Sonic Boom, Episode 2.18: Unnamed Episode

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.18: Unnamed Episode 

Original Air Date: March 11th, 2017

I assumed the seventieth installment of "Sonic Boom" was named "Unnamed Episode" as one of the program's trademark meta gags but it actually does tie into the episode's themes. During a town meeting to drum up tourism, Amy discovers that the village doesn't actually have a name. Tails does some quick research and learns the town used to be called "Badgerville," after its founder Jedidiah Badger. He was a real dick wad though and quickly got run off by the locals, who never got around to renaming the town. Jedidiah was also Sticks' ancestor, leading everyone around the village to disliking her. Amy leads a campaign to rename the village "Pleasant Valley" while Eggman pushes for "Eggman City." His flashy proposition wins over the people. It's all been a scheme, of course, Eggman sneaking in a clause giving him complete control. That's when Team Sonic have to rush in and save the day. 

I complain a lot about how modern "Sonic" media likes to keep the characters' back stories vague. This has led to us not actually knowing where Sonic, Tails, and Amy come from and why they know each other. This intentional lack of information, probably part of some misplaced attempt to keep Sonic as relatable to the general public as possible, has really stymied the IDW comics at times. We don't even know what everyone calls the planet they are on! Being a goofy comedy show, "Boom" hasn't had much use for backstory either. Yet, this far into the program's run, and the writers have clearly decided to change that some. I've just been calling the primary location "The Village" but now we know a lot more about its history! By the end of this episode, it's even been given the brand new identity of "Hedgehog Village." Aren't you glad you know that now? Isn't that satisfying? 

The flashback, revealing the background info on Jedediah Badger, provides "Boom" for another chance to revisit one of its favorite themes: Depicting the general public as stupid, fearful, easily swayed lunatics. Ye Olde Villagers had enough initiative to chase Jedidiah off after growing tired of his greedy, manipulative ways. However, they were too lazy to ever bother renaming the town afterwards. Upon learning this info, the modern villagers immediately turn on Sticks, even though she's saved their asses multiple times and had nothing to do with her ancestor's actions. The villagers' reactionary and dimwitted tendencies are further shown when Eggman manages to win them all over to his side of things simply by plying them with free T-shirts and other empty platitudes. 

Ya know, Team Sonic works hard to protect these people, even though they are violence prone idiots who turn on their heroes about once a week. Once again, I must unavoidably conclude that this is a pretty downbeat message to send to kids. "It doesn't matter how much you help everyone. People are, on the whole, fearful, stupid, and wrathful." Then again, I can't really blame anyone for feeling this way, given the modern state of politics. That is definitely an angle "Unnamed Episode" is exploring. Eggman runs attack ads drawing attention to Amy associating with Sticks, now despised by everyone in town. These tactics result in Eggman's ordinance winning in a landslide, even though he's the guy who threatened to destroy the village all the time. Scenes like this remind me that "Boom" was being produced during the beginning of the Trump era here in America, when an obvious conman managed to seat a lot of people into voting for him with a campaign built on fear and blatant lies. Given that context, you start to understand the show's nihilistic depiction of the general public and their willingness to be fooled by flashy windbags with obviously manipulative tactics. "Unnamed Episode" boiling this down to misleading attack ads is probably the easiest way to convey this point to the young kids watching at the time. 

In fact, I wonder if writer Benoit Grenier didn't get a little distracted by the depressing political realities of the world. Because, I think, this episode is actually meant to be about Sticks and her rejection by the town folks. The reveal that Sticks' ancestor was actually a greedy landlord – the Man, as she puts it so precisely – is a good gag. I can totally see an anti-establishment type like Sticks spiraling into an existential quandary over such a discovery. The episode doesn't run with that though. Instead, it based Sticks' angst on being so soundly rejected by the people she saves all the time. And I gotta call bullshit on that one. Why would a paranoid conspiracy theorist even care what other people think about her? Later in the episode, there's a joke about Sticks believing in the possibility that her friends could be replaced by pod people at any time. Distrusting everyone is one of the foundational elements of Sticks' personality! So that's a weird element to focus on, especially when a threat to Sticks' understanding of herself as an anti-authoritarian hell raiser is right there. 

It's obvious where the script is going with this. Sticks is given a tidy little character arc of having everyone turn against her and then winning their trust back by saving the day. (At least until the next time something happens to sway the public's opinion in some other, wild direction.) This pairs with a nice little moral about the power of friendship, as Amy stays by her side during this difficult time. However, Amy's campaign to win the renaming ordinance and defeat Eggman's obviously deceitful attempt ends up occupying more of the runtime. This is ostensibly a Sticks episode that ends up feeling more like an Amy episode. I think shifting the focus entirely to Sticks' personal crisis and her conflict with the villagers would've resulted in a much stronger cartoon. 

Still, despite some issues, this is still an amusing episode. At this point, I think the "Boom" creative team has really figured out the balance of quippy one-liners, cartoonish absurdity, and character interactions necessary to keep even an awkward episode consistently amusing. There's a good running gag here about how useful libraries are, an assertion Amy makes despite people challenging her on it all the time. There's lot of good lines here, about naming the town something stupid or shoddy sign construction, and they just sling on by without drawing too much attention to themselves. Exactly the way a joke should be! Really, the only running gag that doesn't work for me is Knuckles wanting them to name the town after him. Definitely feels like this show returns to the "Knuckles is so fucking dumb!" well a little too often. Especially since the last one made a point of showing he actually has a degree of cunning about him. 

Even when there's some bumps in the roads, I've go to admire how good "Sonic Boom" has gotten about making these episodes feel complete despite their short run time. Earlier installments often felt rushed but now the comedy and the decent structures go hand-in-hand more often than not. I wish the focus was more on Sticks' here but "Unnamed Episode" still has a stellar comedic flow that makes it so very easy to watch. Honestly starting to think I'm really going to miss this show when I'm done with it... [7/10]