Sonic X, Episode 3.15: Teasing Time

Sonic X, Episode 3.15: Teasing Time

Japanese Title: Black Trap

U.S. Air Date: February 11th, 2006

Japanese Air Date: April 15th, 2020

I hate to open another review by talking about the differences between the sub and dub titles again. But it's really noticeable this time. Once again, 4Kids' dub went for a goofy, comedic title. "Teasing Time" does not exactly strike fear into the heart. Teasing is a mild form of bullying, that children usually do to each other, and it can even be affectionate. In contrast, the Japanese title is "Black Trap." That suggests both the literal darkness of the villainous scheme in this episode as well as the figurative grimness of the plan. As goofy as this show is in any language, it's apparent 4Kids had wanted to project a slightly different tone in its dub. 

So what is the black trap Sonic and the gang fall into? The Metarex dimension – or galaxy or whatever – is pitch black. The Blue Typhoon has been beset by constant attacks by Metarex ships, wearing down their tolerance. Sonic suggests a spontaneous route change and that soon brings them to a blasted out, dead planet. Inside is 500 fake Chaos Emeralds. Black Narcissus personally invites Cosmo, promising to reveal a secret to her. It's a trap to capture her... And since Chris secretly followed her, he gets captured too. Sonic blasts into the base, enraged, which has an unexpected interaction with the replica emeralds. 

I know when I started this retrospective, I said I had little knowledge of "Sonic X." Well, that was mostly true but I have picked up a few bits of knowledge about the show over the years. Alongside Cosmo and an alien menace, I knew season three of "Sonic X" also marked the sole appearance of Dark Sonic. When his bad mood combines with the phony emeralds, Sonic turns into a blackened version of Super Sonic, who seems a little more brutal than his usual self. This super form is on-screen only for a few minutes. In that time, all he does is shred some souped-up Metarex henchmen. Eggman then talks the hedgehog out of his bad mood and that's the end of Dark Sonic. 

Despite his extremely brief screen time, Dark Sonic would become an instant hit with fans. The character probably has the most disproportionate ratio between amount of time on-screen and the amount of fan art of him. This fandom popularity is not surprising as, anytime an evil version of Sonic is introduced, he immediately becomes beloved by fans. This is probably because "Sonic" dorks love the blue hedgehog above all else and evil is sexy, so the combination is irresistible. (And it probably has a lot to do with a juvenile fascination with edginess.) So it doesn't matter that Dark Sonic barely appears. Or that he isn't so much a "dark" version of Sonic as he is a grumpier and less quippy version. Sega was probably aware of this, as a similarly corrupted super form would appear in the games a year after this episode aired. 

I'm not even sure Dark Sonic's debatable darkness is even unwarranted. In this episode, the heroes get a close-up look at the Metarex empire's calculating cruelty. Upon arriving at this planet, they discover it covered in craters and completely devoid of life. The Metarex bombarded the small plantoid until it was a blasted-out husk, everything on it dead. Later, Black Narcissus uses children as bait, seems to mildly torture Cosmo by locking her in a low-oxygen environment, and draws blood by karate chopping Chris. If anybody deserves a "dark" response, it's this guy. 

And Black Narcissus is, if nothing else, a more compelling baddy than the dumb brute Yellow Zelkova. He doesn't just physically harm his smaller, weaker opponents. He seems to enjoy it too. He also sits back and lets his henchmen do the heavy lifting, suggesting a certain passivity to his sadism. He chides Dark Oak early on for not "playing with him" more. True to his namesake, he's also very vain for a robot. These features, as well as his effeminate voice and slender frame, continue to mark Dark Oak as the slightly problematic Evil Bishonen villain type common to anime. TV Tropes even refers to him as an Evil Chick, despite Narcissus being male and a robot. 

This episode also continues to tease out the lore behind Cosmo and the Metarex. Black Narcissus lures the plant girl to his lair by promising to reveal the secret connection between Cosmo's race and the Metarex. I've kind of already guessed it – again, all these guys being named after trees is a giveaway – but it's clearly news to her. I like that Cosmo goes off on her own, as it continues to depict the shame she feels – she can't burden her friends with this – and shows that she's growing more confident. I also like that Chris tries to save her, as these two haven't interacted much. It reinforces the theme of friendship from the other episode. It also allows Chris to be a resourceful super-genius, while showing he's still vulnerable since he immediately gets put in traction for his actions. 

Probably the most surprising thing about this pretty good episode is who shows up to save the day at the end. Eggman, who has spent two and a half seasons trying to defeat Sonic, comes to the heroes' aid. I don't know if this is because Eggman is operating under an "only I'm allowed to defeat you" clause, if he realizes he can't conquer a universe the Metarex have destroyed, or if he's actually grown fond of Sonic over the years. Considering he chastises Black Narcissus for his cruelty, maybe it's because even Eggman has his limits. Either way, it's kind of a delightful plot turn. Especially once Decoe and Bocoe show an unexpected physical strength against Black Narcissus. It's good that season three is allowing a little more depth to all its villains.

Of course, serial goofballs like Decoe and Bocoe fighting off, and even physically wounding, a big bad like Black Narcissus is a joke. It's an amusing gag too, beefed up by a brief flash of higher quality animation. Despite being a darker episode, "Black Trap" actually continued the show's absurd sense of humor. Mainly through lines of dialogue that break the fourth wall. Knuckles points out that Sonic has more dialogue than usual. Later, he's annoyed that other people are telling him what his character would do. Lastly, after kicking Black Narcissus in the face, Rouge informs us that we should contact the producers if we want to see more of her. Good to know this show can still get wacky even when tortured children are a plot point. 

Ultimately, it's a good episode and a big improvement over the last one. I like it when this show has really big stakes, when it challenges and changes its cast, when the threats are compelling, and when it all moves the story forward too. Really, I'm not sure I could ask for more from this show. Season three has been wildly inconsistent thus far but hopefully it's a little more like this as we head into the last act. [710]