Sonic Boom, Episode 1.16: How to Succeed in Evil Without Really Trying

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.16: How to Succeed in Evil Without Really Trying

Original Air Date: March 7th, 2015

The sixteenth episode of "Sonic Boom" begins with humble goals. Sticks is preparing a pie for a baking contest, with something called beige berries being her secret ingredient. When Tails sees her slowly picking the berries by hands, he invents a machine that quickly deforests the entire area. This act horrifies Sticks... And impresses the Lightning Bolt Society, a local secret club of would-be supervillains. They invite Tails to their next potluck, the little fox missing that this is an evil gathering. Sonic and Amy head off to rescue their pal, while Eggman arrives to settle some personal business with the Lightning Bolts. 

I've written a lot about the ecological subtext of the "Sonic" franchise's early years. How this series definitely started out as the adventures of a forest dwelling hero fighting the mechanization of the natural world. By 2015, that subtext had mostly been forgotten. Yet, unexpectedly, here's the most flippant chapter of the franchise touching upon it again. In "How to Succeed in Evil...," Tails learns the cost of industrialized agriculture. His invention mows down an entire forest and produces way more berries than anyone could ever use at once. All he's done is created an excess of food and destroyed an ecosystem. By the end, he's kind of learned his lesson, setting about replanting the trees. It's a nice message to send to the kids, that the natural world needs to be maintained. (Even if Tails' childish, misguided attempt to help his friend doesn't align with the endless growth and greed of capitalistic constructs here in the real world but, whatever. This is a children's cartoon.)

The pro-forest message is really just set-up for the episode's real plot anyway. "Sonic Boom," once again, shows its desire to subvert traditional action/adventure storylines. Normally, a secret society like the Lightning Bolts would be sinister, with convoluted schemes that effect everyone around them. Instead, the joke is the Lightning Bolts are ineffectual wannabes. They have all the trappings of an Illuminati-like operation, with spooky robes and lots of pomp and circumstance. But all they really accomplish is stealing out of Eggman's dumpster. The most sinister plot they can concoct is taking over the local fruit distribution business. They are intimidated by and in awe of Eggman, who is also a supervillain that is bad at his job. 

It's a funny idea and one that is closer to the actual truth about secret societies than the show writers probably intended. (In the sense that these clubs are less about ruling the world and more about dudes wearing goofy hats.) Yet I was left with one question: Why is Tails the protagonist of this episode, instead of Sticks? Tails' arc here invokes him learning a lesson about the consequences of his scientific dodadery. He must invent responsibly and consider the effects his devices have on the world, or else he'll get mistaken for a villain. "With great power..." and so on and so forth. This is a valuable lesson for the young fox and fits his mold as someone who is exceptionally talented but still inexperienced. 

Yet I can't help but imagine a plot about a doofy secret society being much funnier with the conspiracy-minded Sticks at the center of the story. Imagine Sticks, always paranoid that secret sects are up to no good, stumbling upon an actual secret sect... Only to discover that these guys never accomplish anything. And perhaps she's still convinced she has discovered an actual conspiracy, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I think that probably would've been funnier. It's just odd that the "Sonic Boom" crew thought up a conspiracy-related plot but didn't center their most conspiracy-obsessed character in it. 

Which isn't to say this episode didn't get a couple of decent sized chuckles out of me. The opening scene featured Sticks getting paranoid about trees, which I liked because it's such a Sticks thing. Eggman's solution to the Lightning Bolt Society going through his trash is amusingly low-tech. Sonic and Amy bicker about the best way to sneak into the secret lodge, a gag that is nicely extended. The biggest laugh for me probably came from an unexpected shout-out to "Batman." Yet there a lot of gags here that just miss the mark. Eggman using the same insult on the Lightning Bolts lacks a comedic spark to me. As does the show constantly returning the idea of Knuckles being an idiot. A sequence devoted to Tails picking a battery for his machine seems belabored. The Lightning Bolts' pathetic attempts at fighting the heroes is a funny concept but peters out quickly.

This is also evident in the episode's obligatory action sequence. Since the entire joke around the Lighting Bolt Society is that they suck, the show couldn't have built a fight scene around them. Instead, the would-be villains use a seed-shooting gun they stole from Eggman to repopulate the orchid Tails destroyed. Instead of beige berry trees popping up, a field full of vicious carnivorous plants pop up. I guess the writers of this show forgot that it's usually a different video game franchise that involves fighting discount Audrey IIs. Knuckles and Sticks stay back to battle the plants, which mostly seems like an excuse to remove them from the story for a bit. Once Sonic, Amy, and Tails return, they defeat this random threat within seconds. Once again, I wish this show would just put the action theatrics on the back burner and focus on the jokes. Thinking up creditable threats for the good guys is clearly not their strong suit. 

It's worth noting that "Sonic Boom" does have fairly strong continuity thus far. The other prominent members of the Lightning Bolt Society include Dave the Intern, the walrus criminal from "Dude, Where's My Eggman?," and one of the weasel bandits that appeared in "Guilt Tripping." These characters showing up again might be entirely due to the animators not wanting to design CGI models for new minor character, when they could just reuse older ones instead. Either way, it's good to know that Dave's thirst for evil is still growing. As for "How to Succeed in Evil Without Really Trying," it ultimately feels like an episode that probably needed another draft to truly reach its full potential. [6/10]