Sonic X, Episode 1.09: The Last Resort

Sonic X, Episode 1.09: The Last Resort

Japanese Title: Amy on the Beach

Japanese Air Date: June 1st, 2003

U.S. Air Date: November 1st, 2003

Twice before, I've noted that, for whatever reason, the title "The Last Resort" was popular with the writers of the various "Sonic" cartoons. The writers of "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" and "Sonic Underground" both wrote an episode where our blue hero visits a vacation resort that is also a Robotnik trap. Both teams decided that "The Last Resort" was the most natural punny title for such a premise. I doubt the "Underground" team was aware of the earlier episode. When 4Kids localized "Sonic X," they took the descriptive if somewhat bland title "Amy on the Beach" and also changed it to "The Last Resort," even though the resort plays a small role in this episode. I'm betting this was also a coincidence but this happening three times in a row does make you wonder if there was some weird running joke going on here. (Recently, a "Sonic Boom" writer bemoaned his lack of awareness of this tradition. If he had known, we'd have a fourth "Last Resort" to look forward to.)

It's a little early in "Sonic X's" run for the traditional anime beach party episode but here we are anyway. Chris has to go in his mom's place to the opening of a luxurious seaside hotel. He'd rather be hanging out with his furry friends, who will be enjoying the beach at the Thorndyke's near-by private villa. Sonic opts out of attending, on account of his dislike of water, much to Amy's disappointment. As the crew chills on the beach, Eggman attacks the hotel Chris is at, planning to tear it down and build an amusement park in his image. Sonic eventually races into action, with Amy deciding to help.

My dislike of the Sonic/Amy ship is not just because I'm a lifelong Sonic/Sally fan. I've always found Amy's fixation on Sonic childish and her dogged pursuit of him bordering on the creepily obsessive. Yet I walked away from "Amy on the Beach" kind of getting it for the first time. Amy was looking forward to some ocean adjacent frolicking with Sonic. She fantasizes about the two of them splashing in the waves and all that. This characterizes her attraction to Sonic as a girlish crush... But it's kind of poignant too. In the episode's penultimate scene, Amy dreams about running behind Sonic on the beach... The love of her life always just a few steps ahead of her, always just out of reach. There's something wistful about that, a teenage girl hopelessly crushing on a guy she can never be with. 

Perhaps Amy's crush isn't too hopeless after all. After overhearing a human beach-goer making a lucky necklace for her boyfriend, to improve his swimming, Amy decides to do the same for Sonic. In the fight with Eggman, the necklace is crushed and then seemingly lost. That is until the final scene, which reveals Sonic not only held onto the bracelet but repair it too. Awwww! That's actually really cute. The way Amy vigorously defends Sonic from Eggman's centipede-bot, and Sonic later sucking it up and diving into the ocean to save Amy, suggests a mutual devotion that's more than platonic. 

Beyond the blatant ship-teasing, I suspect this episode is popular with young "Sonic" viewers for another reason: It has a lot of action. Eggman first attacks the hotel with a pretty cool looking octopus robot, which tangles Sonic up in its tentacles. An assist from Amy and a Power Ring leads to him smashing the machine, which then explodes gloriously. But we're not done yet, as Eggman's worker drones then combine into the aforementioned centipede-bot. This fight is not as cool to watch, as the image of Amy hammering away the various components of the machine are repetitively animated. But there's still plenty of mechanical mayhem in this one to entertain.

By this point, it's also pretty clear that the "Sonic X" version of Eggman is a goofball. He organizes an attack with a whole fleet of armed robots for the purpose of... Tearing down a hotel and putting up an amusement park? Seems like those resources have more practical applications, as far as world dominating goals go. Nevertheless, wanting to erect an amusement park themed after himself is a reoccurring obsession of Eggman, across pretty much all "Sonic" media. It's nice to see "Sonic X" carry on that tradition. I actually would've liked to have seen more of the twisted theme park stuff but this episode is pretty squarely focused on beach antics and Amy and Sonic's relationship.

"Sonic X" is definitely falling into a bit of a formula already. This is another episode that separates Sonic from his friends, so Eggman can wreck some havoc before our hedgehog hero zips in and saves the day. Chris also has a pretty small role in this episode, which probably belongs in the plus column. (Hard to relate too much to his "lonely little boy" vibes when we find out his family owns a fucking beachside villa. Chris, just do what all the other rich people do and pay someone to be your friend.) That kid needs to get his version of Jimmy Olsen's Superman Watch, if he's going to continuously need to get rescued by Sonic all the time. 

Anyway, this is a pretty cute episode. If nothing else, it's better than the other two "Last Resort" episodes. [7/10]