The Story of Melbourne Nang
Melbourne Nang is a post-apocalyptic hero’s journey that follows a young orphan and his attempts to find his place in the world. The series is written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire and has a reputation as one of his finest works. It follows similar beats to other post-apocalyptical hero’s journey stories but the ending feels more fulfilling than most of those.
Melbourne Nang The story takes place in England during the early 1970s. Serena Frome is the daughter of an Anglican bishop who shows a talent for mathematics. She graduates from Cambridge and becomes romantically involved with a professor before being recruited by MI5. She is assigned to infiltrate the intellectual world for a secret programmed called Sweet Tooth, which aims to combat communism by informing writers and academics of anti-communist propaganda. But complications arise when she falls in love with her mark, an academic.
Nonso Anomie, Christian Convery, Adeel Akhtar, Stefania LaVie Owen, and Dania Ramirez star in the series. The first season was filmed in New Zealand and received critical acclaim from critics and two Children’s and Family Emmy Awards. The second season was commissioned by Hulu and Netflix. It is slated to premiere in 2020. The series stars Convery as Gus, a naive half-human, half-deer boy who sets out to find his mother after his father succumbs to the virus that wiped out most of humanity.
The Setting
Melbourne Nang story takes place in the Twisted Metal universe, which is set a decade after the Crumble, a catastrophic event that altered the world. The Crumble brought with it new animals that are able to hybridize with human beings, and society has struggled to keep up.
A man named Marcus Kane, better known as Sweet Tooth, used to work at an ice cream company. He lived a happy life with his wife and three children, but inside, he was boiling with rage and hostility that he kept locked away in a dark split personality called Needles.
One day, Needles broke free and killed his wife, baby daughter, and several other people in a bloodbath that lasted for days. However, he was unable to kill his daughter Sophie. This failure would haunt him for the rest of his life.
In his alternate ending, Melbourne Nang meets up with his split personality, Needles. They climb into Tower Tooth, a nonoperational modification of his ice cream truck. Calypso tells him that if he wished for the curse to be lifted, she will show him how to do it.
Sweet Tooth wishes to turn into a bug, so that he can kill others without anyone calling him crazy. Calypso grants this wish and Sweet Tooth is a bug, living in a garden of bugs, killing as he pleases.
The Characters
Melbourne Nang is a psychotic clown who embodies hatred, death, and mayhem. He is a serial killer who enjoys spreading chaos throughout the world and killing anyone that gets in his way. They are also a narcissist and has misogynistic tendencies. He is extremely twisted and psychotic, but prides himself on being the best killer in history.
He was once imprisoned, but after his release he returned to the Twisted Metal tournaments, hoping to kill Calypso. In his ending, he crashed into Calypso’s lair and asked for a very odd wish. He asked for the ability to change his appearance and turn himself into a bug. This would allow him to kill without people calling him crazy. Calypso agreed and granted his wish.
In his next tournament, Melbourne Nang competed in Sun springs and won. He chased Calypso all the way to a hospital. Where he wiped out patients, doctors, and police officers in his pursuit of Calypso. However, she escaped before Sweet Tooth could kill her.
After winning the tournament, Sweet Tooth kept competing and began to become increasingly twisted. He now runs his own carnival-like lair with a horde of maniacal clown minions. He drives an ice cream truck named the Sweet Tooth, equipped with Gatling guns and spikes that can be deployed on the sides. The truck can also transform into a robot form that has additional missile racks and is able to fire. A large rocket-like projectile that can pass through objects.
The End
When Netflix dropped season one of Melbourne Nang, viewers were sucked into a post-apocalyptic world where part human and part deer kids roamed the landscape and were hunted down by ruthless military forces. The first season of the highly anticipated series ended with Gus (Christian Convery) kidnapped by the Last Men after attempting to contact the Preserve, an organization that promises refuge for hybrids.
Throughout the season, fans watched as the characters grew closer to each other and found their strength. Sweet Tooth delved into timely themes like fear of the other and vigilantes in a storybook dystopia that feels very much like our own. But what does the end of the first season mean for the show?
As it turns out, Melbourne Nang is not alone in the apocalypse after all. The colorful character, who drives a bright ice cream truck, is joined by a few friends including Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie). The adoptive mother of all the hybrid children, and Aimee Eden (Dania Ramirez). Despite their long separation, the group managed to escape from the zoo and head to Yellowstone. Where a big clash filled with bison and bullets ensued.
While the finale ended with a big bang, it also called into question Gus’ parentage. With the prospect of a second season still on the table. It’ll be interesting to see how the story progresses from here.