Sonic Boom, Episode 2.52: Eggman the Video Game Part 2: The End of the World

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.52: Eggman the Video Game Part 2: The End of the World 

Original Air Date: November 11th, 2017

The first half of the season finale of "Sonic Boom: Season Two" – aired back-to-back with the second half – had the kind of silly premise you expect from this show. Eggman is trying to make his own video game and shit gets wacky. While Shadow showing up was enough for the season one finale, the show runners clearly wanted to escalate things for season two. As the subtitle makes apparent, season two wasn't ending with a mere supervillain royal rumble. Instead, the entire world was going to end. Or at least be brought to the edge of Armageddon. That ended up being a fitting choice for a season finale topic, as "The End of the World" was also destined to be the end of the show. I'm sure every TV crew writes a season finale with the hope that they might get to return to this setting but most programs have to write with the always-present threat of cancelation in mind. Considering how "Sonic Boom" had been jerked around in its second season, I'm sure Natalys Raut-Sieuzac and the talented team around her saw the writing on the wall. So, if you're gonna go out, might as well go out with a bang, baby. 

We pick up where we left off, with Shadow and Sonic beating the snot out of each other. During the fisticuffs, Sonic informs Shadow that Eggman mislead him. The so-called Ultimate Lifeform isn't going to allow such a betrayal to stand and he immediately turns his wrath on Eggman. Not wanting to get disremembered today, Eggman rushes into Mombot's hut and asks for Steve's help. He is given the dimensional portal gun, crossing over into the alternate world from "Where Have All the Sonics Gone?" and convincing the dictatorial Lord Eggman to crossover into the main "Boom"-verse. Sonic and Shadow, briefly united, go after their Eggman into the alternate universe. A duel with Metal Sonic, the result of Eggman's motion capture tech, ensues that stretches back into the original zone. While this is going on Shadow captured both Eggmen and hides them somewhere around here, causing the very fabric of the universe to start to break up. Now, Team Sonic has to locate Lord Eggman and send him back home before shit gets apocalyptic. 

If the unusually convoluted plot synopsis above didn't make it apparent, "Eggman the Video Game Part 2" properly raises the stakes for the season finale. In what is a real butterfly effect situation, Eggman getting splashed with mud escalates to the entire universe nearly shattering apart. (Actually, this started with Amy not having enough eggs for her baked Alaska, so it's her fault.) "Boom" goes for it too. In order to get the stakes as high as possible, as quickly as possible, the clouds darken and storms start to blow in immediately after Shadow announces his intentions. We are greeted to a cool montage of Team Sonic searching around the entire island, over land, sea, air, and lava flow. Vector gets a cameo. I have no doubt that the producers figured they might as well get their money's worth and pack this episode with as many pre-existing assets as possible. The Gogobas' response to the impending end times – "It's okay, we understand that you're too busy to save us..." – was presumably cut for time. 

What I truly like about this episode isn't merely that it goes as big as "Boom" probably could, in order to feel like a proper climax of all that has come before. It also, like much of season two has, organically builds on elements introduced in previous episodes. Here we have a story that smoothly combines Shadow, Mombot, Steve, the alternate universe from "Where Have All the Sonics Gone?," the premise of a dimension collapsing if two of the same people co-exist in from "Two Good to Be True," and Metal Sonic. Only the last of those seems like a bit of a reach. I'm sure if the writers could have thought of a way to do it, they would've thrown Dave, the Lightning Bolt Society, T.W. Barker, Charlie and Belinda, Og and the Froglodytes, Roboken, the Bike Chain Bandit and Muckfoot into the mix too. I never expected "Sonic Boom" to develop such a fleshed-out world. Seeing that come into being has been one of the unexpected delights of this season. 

Bringing Metal Sonic into this story clearly serves another purpose. Shadow appearing on this show was a big deal for "Sonic" fans, because Shadow is one of the most popular characters from this franchise. Metal Sonic, similarly, is another very popular established "Sonic" character. Though they've both been in "Boom," they've never been in an episode together. Cramming Sonic and two of his most frequently reoccurring enemies together was obviously an attempt to top the previous season finale. Better yet, it quickly ramps up into a three-way melee between Sonic, Shadow, and Metal. I'm not the biggest Metal fan but even I'll admit that the appeal of these three powerhouses wailing on each other isn't beyond me. Sometimes you just want to see the good guys and the bad guys punch it out. 

Moreover, the action scenes are quite well done. "Boom" has come a long way in that regard. From the utterly sluggish and graceless fights of the first season, we've arrived at this: a cool series of duels. The opening fight between Sonic and Shadow sees the asshole-ish hedgehog using his teleporting abilities offensively, something we really haven't seen Shadow do that often in his other appearances. The fight between them and Metal Sonic actually has some well done choreography, of punches and kicks interlacing. The sequence where all of Team Sonic works together to bring down Metal Sonic is even better. Honestly, it's probably the best action scene from the entire series. Even Lord Eggman from Dimension X gets a decent action beat, when he whips out an off-brand lightsaber. If you had gone back after I finished watching season one and told me this show was going to feature some genuinely decent fight scenes some day, I don't know if I would've believed you. 

Last time, I postulated why the "Boom" version of Shadow is a bigger asshole than his Sega counterpart, eventually concluding it's probably because he's bitter about living in a cave. "The End of the World" shows us that Shadow's rage extends much further than simply wanting to pound Sonic in a not-sexy way. Shadow intentionally captures the two Eggmen, knowing full well that their presence will lead to a cataclysm. His justification for this is simply to say "I want revenge on this whole pathetic universe." Revenge for what? What happened to Shadow that he has to kill every single living thing on this planet and any other ones in order to feel vindicated? Who hurt you, Shadow? What is your fucking problem, dude?! If this was all out of some deluded desire to do away with anything inferior to him, that might make sense... Except that an interdimensonal infarction that wipes the entire universe would presumably destroy Shadow as well.

We shall never know what could possibly motivate Shadow to do this. However, I think this definitely makes "Boom" Shadow the evilest version of this character. King Shadow from Archie's "25 Years Later" setting just subjugated the globe to his rule. The darkest pathways Sega Shadow takes in his own game only results in him destroying or conquering Earth. This Shadow is going to kill everyone on this world plus other potential beings living on other probable planets. Because, as far as I can tell, his feelings are hurt. Listen, man, I have grumpy days too but it doesn't make me want to commit universe-wide genocide. What a dick! At the end of the episode, after his plan has been foiled, he simply shrugs his shoulders and says he's "not thrilled with the results" but "impressed" that Sonic saved the universe. Is... Is this how Shadow the Hedgehog flirts? By nearly wiping out all of existence and all life within it, including his own? Truly, "Boom" Shadow is 2 edgy 4 me. 

The stakes are high and "The End of the World" plans them fairly straight. The big conclusion of the episode, where Sonic's speed saves everything, is about as iconic a moment as this version of the blue hedgehog could ask for. None of this prevents "Eggman The Video Game Part 2" from also being a funny eleven minutes. Natalys Raut-Sieuzac is credited with the script. I've come to believe that most of the "Boom" episodes had other writers inserting some jokes here and there. However, if Raut-Sieuzac truly did write this one all by herself, it's by far her funniest script. Volcano Wonderpants, the relative fastness of panthers, the difference between imply and infer, and whether Lord Eggman is "emo" all make for some fine comedic lines here. There's some wonderfully silly visual gags, in how Eggman abruptly leaves Orbot and Cubot to deal with Shadow or Steve's solution to hiding from the rampaging hedgehog. Probably the biggest laugh, for me, came when Eggman pops into the alternate world, the other Eggman immediately – and casually – accepting the rules of interdimensonal travel. Love that kind of shit, when characters dismiss science babble as another fact of life they deal with. 

"The End of the World" – and all of "Sonic Boom" – concludes with Eggman making a crack about how "There's always next season." If the cartoon had gotten a third season, this wouldn't have been anything more than another of the show's self-aware, fourth wall leaning gags. With this being the final episode of the entire series, that moment feels like a tactile admission that the show runners knew "Sonic Boom" had no future. Eggman losing all his research from these last two episodes, then hoping that he can make up for it next season – when there isn't a next season – feels like a fitting joke to wrap things up on. Right up until the end, Eggman simply can't catch a break. I've got more thoughts about "Sonic Boom" ending but I'll save those for next time. As for "The End of the World," it is a fine installment. [7/10]