Sonic X, Episode 2.15: Eggman for President

Sonic X, Episode 2.15: Eggman for President

Japanese Title: Give Us Back the Light!!!

Japanese Air Date: January 11th, 2004

U.S. Air Date: January 22nd, 2005

The so-called Egg Moon saga concludes with "Eggman for President." (Whose Japanese title has been translated as both "We Can See the Light" and "Give Us Back the Light!!!") Sonic continues to destroy the towers that cause Eggman's Sunshine Balls to work. Meanwhile, a violent pro-Eggman crowd surrounds the White House, putting some pressure on the President. Some random people convince Knuckles to go punch out Sonic. After a brief fight, they talk things out and Sonic reveals the obvious reason Eggman is full of shit. Sonic and Chris go to rescue the President while Knuckles, Rouge, Topaz and Mr. Tanaka fly into space to put the Egg Moon back into its proper orbit.

I didn't bring this up in the last review, because I was too busy reading too much into other aspects of the episode, but the entire Egg Moon plot really makes no sense. The moon and Earth are not stationary. They constantly rotate in orbit around the sun. If the Egg Moon is perpetually blocking out sunlight, that means it's perpetually moving as well. This is second grade science but Sonic is apparently the only individual on Earth to realize this. That's why he's destroying Eggman's "mirror towers." I just chalked it up to him naturally not trusting the villain but I'm glad our hedgehog hero logic-ed that shit out. And I'm disappointed that science literacy is so bad on the "Sonic X" version of Earth that nobody else thought about this obvious fact. 

But maybe this obvious gap in basic science on the public's behalf doesn't matter. Over the course of this episode, we also discover why the public fell so totally in love with Eggman: It turns out the Sunshine Balls generate a subliminal message, telling people to adore and trust Eggman. This still doesn't explain why everyone, including the President, trusted him in the first place. Nor does it address why Sonic is the only person on Earth to consider basic science in this scenario. Honestly, if Eggman had that kind of technology up his sleeves, there were probably easier, more effective ways to deploy it. But I guess it at least explains the mob mentality that is evident in this episode and the last one.

It also seems that Eggman's mass mind control is not perfect. It showed up a little bit in the last episode and takes up a major part of this one: Chris Thorndyke is feeling a lot of angst over this situation. Chris is so obsessed with Sonic that the blue hedgehog is practically his religion. To see his hero acting in a way he doesn't understand, to feel doubts about Sonic's actions, causes the boy to spiral into existential despair. He chastises himself repeatedly for doubting Sonic at all. The kid talks it out with Tails and Amy, who are apparently immune to Eggman's mind control. He concludes he likes Sonic — this show's emphasis, not mine — and that trumps all other fears he feels. Once again, Chris Thorndyke is more compelling, not as a cutesy kid sidekick or an audience surrogate, but as a desperately sad child who is so lonely and without emotional support that his fixation on a blue hedgehog is the only thing keeping him going most days.

Anyway, enough psycho-babble. Remember when I was reviewing the early days of the Archie comic? How the book found seemingly any excuse possible to force Sonic and Knuckles into a fight? This episode does something similar. A bunch of people on the street walk up to Knuckles — why is Knuckles shirking his noble duty as guardian of the Master Emerald anyway? — and talk him into fighting Sonic. Knux is only a little bit reluctant to wail on his friend, suggesting it wouldn't take a lot to convince him to fight Sonic for any reason. The only thing that's really interesting about this subplot — since the action scenes feature some very mediocre animation — is that Knuckles and Sonic seem much more equally matched in this fight than prior ones, much to Sonic's surprise. 

If it wasn't apparent by now, there's way too much shit going in in this episode. In addition to all of the above, Topaz and Rouge are also floating around this story. Rouge's super-sensitive bat-hearing causes her to notice Eggman's subliminal signal before anyone else does, something that probably should've happened sooner. After Eggman reveals his scheme, he takes the President and his cabinet hostage. The episode, up to this point, was largely focused on Sonic fighting G.U.N. machines and Knuckles. We suddenly shift to Sonic and the gang rescuing the President.. By crashing the X-Tornado into the White House and then field-goal kicking Eggman into the middle distance. (Mr. Stewart also randomly appears at some point during all of this, replacing the President with a balloon.) 

The story then abruptly shifts again to Mr. Tanaka, Topaz, Knuckles and Rouge piloting a space shuttle up to the moon. You'd think traveling to the moon would be a much bigger deal than this but the episode just keeps on rolling. Knuckles then jumps into space, without any sort of suit on, and punches the moon so hard, it stops blocking the sun. 

You'd think that would be the end, right? But it's not. A truly baffling sequence, that has Eggman running around and following signs held by the heroes while answering basic questions, concludes the episode. After answering a question wrong, what I think is a giant metal pan of some sort falls on his head. Is this some sort of Japanese cultural reference, a shout-out to one of those goofy game shows Americans love to make fun that, that just sails over the heads of us Americans? Or is this show just being lulz r@ndum again? Either way, it is a suitably befuddling ending to an episode that included enough material for about six different stories. 

Sorry this review degraded into me simply describing every dumbass thing that happened in this episode. "Eggman for President" is "Sonic X" in that kind of mood. While I appreciate this show's goofier moments, sometimes the scripts just feel hopelessly half-baked. This one is definitely an example of that, an episode that makes up for its shaky ideas by just shoving in as many wacky events as the showrunners could think of. There's diminished returns on zaniness and this one sure as fuck hits the limit. [5/10]