Sonic X, Episode 2.18: Sewer Search

Sonic X, Episode 2.18: Sewer Search

Japanese Title: The Ridiculous Epic Spy Operation

Japanese Air Date: February 1st, 2004

U.S. Air Date: February 12th, 2005

"Sonic X" continues to be in a goofy mood with the eighteenth episode of season two. The President is concerned about Eggman having escaped prison. He sends Rouge and Topaz on a special mission to find him. Mr. Stewart has also been deployed on this mission. Chris and his friends randomly meet Cream, Cheese, and Emerl at school. Upon seeing Mr. Stewart, all the kids decide to follow him around. The group soon stumbled across Eggman, who is literally buying books in a used book store. They follow him to his sewer lair and shenanigans ensue. Meanwhile, Chuck assigns Sonic to go find Chris, who didn't arrive at school today. 

Yes, this has to rank among the sillier episodes of this very silly television program. I guess it technically moves the overall plot forward: Emerl continues to lurk around in the background, the show periodically reminding us of his ability to copy special moves. All in preparation of that forthcoming "Sonic Battles" adaptation. It's also established that Eggman has set up a new base below the streets of Station Square, like he's a Ninja Turtle or something. Also, that he's planning some new evil deed. But otherwise, this is a loose, screwball installment devoted to the characters shirking responsibilities and going on wacky adventures that have little impact on the rest of the series. 

The thing that is most amusing about this episode is the reveal that... Mr. Stewart is actually a good spy? Let me explain. The kids come across their former teacher pressing a stethoscope to a tree. He suspects Bocoe and Decoe are hiding inside, which seems ridiculous. Except he's totally right. Later, he uses the same device to uncover the location of Eggman's new hideout. When he's captured by the bad guy, and they dump his briefcase full of spy shit on the floor, Eggman dismisses it. Surely, nobody as unassuming and buffoonish as this guy could be an actual intelligence agent. Being unassuming and unsuspected are, in fact, the qualities that make a good spy. (And not so much transforming robot cars, though he has one of those too.) Mr. Stewart is still kind of a dumb-ass — he drives his car down a flight of stairs and imperils the children in his backseat — but in this show's goofy world, he's still pretty good at his job. 

Another thing I like about this episode is that there are multiple scenes of characters just hanging out together and being silly. After Stewart's hideous compact car turns into a boat and cruises into the sewers, a lizard jumps into the backseat. This freaks out Danny, who has an apparent phobia of all things creepy and crawly. Helen thinks the lizard is cool though. In fact, she loves animals like that and is even seen, in flashback, cuddling a spiny caterpillar. He insists that's weird, she fires back that he's unmanly, and I come away thinking both of these kids are more interesting than I previously did. I like it when characters, especially children, are given specific personality quirks. 

This is also an episode strangely fixated on desserts. Maybe because most of it takes place in a sewer, which presumably stinks of human feces. After an extensive recap of the last episode, we are greeted to a very serious scene of the President giving Rouge and Topaz their mission. This comically contrasts with Rouge and Topaz deciding to, instead, spend the afternoon at a fancy restaurant, enjoying some gourmet ice cream. Later, multiple characters tempt and confuse Bokkun by mentioning Ella's apple pie and strawberry cake. Later, the heroes catch the explosion-obsessed robot in their house, eating said desserts. Maybe Ella is just really chill when someone asks to cook for them, maybe she distracted herself from being worried about Chris by baking, or maybe Bokkun threatened to blow her up if she didn't serve him. 

Even though it's a light-hearted episode that isn't that important to the lore, TMS still decided to include some of that super smooth action animation they occasionally toss our way. After successfully making it though one giant gate, Eggman attacks Chris and friends with the Egg Spider. That's a giant arachnid-themed mech of his. Sonic appears just in time to fight the machine. We are then treated to some nice shots of the hedgehog running towards the machine, spin-dashing some limbs, and head butting it. It looks great. I wish the whole show looked this good. 

Despite the spiffy animation, it's notable that Sonic does almost nothing in this episode. He spends most of it off-screen, aimlessly running the city in search of Chris. Immediately after attacking the Egg Spider, he's pinned to the wall. Maybe his most notable action occurs in flashback, when Chris asks himself what he thinks of Eggman and Sonic says he doesn't care. Rouge saves him and it's up to Emerl to finish off Eggman's newest weapon. Again, I just think it's funny that the first season depicted Sonic as this neigh unstoppable hero that could bulldoze pretty much any of Eggman's robots, unless they were powered by a Chaos Emerald. Season two, meanwhile, has shown him repeatedly getting defeated by far less powerful threats. Has Eggman gotten better or is Sonic just worn out? Or is the show just trying to convince us that Emerl is a total bad-ass and sacrificing Sonic's skill level for it? You decide! 

Anyway, it's a pretty dumb episode. After defeating Eggman, everyone just leaves his new lair without exploring further. But I still enjoyed this because, I guess, I'm wrapped up in this show's stupid sense of humor. I did not expect "Sonic X" to be endearingly quirky but here we are. [6/10]