Sonic Boom, Episode 1.34: Just a Guy

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.34: Just a Guy

Original Air Date: July 22nd, 2015

"Just a Guy," the thirty-fourth episode of "Sonic Boom," begins with a pretty amusing gag. Tails detects an incoming Eggman attack and rallies the heroes, via a superhero style montage... Except Knuckles really doesn't want to go fight Eggman today, as he made plans to see a movie with his friend Mike. When Sonic talks Knuckles into coming anyway, Mike asks if he can accompany them. Sonic dismisses the musk ox as "just a guy," which sets off a firestorm of controversy. The public criticizes the hedgehog hero for his insensitive remark, forcing Sonic to attend Amy's sensitivity training. After allowing Mike to tag along on an adventure, the ox is hurt. This prompts more criticism towards Sonic, causing the frustrated hedgehog to retire from hero-ing. With no one around to defend the village, the Lightning Bolt Society moves in to begin a reign of mildly irritating "terror."

I didn't think the term "canceling” – as in deeming a public figure persona non grata for some misbehavior, which has range from saying something a little off-color to unambiguous criminal acts – had really penetrated the wider cultural sphere by 2015. However, Wikipedia tells me that the term first started to emerge around 2014. I have no idea if this thing we now know as "cancel culture" was on the "Sonic Boom" writers' minds at the time. It's not like a celebrity saying something politically incorrect and getting raked over the coals for it until they are forced to issue an insincere public apology was a new phenomenon in. It's practically a weekly occurrence in politics. 

Since then, "cancel culture" has become a completely impossible term to talk about sincerely. The deafening right-wing propaganda machine uses the unfounded idea that "woke mobs" try and "cancel" people unjustifiably to dismiss all legitimate criticism towards them every time they do something racist, sexist, or otherwise evil... Yet it is more complicated than that, as there have been a few attempts to "cancel" people over genuinely accidental social faux-pas or harmless opinions. 

Obviously, it's a complex topic. If you expect an eleven-minute-long children's cartoon made to promote a failed video game subseries to have a nuanced take on this... I don't know what to tell ya. That just wasn't going to happen. "Just a Guy" sees Sonic making an innocuous statement and being unfairly roasted for it by the public. He calls Mike "just a guy" and the village residents' act like he dropped a racial slur. He's accused of believing that non-superpowered people are beneath him. Sonic is forced to undergo sensitivity training, which is mostly depicted as touchy-feely nonsense. This still isn’t enough and he’s criticized again by the public. While it’s certainly frustrating that some people are never pleased, leaving no room for genuine growth, this seems to be an oversimplification. Sonic is in the right, the outrage is ridiculous, and the public is depicted as unreasonable. 

In fact, Alan Denton and Greg Hahn stop just short of coming to some kind of fucked-up conclusions. Repeatedly, there are jokes from other people – mostly Amy and that old man monkey – that Sonic sees himself as superior to everyone else. Later, after the Lightning Bolt Society and Eggman causes chaos, Sonic rushes in and saves the day, ultimately doing the right thing despite all the people bitching at him. In other words: Sonic is proven to be superior to these lowly non-superpowered normies and they should just be thankful that he's around to save their stupid, inferior asses. That Sonic, being a Randian ubermensch, doesn't have to concern himself with such things as social niceties and political correctness. The Old Man Monkey even says "I was wrong. You are better than us." 

Essentially telling kids that "heroes don't have to be kind as long as they're right" is sort of fucked-up, even in a comedic context. And I guess the writers were aware of that because they pump the brakes on these Galtian instincts at the last minute. Mike the Ox points out that Eggman is coming to Sonic, ensuring that he's safe and helping save the day. After foiling the evil schemes, Sonic formally apologizes to Mike, thanks him for his help, and calls him a hero. I guess Denton and Hahn saw all those internet arguments about whether or not "The Incredibles" is Objectivist propaganda and wanted to avoid any similar confusion.

Regardless of whatever troubling political subtext this episode may or may not contain, "Just a Guy" is pretty funny. I've noted in the past, while discussing "Blue with Envy" and "Late Fees," that the "Boom" version of Sonic tends to be at his most amusing when he's bitter, frustrated, or otherwise grouchy.  And there's lots of things that happen in this episode to annoy Sonic. Mainly that Mike is the most irritating kind of person. He has no affection to his voice, suggesting a personality that lacks any depth or nuance at all. Worst yet, he doesn't know when to see himself out. In other words, he's the kind of person that's just annoying to be around. Watching Sonic gradually loose his patience with this guy, and all the other grousing he has to put up with in this episode, is funny. The hedgehog trying to stumble his way through sensitivity training or putting up with a fussy public leads to some reasonably amusing moments. Roger Craig Smith's delivery goes a long way towards improving these scenes.

As in some other stand-out episodes of "Sonic Boom," I also enjoy how this episode takes its premise in some unexpected directions. After Sonic temporarily retires out of frustration, Eggman decides to sit things out until he can make the biggest impact. This once again allows the village's most mediocre wannabe villains, the Lightning Bolt Society, to fill the void. This results in a montage of a hilariously petty crime wave of mildly annoying vandalism. Dave puts a role of toilet paper on reverse and adds tomatoes to a Meh Burger order that specifically requested they be removed. The walrus helps an old lady cross the street but abandons her halfway through. I love this kind of shit. In fact, I included a similar montage in a script I wrote in college, where lame supervillains embark on an unimpressive crime spree. 

This is not the only true laugh-out-loud gag in this episode. A technique Sonic learns in sensitivity training is to go to his “happy place” when he's frustrated or upset. Yes, like in “Happy Gilmore.” While you might expect Sonic's happy place to involve running, it instead seems to be lounging in a hammock on the beach. When Mike invades that oasis of calm, Sonic goes to a happy place inside his happy place, simply a white void of nothingness. When Mike intrudes on that, Sonic inceptions himself even further... At which point the episode springs the image of a live action human male in a crude “Sonic” costume, dumping a trash bag into a waste bin. It's a truly unexpected and bizarre meta gag, which got a huge belly laugh out of me. It's certainly a better meta joke than the Lady Walrus' acknowledgment that Sonic rescues her imperiled baby all the time. 

We also get some insight into Tails', Knuckles', and Sticks' happy places too. Good shit. While I'm not entirely sure if “Just a Guy” is making a valid point about society and all that, it's probably not wise to expect such things from a goofy cartoon show like this. I don't need to know Sonic's opinions about cancel culture or safe spaces or whether people are too easily offended these days. Just as a comedy, this one has enough unexpected and fresh jokes in it to keep me laughing consistently. [7/10]