Sonic Prime, Episode 2.03: Second Wind

Sonic Prime, Episode 2.03: Second Wind

Original Release Date: July 13th, 2023

Much like the previous episode of "Sonic Prime," "Second Wind" begins with a quick recap of what the resident heroes in the chosen dimension have gotten up to before Sonic shows up again. We quickly learn that Knuckles the Dread has held onto the Prism shard. His crew quickly commandeer the Chaos Council's submarine — which has the cool name of The Kraken — and they get back to pirate business. Dr. Deep and Dr. Done-It arrive and abandon Rusty Rose, deeming her a failure, which pushes the cyborg to switch sides. Once Sonic (literally) drops in, the gang gets to defending the Shard from the invading Eggman forces. 

I was bitching in my last review that Prim Rouge and the others completely changing their stance on the whole "defending the forest" thing off-screen bugged the shit out of me. It broke the number one rule of writing, by telling and not showing. It also underserved the character development that probably should've been the heart of the episode. At the very least, "Second Wind" does better in that regard. We see the disappointment on Rusty's face when her bosses abandon her. A proud warrior type like her takes that personally and it makes sense that such an event would prompt a heel-feel turn. 

It is, I'm proud to say, an honest-to-God character arc that makes sense and actually happens on-screen. Now, don't get too excited. The switch happens way too quickly, Sonic and Dread just accepting Rusty as on their side now with no suspicions. Once the robot makes the choice to turn on her masters, that's the end of it. She's just part of the action scenes after that. Yet considering how skimpy "Prime's" treatment of all its characters have been so far, I'll happily take this over nothing. (And it confirms my earlier inkling that Rusty is going to be the MVP of this show.)

After that, the episode settles into the typical smashy-smashy action scenes. There is an element that gives "Second Wind" a little novelty, if not depth. Black Rose is the only one suspicious of Rusty. Not because she was trying to kill everyone just hours ago. Instead, she forms a natural rivalry with her interdimensional counterpart. This manifests as the two Amies trying to beat each other's destroyed robot tally. Similarly, Dr. Deep and Dr. Done-It don't have the best working relationship, the younger hipster dismissing the doddering old man. They squabble throughout. It's not a lot — it's not much at all — but it gave me a little more reason to be invested other than the machinations of the plot. Also, Dr. Done-It's tennis ball walker shoots lasers, which is officially the first thing he's done that has amused me.

Otherwise, this is a typical episode of "Prime." There's really only one other non-combat related moment that sticks in my memory. It's when the Kraken first descends and Sonic gets a look at a familiar sight: The loop-de-loop from Green Hill, where it would normally be if this reality hadn't suffered from climate change. It fills Sonic with a sense of melancholy, reminding him of what has been lost and what he is fighting to regain. Again, this accounts for a minute out of the whole episode. Yet it's a good example of what this program is fully capable of and needs to feature much more of. 

Still, mindless action characterizes most of this episode. And it's not like I dislike mindless action. "Commando" is one of my favorite movies! And this episode does feature some clever moments. I like how Sonic and the pirates toss the shard back and forth, like a game of hot potato, in order to keep it away from the bad guys. That adds a little dynamism to the typical laser shooting and robot smashing, Which there is still a lot of. There's no denying that these scenes are well done. That the show is decently animated, especially compared to the stiff CGI animation of "Sonic Boom." Though one thing this show's animation has in common with "Boom" is that water still looks kind of shitty. I suppose that's to be expected from CGI animation on a TV budget.

I guess I just have a hard time giving "Prime" a break. Something else did bug me about the extended fight scenes here: Is Sonic too powerful? How much of an advantage the blue hedgehog has over his mechanical enemies wildly varies from episode to episode, which is not unexpected for this genre. I mean, specifically, in this episode, Sonic rips through the Eggforcers with a little too much ease. It makes this fight for the fate of the multiverse seem like a good time and not a battle to the death. Yeah, I know. Sonic has always been light-hearted during his crusade against evil. But there's a difference between cracking wise while fighting goons and curb-stomping those goons with such ease that any tension is totally sapped from the show. I wasn't a big fan of the last episode but at least it did a good job of showing Sonic struggling, of making the hero seem like he might not immediately win. 

Recently, a quote from Ian Flynn's podcast has been getting some attention on Sonic Twitter. Essentially, he says that, if you think "Sonic" media is lacking depth, go watch something written for adults. And, sure, that's fair. I'm well aware that I'm a 35 year old man bitching about the quality of a cartoon designed for eight-year-olds. Yet there's a lot of great children's entertainment out there that doesn't use the fact that it's for kids as an excuse to skimp on depth. Another one of my favorite movies is "My Neighbor Totoro," which is arguably designed for an even younger audience than "Prime" but is still a deeply moving, incredibly well thought out narrative. Say what you will about "SatAM." It's a super flawed and dated show. Yet any skimping on character development there was a side effect of a lack of time, both in creating the script and how much airtime they were allotted.

I don't think Ben Hurst ever said to himself "It's just for children, let's not worry about it that much." Ultimately, this is what frustrates me the most about "Prime." It clearly has the potential to invest its story with more heart, its characters with more soul. Instead, it repeatedly falls back on repetitive action scenes and even more repetitive writing to fill time. Here's another example: Any good will this episode managed to build up with me, from its handful of clever moments, is squandered by a really stupid twist at the very end. For reason that I honestly can't remember, Dread and his crew become convinced Sonic is looking to steal the Paradox Prism shard for himself. Instead of everyone talking this out reasonably, the pirates super-quickly accuse Sonic of being a traitor and threatening to kill him. I get it. They are pirates. Greed motivates them and they aren't great at feelings. Yet you just know that this twist will be resolved immediately at the start of the next episode. It's a piss poor excuse for a cliffhanger, a contrived bit of melodrama introduced at the last minute so the episode can end in an exciting place. I hate it. 

Shit like this makes me want to send an E-mail to the "Prime" staff that simply reads, in bold letters: YOU CAN DO BETTER. I know they can do better, because the "Sonic" franchise has done better in the past. This show has, in its best moments, shown a capacity to be more than it is. Instead, "Prime" continues to frustrate me with its unwillingness to work a little harder at giving its cast and world a little more meaningfulness. Instead, it's content to be simply motion and light and colors, meant to distract the kiddies for a few minutes. Perhaps this is a result of Netflix's "second screen" policy. If true, it's all the more reason to hate Netflix and the Peak Streaming era. Anyway, I'm rambling now. You are dismissed, cartoon show. Work harder next time. [5/10]