Sonic Boom, Episode 1.13: Unlucky Knuckles

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.13: Unlucky Knuckles

Original Air Date: February 14th, 2015

Presumably to dissuade any ominous qualities the number thirteen may have, the "Sonic Boom" writers decided to make the thirteenth episode of the series about the concept of luck. (The episode also just missed airing on Friday the 13th, which would've made things all the more perfect.) Sonic and Knuckles must be incredibly bored because they are playing golf at the start of "Unlucky Knuckles." After repeatedly missing the hole due to unlikely circumstances, Knuckles becomes convinced Sonic is luckier than him. Sticks tells him her crazy theory on the idea, that there's a universal luck balance. That he can redistribute the luck to his side by doing unlucky things. Knuckles goes along with this idea, grievously injuring himself in an attempt to burn through his bad luck, which really concerns his friends. As Eggman has an exceptionally lucky day, Sonic gets an idea.

There's certainly a great deal of debate around whether "luck" even exist. Some say that luck is merely when "preparation meets opportunity." Some go so far as to say that luck, if it exists at all, is a matter of quantum mechanics. I, for one, do believe in luck because I see the universe as so inherently chaotic that, inevitably, that chaos will come to favor random people at random times. Others, however, say that skill and planning are the only factors that determine the outcome of our lives. To quote a previous "Sonic" cartoon, it's all probability. Though this does not account for, say, whether you're born into a rich or poor family but let's not meander too far. It's a conversation worth having is the point.

This is the foundation of "Unlucky Knuckles" and in a surprisingly funny way. Sonic is strictly in the "skill" camp of the luck debate, which makes him seem more reasonable. Especially when compared to Knuckles and Sticks' unhinged ramblings. The episode exaggerates the idea of "luck" to such an absurd degree that the entire concept starts to look silly. Really, are we to believe that there's some sort of amorphous force in the world that, at unpredictable times, rewards some people while punishing others for no knowable reason? And yet, "Unlucky Knuckles" definitively concludes that luck is real, at least within the confines of this cartoon show. Knuckles misses the golf hole repeatedly because of ridiculous contrivances, like birds flying right in front of the ball or a leaf landing just in the right spot. By the end, luck bends the universe in increasingly unlikely ways. "Unlucky Knuckles" concludes that the concept of luck is totally ridiculous and also 100% real.

"Unlucky Knuckles" is fun for another reason. It is, thirteen entries in, the first episode of "Sonic Boom" that actually focuses on Knuckles. As I've said in the past, this version of Knuckles is by far the simplest member of the cast. He's a lovable dumbass, a child-like buffoon that exist to bounce the softest of softball gags off of. He intentionally resists the concept of depth, which must make it tricky to build an episode around him. The writers manage to find an angle here, making Knuckles' stupidity the crux of the story. Only a total fool would go along with such an absurd plan. Yet you end up sympathizing with Knuckles along the way, because who among us hasn't occasionally felt like the universe's chew toy? It's a good way to get us to both laugh at Knuckles' misfortune without the episode seeming mean-spirited about it.

Comedy, after all, is timing. This is especially true of slapstick comedy. A pratfall coming two seconds too late is the difference between a laugh and something seeming desperate. "Unlucky Knuckles," astonishingly, understands this. It's shown in a simple gag. After repeatedly abusing himself, by swinging into trees or leaping in gorges, Knuckles is battered and bruised. Sonic expresses concern but Knuckles can only focus on his petty fixation on gofer ball. After walking away from this conversation, a refrigerator lands on Knuckles. It would've been easy to fuck this joke up. If the world is too wacky, inexplicable events such as these loose their shock value. If too much attention is focused on Knuckles getting hurt, the same thing happens. By distracting us just enough, the random event of our echidna pal getting squished by a falling fridge generates a laugh. 

If timing is crucial to comedy, delivery is equally important. A lot of episodes of "Sonic Boom" have sunk potentially funny lines by being too madcap or too relentlessly smarmy. "Unlucky Knuckles," perhaps because its central premise is so wacky, goes the deadpan approach with its dialogue. The results are fantastic. Sticks' nonsensical belief in "the luck balance of the universe" isn't done with a wink. This is also true when Sonic and Tails talk to her about it later. Knuckles never waivers in his commitment to his plan, making his endlessly masochistic behavior seem funnier than it would've been. Sonic mostly becomes the straight man here, in contrast to the absurdity around him. All of these elements are downplayed, to balance out the wackiness of the rest of the story. 

You can really see this in Eggman's subplot. The villain is introducing testing his laser guns... What he's actually doing is playing laser tag, a joke that might go over the really young kids' heads but is thankfully not explained. Eggman is also a believer in the luck balance, an amusingly unexpected contrast to his hyper-rational scientist beliefs. When things start to go spectacularly wrong in the last act, he just mumbles excuses to himself and flies off. Here is where Mike Pollick's vocal performance really makes a difference, the casualness he brings to the lines really helping to sell the joke. The same is true about Travis Willingham's performance as Knuckles. He manages to make an exchange with Amy, about feelings, one of the highlights of the episode. 

Though this one does raise one question. During his attempt to burn off his bad luck, Knuckles enters a canyon that is seemingly always being pelted with falling asteroids. That's the second time in this show that falling space debris has come up. Kind of weird, don't you think? Further proof that Seaside Island is actually some sort of post-apocalyptic wasteland. Anyway, "Unlucky Knuckles" is definitely one of my favorite episodes of "Boom" so far, because it's both really funny and gave me some deeper themes to chew on. I like it when that happens. [7/10]