Sonic X, Episode 3.25: A Fearless Friend

Sonic X, Episode 3.25: A Fearless Friend

Japanese Title: What Can I Do For You?

U.S. Air Date: April 29th, 2006

Japanese Air Date: April 29th, 2020

As "Sonic X" reaches its penultimate episode, our heroes are in their most desperate moment. Dark Oak has formed a Giant Space Walnut of Doom and is using it to drain the lifeforce from every non-plant-based living being in the universe. The Chaos Emeralds have been rendered useless but a last minute plan by Eggman and Cosmo recharged them. Yet even Super Sonic and Super Shadow aren't enough to stop Dark Oak's plan. Instead, Cosmo realizes she is their best chance to save the universe... But it requires her making the ultimate sacrifice. 

This episode starts out with stakes seemingly as high as they can be. Dark Oak's plan is in its final stage. The Forestation has begun and the heroes are quickly running out of chances to stop it. The writers really pile it on when everyone's vital energies begin to drain and the Chaos Emeralds are reduced to dull rocks. Yet even this is not dramatic for the next-to-last episode of "Sonic X." When it looks like Dark Oak's scheme may be derailed, he develops the attitude of "If I can't turn the universe into a giant forest, I'll just destroy it instead!" I don't entirely understand how this works – something to do with concentrating and expanding the life energies of every living thing in existence – but it makes the worst situation ever even more worst somehow. 

Of course, the Chaos Emeralds still help save the universe and in an extremely bullshitty way. After Eggman says, if he sacrifices all his ship's energy, he might be able to recharge the Emeralds, Cosmo grabs them and starts climbing up towards the Crimson Egg. That's when one of Dark Oak's tentacle strikes her and the Emeralds are seemingly dropped into the void of space. That's when – somehow! – all the hopeful emotions from everyone in the universe gives the Emerald. See, Spirit Bomb shit like this is why I think the Chaos Emerald reacting to emotion is such a lame choice. It turns a set of story-breaking plot devices into an even more contrary and random way for writers to get themselves out of corners they're responsible for. 

The only good thing about this scene is the glimpses it gives us at how other planets are responding to the Forestation. Which gives us another look at those bat people from the water planet and the ugly baby things from the fortunetelling planet. (Though weirdly not Earth, which seems like a pretty big omission. I want to see how the Forestation effects Topaz and Scarlet Garcia!) And that could have been just as easily accomplished with a cool montage of people turning into trees all across the galaxy or something. In fact, this episode really needed a scene like that, to make the threat a little less existential and a little more visceral. Dark Oak doesn't even talk much in this episode, making it feel like our heroes is fighting a natural disaster more than a super villain at times. 

I said a while ago that I fully expected Super Sonic and Super Shadow to appear during the final battle. And indeed they do. However, the super forms don't accomplish nearly as much as you'd expect. The glowy hedgehogs are kept at bay by a force field Dark Oak generates around the Walnut of Doom. Instead, an entirely different super form saves the day. Cosmo shatters the red jewel on her chest, seemingly activating Mover Mode. But it doesn't turn her into a weird dinosaur. Instead, she grows into a mature woman in minutes, gets all shiny, and gives our heroes the self-sacrificial means of stopping Dark Oak. This means we are treated to shots of Cosmo's hips and butt filling out and her bosom expanding. Which seems a smidge unnecessary and was unsurprisingly cut from the dub. Also, why do plant people have breasts? Do the babies suckle chlorophyll from their mother's nipples? This scene is causing me to ask questions I don't want answers to! 

The point is this: Super Cosmo permanently fuses with Dark Oak or something, giving the good guys a path straight to the bad guy's heart. Super Sonic and Super Shadow jump into the Sonic Driver, are fired at Dark Oak, and destroy him at the cost of Cosmo's life. The episode tries to sell this as Cosmo finding her purpose. She knows her sacrifice is saving the universe and that makes it all worth it for her. But, really, is this a satisfying conclusion to her character arc? Is letting someone characterized by her lack of confidence deciding to die, and this being a good thing, a nice message to send?

All along, Cosmo has grappled with the hate she feels towards the Metarex and her survivor's guilt. This has mostly manifested as a lack of self-worth. Tails loving her gave her some confidence but then she found out she had been an unwilling spy for the bad guys the entire time, endangering the people she's come to care for the most. "Sonic X" probably should've found a way for Cosmo to let go of her fear and hate, by seeing that Dark Oak's actions were driven by a similar feeling of loss and resentment. To forgive herself for being a tool against her friends, as it wasn't her fault. I guess Cosmo saving the universe is a way for her to realize her life has purpose but the episode doesn't really frame it that way. Instead, she grows tits, asks her boyfriend to shoot her, and is instantly at peace with all this. I feel like we missed a step. 

Moreover, the entire scenario makes me wonder about something. The very first scene shows Cosmo as a baby, next to her sister and her tree-mom. Tree-Mom then says Cosmo is her final child and the means to save the universe. Was... Cosmo created as a trump card to stop Dark Oak? Did Cosmo's mom design her to be a weapon to defeat her biggest rival? It seems to be heavily implied! Okay, yes, this does save every lifeform in the universe, so I guess it was worth it. But considering Cosmo's mom dropping nukes on Dark Oak is what got everyone into this mess in the first place... It makes Earthia seem like a not very good person/plant, who endangered the entire universe with her unreasonable actions and designed her own child to die as a means to finish the war she started. If this was an intentional touch of ambiguity that would be one thing but everyone seems to treat this one as a win. What the fuck is with the "Sonic" franchise and uncritically praising terrible parents? 

Anyway... None of that is really the important part of this episode. As contrived as the circumstances might be, the fact of the matter is Tails has to shoot his girlfriend in the face to save the universe. Their love was doomed from the beginning and their story was always destined to end in tears. The writers obviously wanted a tragic end to the Tails/Cosmo love story and didn't care how convoluted the path to get to that point had to be. I don't know why the show was so determined to traumatize the eight year old but here we are. She gives him a final declaration of love, assures him it'll all be alright, and Tails pulls the trigger. The universe is saved and Tails has a lifetime of therapy bills to look forward to. 

But at least the program is committed to the seriousness of all this. When Cosmo makes it known that she has to die to save everyone, there's lots of tears but Tails is stunned into silence. As he realizes what he most do, he weeps and gnashes his teeth and grapples with the horribleness of this. The fox and the houseplant have a final heart-to-heart, via one of those dreamy fantasy visions anime loves so much. I'm just impressed by the balls of this show, to depict Tails' pain in such a blunt way. You really didn't expect a scene of a little kid crying in agony after destroying the love of his life from a cartoon aimed by the elementary school set. (Naturally, 4Kids cut this scene way down, because they are afraid of emotion.)

The focus is so much on what Tails is feeling in this moment that the action scenes take a back seat. Sonic and Shadow getting super-launched at Dark Oak almost feels like an afterthought. We don't even get a victorious moment of the bad guy exploding and our heroes cheering. "The Golden Road" plays as Tails and Cosmo share their goodbye, there's a flash of light, and the episode immediately cuts to black. It even skips the end credits, at least in the version I watched. Even if I'm not sure if the contrived path taken to get to this point is earned, at least the writers and directors were determined to make the end of Cosmo and Tails' relationship as dramatic and meaningful as possible. 

"Sonic X" still has one more episode to go. Presumably, the final installment will discuss the fallout of these events that this episode doesn't really have time to explore. Yet season three's story essentially seems over here. I've got some mixed thoughts about it all but I'll save those for later. For now, I'll just say that "What Can I Do For You?" is an episode with the convictions to back up its emotions, even if it's still kind of a mess from a writing perspective. [7/10]