian regime seizes the opportunity to declare war on the Outsiders, framing them as a threat to the Insiders. John and Quiet are singled out as public enemies No. 1. “Anyone who supports John and Quiet will be regarded as hostile, and anyone who delivers them to us will be celebrated as a hero.”
A war has erupted between the Insiders and the Outsiders, and John and Quiet have been marked as its first pawns.
Suddenly, Minion crashes through the cabin door. Quiet hurls a hatchet, but Minion catches it midair and flings it back, striking her in the shoulder. As the monster turns its fury on John, he seizes Minion’s head and rips off the mask…
Revealing that beneath the red armor is the reanimated corpse of his sister, Krista, a.k.a. Dollface.
It’s a shocking twist that fuses two iconic characters from the game into one unforgettable moment in the series. TV Insider caught up with actress Tiana Okoye to talk about her pivotal role in the finale, particularly as the show takes such a drastic turn from its source material.
“It is a little bit nerve-racking to take on a role that has such a big fan base, for sure. But as far as fan reacting, listen, I’ve been looking at Reddit a little bit, and some people have been right! They’re kind of putting it together,” said Okoye. “I think that it’ll be like a really fun surprise for some people, but I think a lot of the fans are onto it a little bit.”
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As far as preparing for the dual role of both Dollface and Minion, Okoye had her own ideas on how to approach the role.
“I kind of wanted to go into it with the information that [Michael Jonathan Smith] put out there, and I wanted to serve the show, first and foremost. I actually played the games after the show came out,” explained the actress. “But I didn’t really get into the games until after I came back from shooting. The relationships, the storyline are so different from all of the different versions of Dollface. It’s kind of like little bits of each of them. I think if I had stuck just to one. It wouldn’t have served me because this is a completely new project.”
The shift from Dollface to Minion is no easy transition, and it’s not one she could have made on her own.
“I feel like it was a team effort for sure. I can do all the work on my own of getting into that space and getting to be that final boss and being the villain, but if I don’t have the support from hair and makeup, and costumes and wardrobe and wearing a super suit — that was my first time wearing a suit like that — I think that that absolutely helped,” said Okoye. “I mean, I’m towering over Anthony at the end. I’m very much this scary demon figure, and that wouldn’t have been made possible if it weren’t for the creative team that put that together and made that costume so specific and so extravagant.”
“As far as getting into that mindset … my version of Minion is a new character,” explained Okoye. “This is like a version of Dollface, and you kind of see her eyes flicker at the end, [and you think] ‘Oh, is she still in there? Or is this just her body being manipulated by Calypso to be this final boss?’”
“She’s still in there. I think Krista is definitely still in there. And because of that information, I think you have to use that angst, you have to use that anger, that desperation that Krista has very deep inside for Minion, and it’s just kind of targeted in a different direction than it was for Dollface.”
If there were to be a Season 3 — which hasn’t been confirmed — Okoye discussed her character’s future in relation to her brother John, Calypso, and Mayhem, and where the story might go.
“My relationship with him was solely based on history and wanting to have him remember the past, remember our relationship together, remember our family, and get back to old times. Reconnect. That was her mission,” she noted. “I think for Season 3, as far as Minion and John are considered, I feel like the roles will be reversed. I feel like John is going to be the one that’s trying to get me to remember. trying to spark some sort of flame inside that ignites like that relationship again. So I feel like the rules will be reversed there.”
“As for Calypso, I mean, that’s an interesting one,” continued Okoye. “I could definitely see a world in which Krista/Minion feels loyalty to Calypso. Feels like she has to serve him, but there might be some conflict there, obviously, with John. I feel like that’s a really fun relationship to play Calypso and Minion for sure. As far as mayhem is concerned. Oh, that one’s a tough one, because Mayhem is such a loose cannon, but her relationships are growing with John and Quiet, and there is that mom-dad relationship happening there. So I definitely feel like they’ll feel the need to protect her.”
Back in the cabin, just as the gang is reeling from the shock of seeing KristaMinion, Stu 2.0 — who has learned to pilot the shuttle and return to Earth — comes through the door to save the gang.
“Come with me if you don’t want to die.” But in perfect Stu fashion, he mucks up the save, leaving John to do the dirty work. Unable to kill Krista, he leaves the monster on the floor just as the beast’s eyes flicker, revealing that the person Minion was is still in there, somewhere.
In the end, John decides to travel across a warzone to hunt down Calypso, a dangerous, all-powerful maniac who can do anything. “We are going to need help,” remarks Quiet. “We don’t need help. We need cars,” says John, standing at a crossroads as Season 2 of Twisted Metal comes to an end.
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