Sonic Prime, Episode 2.02: Battle in the Boscage

Sonic Prime, Episode 2.02: Battle in the Boscage

Original Release Date: July 13th, 2023

Before picking up where we left off last time, "Sonic Prime" gives us a peek at the normal lives of the Boscage Maze's residents before the Chaos Council invades. Sonic soon arrives and finds the natives disinterested in helping. When he encounters Thorn Rose, she remains defensive of her shard of the Paradox Prism. A fierce battle ensues. During the fray, Sonic discovers that Nine has been enslaved by the Council... But he's working to undermine them and help out the blue hero. 

I've got a theory about the two seasons of "Sonic Prime." The first season was devoted to establishing the different realities Sonic has bounced between. Since this is a CGI show, and has to conserve its budget by limiting the number of characters, I don't think we'll see Sonic exploring further alternate worlds. The ShatterVerse is likely to be limited to New Yolk City, Boscage Maze, and No Place. Season one was mostly devoted to establishing these worlds and their residents. With that out of the way, season two can actually... Ya know, advance the story. Now that the Chaos Council is traveling the multiverse, an actual threat is driving the plot and giving Sonic a clear directive beyond just trying to return home. 

This is a valid enough structure, especially if it leads to season two being more compelling than the first. But I already have reason to worry. Most of "Battle in the Boscage" is devoted to Sonic and the gang trying to keep the Paradox Prism shard away from the Eggmen. The bad guys are crossing realms to reassemble the crystal and rule the multiverse. If the last scene of this episode is any indication, it looks like Sonic will be pursuing them across realities in hopes of stopping them. In other words: Season two will be as much of an uninspired MacGuffin hunt as season one. It's certainly possible "Prime" will throw a curve ball at us and do something different. Yet I can't shake this sinking feeling that this show is going to remain strictly formula from now on.

Still, I did have a minor reason to be interested in this episode, going into it. Of the various alternate realities Sonic visited in season one, Boscage Maze was probably my favorite. This might just be because "jungle dwelling savages" is a more dynamic gimmick than "cyberpunk rebels" or "goofy pirates" to apply to Sonic's friends. Yet I like to think it was the conflict between Rose Thorn and the others that made this setting a little more memorable than the others. This episode quickly reminds me of the ups and downs of this setting though. I had forgotten that most of the Boscage Maze gang are indistinct goofballs. Gnarly Knuckles and Hangry Cat just act like annoying idiots in their brief scenes. At least there aren't any jokes about eating tree bark this time. 

If nothing else, at least there's the vague outline of a character arc here. When Sonic arrives, he tries to warn the locals about the trouble that is coming. They are reluctant to help him, thinking it's probably for the best just to stay away from this whole mess. It's an interesting idea — what if the plucky natives don't want to help fight the evil empire? — but it's not developed much here. Prim Rouge decides, totally off-scteen, to join the fight midway through the episode. Would've been nice to have seen her and the others deliberating on what they need to do, instead of coming to the rescue with minimal explanation. 

Maybe the biggest problem facing "Prime" is that it's indecisively positioned between light-hearted kids' show and something a little more serious. The premise is relatively grim, even with the formulaic story lines. Yet the characters remain a too goofy for us to take anything seriously. This is most apparent in the bad guys. The Chaos Council have yet to impress me. Dr. Don't being a snotty gamer kid Eggman is not that compelling. His tendency to complain about the wifi or use the term “hashtag” is not clever nor funny. Meanwhile, Dr. Babble actively irritates me. Once again, the creators of this show find the idea of a babbling, fussy baby Robotnik a lot funnier than I do. When Dr. Babble has a temper-tantrum, I went from finding the character unpleasant to hating him. I don't know, man, "baby that's also a supervillain" is an idea that's not really worth exploring to me. (I also don't find “an Eggman that's also an old man” worth exploring either, which makes Dr. Done-It's one scene annoying too.) 

The simple fact remains that these two are mediocre at their jobs. Babble destroys his own robots during his childish fit. Dr. Don't only begins to suspects that Nine is secretly communicating with Sonic at the very end of this half-hour. Even though he does it directly within hearing range of the bad guy earlier. It's hard to think the multiverse is in too much peril when these are the guys doing the imperiling. Worst yet, the villains actually make it away at the end with the Prism, really suggesting that Sonic and the gang aren't too qualified to be saving this multiverse. 

But I'm overthinking it. Of course I am. Once again, "Prime" establishes very quickly where its priorities lie. This is an action packed episode. Most of the runtime is devoted to Sonic and Thorn Rose fighting off a fleet of Eggforcer robots. Yes, some of these action scenes are well done. The moments devoted to Sonic dashing around the machines as they attack him, the camera tight on the hedgehog as he careens around his opponents, is neat. There's a cool sequence where the Boscage gang take the fight to the robots, depicted in one smooth, sliding shot. Yet, after a while, it only becomes so much noise and motion. "Prime" needs more moments like Sonic and Nine's conversation or a brief, meaningful pause between Sonic and Thorn to make these action scenes more impactful. Right now, it's a lot like watching someone else play a video game. You may be enjoying the display of pixels and graphics but you can't really be invested in who wins the fight. 

Once again, there's certainly room in future episodes for "Prime" to break out of its uninspired plotting and give a little more depth to its colorful cast. But season one barely did that and, thus far, it doesn't seem like season two is going to challenge that trajectory much. Once again, I am forced to conclude that "Sonic Prime" has a lot of potential that is being squandered and is totally disinterested in expanding outside the limits of an action show aimed at the kiddy crowd. [6/10]