Sonic Underground, Episode 1.10: Come Out Wherever You Are

Sonic Underground, Episode 1.10: Come Out Wherever You Are

Original Air Date: September 10th, 1999

In "Come Out Wherever You Are," Sonic and his siblings have some important Freedom Fighter shit to do. Robotnik has built a bio-mechanical war ship called the Predator, specifically designed to track down living beings and roboticized them. The Underground has to sabotage it before it's too late... But Sonia has other things on her mind. She's been invited to a debutante ball by her once-flame Bartleby. Sonic and Manic think up a scheme to allow their sister to live her princess fantasy and save the world. 

"Come Out Wherever You Are" is another Ben Hurst/Pat Allee joint. It brings back Cyrus from "Tangled Webs," who has apparently graduated to the Resistance's "smart guy." Much like that episode, it also highly resembles "SatAM." The premise – Robotnik's new invention threatens the Freedom Fighters, so Sonic has to sabotage it before it's too late – is highly reminiscent of that series. There's also a scene where Sonic runs around an industrial library with a backpack on, which gave me some nostalgia for a better show. (Sonic also wears streaky war paint in that scene for some reason. It looks goofy.) Sonic also wears a disguise in one scene, giving me "AoStH" flashback, though Bartleby sees through it pretty quickly. 

The best thing about this episode is also the most unexpected thing about it. Sonia is definitely my least favorite of Sonic's siblings. Her prissy rich girl attitude is annoying and the show has done little to define her beyond that. Shockingly, this episode actually manages to generate some sympathy for Sonia. She may be a spoiled little rich girl but she still had the only life she ever knew ripped away from her. The idea of feeling sad about someone missing their debutante ball seems absurd. Bitch, we're fighting a war! (Also, Bartleby is a textbook definition of a ponce.) Yet, by framing this as something she's dreamed about her whole life that she'll miss out on, I did end up feeling kind of sorry for Sonia. Usually, I only feel annoyance or indifference towards her so that's a pleasant change. 

"Come Out Wherever You Are" is also interesting for introducing some far-out sci-fi ideas into this show's universe. The Predator is a war ship that Robotnik has grown an organic brain for. Once this fleshy brain is installed into the mechanical ship, the whole thing will morph into a unstoppable, bio-mechanical entity. Moments like this is when I remember "Sonic Underground" is from France, where the precedence for sci-fi is more Moebius than Roddenberry. Sadly, the episode never actually shows us the bad-ass meat ship because Sonic and the gang successfully sabotage the brain installation process. 

In fact, "Come Out Wherever You" never really finds any balance between the quest to stop the Predator and Sonia trying to enjoy her debutante ball. The two plots awkwardly co-exist and never really come together. The script tries to up some of the tension, with Sonia having to do both at the same time. Because she's the best pilot, it's her job to cyber-hijack the Predator. Yet the competing storylines just make it look like she enjoys her ball for a few minutes and then speeds off to do the actually important shit. The two premises are not balanced, the episode focusing on one for a long time before awkwardly switching focus to the other. 

Yet this episode does achieve something I didn't expect: I don't totally hate the song this time. After Sonic reveals the plan that will allow Sonia both to be a Freedom Fighter and get her princess dream, she launches into a musical number called "Society Girl." The song is pretty clearly inspired by Madonna's "Material Girl." Society girls live in high-fashioned worlds, the lyrics tell us, much the way material girls live in material world. I have a soft spot for eighties synth-pop, so I don't mind the production this time. Unlike every other genre the show's musicians have tried out, a goofy Madonna riff is in their wheelhouse. Even the vocal performances are a little less ear-splitting than usual.

The song might be tolerable for once but "Sonic Underground" is never free of typical "Sonic Underground" shit. Sleet still transforms Dingo into several humiliating forms, including a "Brain That Wouldn't Die"-style lab set. This series seems indecisive over whether Sonic's siblings share his speed. Usually, they depict Manic and Sonia keeping up with a hoverboard and motorcycle. Yet here, Sonia can perform her own Sonic-style tornado spin. The moment that truly made me turn on this otherwise not-terrible episode was Queen Alena dropping in on Sonia's ball long enough to send her a special present. For fuck's sake, mom, just spend time with your goddamn kids! This whole "sending messages from the shadows" shit is exasperating. Also, there's some gratuitous cross dressing from Sonic and Manic near the end for reasons I don't recall.

Once again, I just have to reckon with a not-completely-terrible episode of "Sonic Underground" still having dumb shit in it. At least you can feel Hurst and Allee trying to create a decent story here. It doesn't work but, since it's this show we're talking about here, a gold "you tried" sticker is still worth something. Even if Queen Alena is increasingly making Locke look like a good parent. [5.5/10]