Sonic Boom, Episode 2.4: Alone Again, Unnaturally

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.4: Alone Again, Unnaturally

Original Air Date: December 3rd, 2016 

The fourth episode of "Sonic Boom's" second season begins with a scenario we've all probably had dreams about. Sonic awakens in his village totally alone. He explores the homes of his friends and all their frequent hangouts, finding them strangely empty. He can't recall how he got in this situation at first but a flashback soon informs. Tails was trying to find ways to push Sonic's speed even further. Eventually, he created a device called the Ultrasonic Speed Amplifier. This allowed the hedgehog to run so fast he has gone out-of-sync with the dimensional plain he lives on. Sonic's friends attempt to rescue their blue buddy before Eggman can take advantage of his absence. 

This episode's first scene plays off a commonly considered idea: What if, one morning, you found yourself totally alone? This meditative, unnerving question has inspired countless pieces of art. Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" and the very first episode of "The Twilight Zone" is what first comes to mind for me when I think of this premise but you can probably come up with some of your own. Sticking Sonic in this set-up has a lot of potential. Having him awaken into this scenario with no memory of how he got there or what's going on furthers the dream-like premise. I would've loved an eerie eleven minutes devoted to Sonic trying to unravel this strange mystery. 

Of course, "Sonic Boom" isn't that kind of show. This is a smart aleck comedy program. If Sonic doesn't have anyone to throw quips off of, how will the yuks be generated? The solution writer Benoit Grenier comes up with is simply have Sonic make snarky comments to himself. Within the opening minutes, he's already making jokes about Comedy Chimp's swimsuit calendar or Amy's poetry slam. Once the flashback begins, we are fully in the realm of slapstick comedy. Sonic even slams into a valley wall and leaves a perfectly shaped imprint of his body, like in a Looney Tunes cartoon. I wouldn't expect "Sonic Boom" to exploit this set-up for any other than chuckles but it is a little disappointing. They could've let the eeriness settle in a bit before getting to the one-liners. 

"Alone Again" does ask an interesting question that this speed-obsessed franchise has asked from time to time. Namely, how fast is too fast? Sonic's speed is his defining characteristic but his exact top speed varies totally from media to media. Even within the games, Sonic can range from being so fast he generated enough energy to rebirth the universe to Eggman being able to outrun him on-foot. "Boom" suggests that Sonic's potential for fastness is far bigger than even the hedgehog realizes. After Tails straps his booster thingy on him, the hedgehog keeps going faster and faster until he throws himself out-of-sync with reality. I'm not going to try and figure out the science of this premise, which seems sketchy to me. Yet the idea that the hedgehog can touch light-speed levels with the right equipment – but that such achievements have consequences – is a solid foundation for an episode. 

While Sonic is invisible to every one on the main plain of reality, he finds himself in Eggman's base of operations. He quickly starts to mess around with shit which, to Eggman's eyes, looks like some serious poltergeist activity is going down in his abode. This leads to one of the episode's funniest gags. Apparently, it seems, Eggman has an interest in ghost hunting. Believing in the supernatural probably should be out-of-character for a hardline science guy like him. Yet, the way it's framed here, actually makes this character development make sense. There's a brief gag about Eggman being annoyed with the moderators of the internet ghosthunting forum he used to frequent. The joke here, the contrast between Eggman's status as the show's primary supervillain and the petty drama of internet forum bickering, is obvious. Yet it also further reveals how "Boom" Eggman is a guy always on the search for validation, for approval from authority figures. I like that.

Ultimately, "Alone Again, Unnaturally" is not an episode about ghosts or isolation or any of that shit. Instead, the script eventually bends towards a very sweet moral about friendship. After being put through a series of humiliating experiments that physically harm him, Sonic probably isn't feeling too confident in his friendship with Tails. Yet the fox's quest to reunite himself with his best friend relies on their connection. Ultimately, Sonic's desire to be back with Tails and the rest of the gang is what pushes him through to the conclusion. It's a nice little note to take us out on here. No matter how much snarky one-liners they trade from time-to-time, these guys really do care about each other. 

This episode does have plenty of one-liners in it though. In fact, there's some pretty good zingers throughout. A line about "Blast processing" - which Tails uses here to refer to his speed-boosting technology -  is a goofy in-joke that the show really runs with in a way that made me smile. The assumption that Sonic is dead, and Sticks' reaction to that news, also becomes a solid running gag. The cascade of slapstick leads to some good moments. such as Tails slipping on some goggles or Amy's reaction to Sonic's latest injury. Honestly, though, the moment that got the biggest laugh out of me was Roger Craig Smith's utterly unhinged delivery of lines like "FASTER!" and "DO IT!" 

It all adds up to an episode that probably could've been something a lot more special but instead has to settle for being suitably entertaining. I guess that's about standard for "Sonic Boom," a show with rarely enough time to truly explore its topics and always focused on the goal of generating chuckles. Yet at least this episode feels fairly fully formed, compared to some of the really half-baked season one episodes. [7/10]