Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9 ending explained: Are Quiet and John still driving for the same team?

Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9 brings an unexpected twist to the show's favorite duo as Calypso's demolition derby heads to the next round. Episode 8 and 9 drops at the same time in another back-to-back weekly release, but while there is no car action from both episodes, this week's release is still packed with drama, comedy, and bloody action.

There is the tournament drivers versus the Apocalypse 9, a special round before the final round of the demolition derby commences. This action happens in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 8, and after the drivers win, Calypso treats them to a winter solstice promenade. But just as everyone starts to enjoy the party and their guards are down, Calypso infects them with toxic gas.

The drivers wake up inside their cars, and in an unexpected twist, John and Quiet wake up in separate cars. They are not teammates anymore, and they will be fighting against each other in the final round. Meanwhile, Twisted Metal season 2 episodes 8 and 9 explore Axel's background and Mayhem's identity, and bring another casualty from the driver lineup.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for Twisted Metal season 2 episodes 8 & 9. Reader's discretion is advised.

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Are John and Quiet still teammates in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9?

John and Quiet in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9 (Image via Peacock)

Calypso gives John and Quiet a massive twist in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9. They are not going to be teammates in the final round of the tournament. Trouble has been brewing between John and Quiet since the former made his own wish, and after confessing to Quiet in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 7, it looks like they are going to have major problems.

She does not take the betrayal well, as seen in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 8. Quiet thinks John was being selfish when he made a separate wish to get Krista back from the dead, although she later realizes that John has his reasons. After all, it is his sister. Earlier in episode 9, Calypso brings them back to the wishing well to address the wish mishap.

They go out there thinking that all is well after Calypso lets them drink the water from the well and tells them that the problem will sort itself out and not to worry. John and Quiet make up, quite literally, in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9 during the winter solstice promenade, even sharing a kiss while slow dancing on the dance floor and making Raven jealous.

But as the room is engulfed in toxic gas, what John and Quiet do not know is that Calypso's promise at the wishing well is not exactly how they thought it was. One of the wishes was not reverted, but they only realized that too late. They wake up after passing out from the toxic to see themselves inside each of their cars.

John and Quiet wake up in separate cars or in different versions of their car, Roadkill, just as Calypso announces the after party, which is going to be the final round. John and Quiet having to drive different cars in the tournament means they must now fight against each other. And since every loser dies and only one of the drivers will win, one of them could be another casualty.

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Twisted Metal season 2 episodes 8 & 9: How did Axel become the "wheel man"? His backstory explored

Axel's backstory explored (Image via Peacock)

In the back-to-back episode this week, the show puts Axel's backstory in the spotlight. During the tense time after Calypso announces the Apocalypse 9, Mike, Stu, Dave, and Axel are taking cover inside a room. The problem is that the Apocalypse 9 are hard to defeat, and the group's best bet is for Axel to kill their enemies.

Unfortunately for them, Axel does not have access to fuel, and he thinks he does not have any killing power because of that. Dave, who has been turning in a new leaf from being a cannibal, suggests that Axel needs an intervention. It is what has prompted Axel to reveal his baggage. It turns out that he has had a tragic life after being abandoned by his father.

If that is not bad enough, his wife cheated and ran away with his father, and they lived a happy married life. It messed him up, and he started owing dangerous people money, and they used him as a hitman. Long story short, Dr. Zemu tortured him and experimented on his body, cutting off his hands and putting him on a wheel.

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Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9: How is Axel related to Mayhem?

Axel and Mayhem are not related by blood, but a flashback and Axel's storytelling in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9 reveal that during one of his hits, he killed a family, only to realize that there's a baby inside the house. He saved the baby and took care of her. However, he was attacked one night, and the next thing he knew, the baby was gone. Axel still longs for the baby he once took care of.

Mayhem's identity explored in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9 (Image via Peacock)

However, in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9, he is reunited with the kid, who is now grown and is driving in the tournament like him, Mayhem. He recognizes the piece of clothing Mayhem is using as a ponytail as the same fabric as the baby's blanket. She does not know where the cloth is from as she has always had it since she was a baby, but Axel recognizes it without question.

But just as he is about to confess to Mayhem that she was the baby he saved all those years ago, the effects of Calypso's toxic smoke start to affect everyone. They start fainting before Axel can talk to Mayhem about his latest discovery.

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Is Dave dead in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9?

The winter solstice promenade in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9 is an eventful one, especially for Stu, who is now Sweet Tooth's adopted son. He is not particularly a killer despite his occasional killing spree, like what happened at the Diesel City in Twisted Metal season 2 episodes 4 & 5.

However, in Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9, he ends up killing Dave in self-defense, although indirectly, after he finds Dave eating the leg of one of the Apocalypse 9. Dave, it turns out, has never stopped being a cannibal, and seeing Stu, he wants to taste a piece of him.

They get into an unexpectedly brutal fight that ends with Dave skewering his eyeball on a coat hook after Stu evades his offense. Stu makes Dave's death look like a suicide by hanging the man with a rope around the neck and writing his suicide note, although that skewered eyeball would be difficult to explain then.

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Catch Twisted Metal season 2 episode 9, along with the previous episodes of the series, streaming on Peacock.