Sonic Boom, Episode 1.35: Two Good to Be True

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.35: Two Good to Be True

Original Air Date: July 23rd, 2015

Here in the year of our lord, 2022, pop culture is currently obsessed with the multiverse: The idea that there are countless alternate universes out there and every decision we make creates another reality where things went slightly different. Our billion-dollar grossing superhero mega-franchises are going all in on the multiverse premise. Even breakout indie hits are rolling with it. Meanwhile, people on the internet frequently blame false memories on what they've dubbed the Mandela Effect: A belief that we've all subconsciously shifted between realities and have lingering memories of these prior worlds.

I don't think this fascination is accidental. There's no doubt that life has gotten stranger in the last ten years. We've all been gripped with this unavoidable feeling that something went wrong at some point. That order has been disrupted and the world is spiraling into chaos. It's gotten so bad that we all seem to agree that the bad decisions that led us here must be, not just undone, but redone. We all want to wash our hands of the last decade and try it all over again, aware of the mistakes that led us here. This is true for one or two reasons: The human populace is grappling with the inevitable fall-out of late-stage capitalism and the apocalyptic connotations it brings with it. Or CERN unraveled the gravity holding the Prime Universe together back in 2012, when they discovered the Higgs-Boson particle, and has sent us spiraling through increasingly cracked mirror dimensions ever since. You get to choose which of those you believe. 

Anyway, the multiverse is not a new idea. Philosophers have been considering it since the third century. Science fiction, and comic books especially, have run with the idea. That's why the Marvel and DC movies have this rich history of multiverse stories to draw from. Marvel calls it "What If?" and DC calls it "Elseworlds." "Sonic" nerds know, of course, that this series has its share of alternate realities and mirror universes too, with the Archie "Sonic" comics especially exploring the idea. That finally brings this rambling introduction to "Sonic Boom," which did their own spin on the idea of alternate universes and interdimensional doubles with its thirty-fifth episode. 

The punningly entitled "Two Good to Be True" actually begins with a really clever fake-out. The opening scene sees Sonic and the gang fighting Eggman's Octobot on the beach. After Sonic slides on an oil slick and Amy gets tossed backwards by a laser blast, Knuckles flies in on twin hoverboards to save the day. Knux is depicted as a verbose, hyper-confident strategist and fighter, while Sonic is a clumsy goofball. I initially assumed this was one of Knuckles' egocentric fantasies. Especially after he punches the ground so hard, red shockwaves send Eggman flying backwards. The series has indulged Knux's anime inspired imagination before. Instead, this is an alternate universe we are seeing, where Knuckles is brilliant and not a buffoon. A rogue laser blast from Eggman sends this alternate Knuckles to the "Boom" prime 'verse. Shenanigans ensue and Alt Knuckles must be sent home before his presence causes interdimensional consequences.

I referenced "Star Trek" above and that's the show that introduced the idea of a Mirror Universe into the sci-fi mainstream. Initially, "Two Good to Be True" just uses the idea of contrasting Knuckles with a brilliant double of himself for comedy. When Tails wants to build a laser capable of sending him home, Alt Knux instead insists on storming Eggman's fortress for a copy of his laser. At this point, I suspected that was the twist of this episode: Alternate universe Knuckles is smarter and stronger than his prime counterpart but he's also a huge asshole, if not a full-blown villain. This would cause our heroes to learn to appreciate their goofball, dumb-ass Knuckles more. That certainly seems to be what the title is hinting at. Yet the show doesn't quite do that either. Alt Knuckles is more head-strong than aggressive. He's the one who ends up learning a lesson, that sometimes you've got to listen to other people and rely on your friend's instincts more than your own. While I'm always up for an evil copy story, this approach is a little more nuanced. People – and echidnas – aren't strictly good or bad, black or white. We're all a little more complicated than that. 

Honestly, I think this episode could have explored the ramifications of having a second, better Knuckles around some more. At one point, I also suspected the story would go in another direction. That Sonic and his friends would vastly prefer this new Knuckles more than the doofier original, causing the prime universe Knuckles to grow insecure. That doesn't happen either. Instead, both Knuckles start to get sick from being around each other. Both glitch out like faulty television signals, with Prime Knuckles growing so weak he can't pick up a postcard. (Alternate Knuckles' strength doesn't seem to be effected any.) I guess that's what makes this a sitcom first and an action/sci-fi show second. It wants to explore gentle character dynamics and wacky comedy over deeper introspection or far-out ideas. Nevertheless, I do wish the script here delved a little more into how everyone – and Knuckles especially – feels about having a superior clone of himself suddenly around.

These criticisms are all kind of beside the point though. Because "Sonic Boom" is primarily designed to make us laugh and that's exactly what this episode does. Writer Charles-Henri Moarbes – who has mostly worked on toyetic French and Italian cartoons – provides an amusingly dry and absurd script. The minute Alternate Knuckles flickers into existence in the prime universe, Sticks shrieks "Kill it with fire!" Sticks has an amusingly goofy reaction later on to Knuckles starting to blip out of reality too. While most of the Eggman lines in this episode are pretty lame, Sticks' silent but meaningful reaction to something the doctor said really made me giggle. As did her own take on the phenomenon of people walking in the same direction. Her paranoia is so adorable. 

There's at least three instances of amusing, drawn-out silence. Such as when Tails fails to think of an immediate solution to the problem. (Tails gets another really funny line too, when he digresses about the McRib.) Or Sonic nonchalantly knocking on Eggman's door. At the end, when Alt Knux being sent home ends up taking slightly longer than usual. There's some good absurdity here too, in the form of the silly hat Alt Knux is told to wear to distinguish him from his counterpart and a random appearance from Fastidious Beaver. Funny shit. I enjoyed it!

The idea of infinite realities, and infinite versions of ourselves living within, is too vast a premise for a single eleven-minute episode of a cartoon show to explore thoroughly anyway. Considering the new "Sonic" cartoon is jumping on the multiverse band wagon, this franchise should be getting into the guts of that set-up soon enough anyway. "Boom" never brought back Mirror Knuckles but "Prime" will probably have us up to our elbows in alternate Knuckleses soon enough. This episode deciding to just focus on laughs was probably for the best. "Two Good to Be True" has enough fun with the concept, and includes enough amusingly unexpected gags and one-liners, to justify its existence. [7/10]