Kunckles

Knuckles the Echidna is the last of his kind.  Trying to fit in on Earth, the warrior finds renewed purpose in helping the local Green Hills deputy, Wade Whipple, prepare for a bowling tournament in Reno.  Doubted by their competitors and tracked by a crew of dangerous villains, Knuckles and Wade must learn to rely on each other if they’re going to complete their quest and reignite the fire of the Echinda tribe on Earth. 

Knuckles, voiced by Idris Elba, was the breakout character from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.  Elba’s pitch perfect performance as the non nonsense, straight faced Echidna gave us some of the films best laughs and he had amazing chemistry with Sonic and Tails, bringing their longstanding rivalry and friendship from the games to the big screen.  In fact, Knuckles was such a sure fire hit, Paramount greenlit a spin off series before the sequel even arrived.  It’s a good idea too, as I said, Knuckles is great.  His newest solo adventure, however, doesn’t even come close to matching the awesomeness of the Sonic films.  But that isnt the fault of the mighty Echidna.  Rather it’s his own show that does him the greatest dishonor: sidelining him for a chunk of the series in favor of a rejected Paramount+ family sports adventure that got repurposed into this. 
 
The series starts off fine by having us catch up with not just Knuckles but also Sonic and Tails and their guardian Mom Maddie, Tika Sumpter returning to reprise her role while James Marsden sits this one out.  It not only gives the best laughs of the entire series, but also reminds us why the Sonic films have worked so well.  The humor is spot on but so is the genuine bond between Knuckles and his adopted family.  If nothing else, it definitely gets me excited to see Sonic, Tails and Knuckles run off into adventure again in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 this Christmas.  However, after his familiar friends take off and Knuckles goes his own way, that’s where the trouble begins.
 
I’ll admit, I barely remember Adam Pally’s Wade Whipple from the movies.  But to his credit, Pally does have a loveable charm to him and his pratfall nature makes him a fun comedic foil for the ever serious and always ready Knuckles.  Pairing them up isnt a bad idea but as time goes on, we get into Live Action Transformers territory where the titular Echidna becomes a supporting player in his own show.  The series goes almost all in on Wade and his family drama in about 2/3’s of the 6 episode runtime.  It’s as if the show knows it doesn’t have the budget of the Sonic movies and is trying to compensate with a generic dysfunctional family dramedy rather than doing more interesting things with Knuckles.  For frak’s sake, Knuckles goes to Reno…AND THEY DO NOTHING WITH HIM THERE!!  Have him go to a Casino, spend time with the many mascots, see a boxing match.  No though, we have to see Wade defeat his deadbeat Dad, played by a wasted Cary Elwes, in a bowling tournament. 
 
Knuckles and Wade’s road trip feels like it’s trying to emulate the first Sonic the Hedgehog’s premise of having Tom and Sonic ride out to find Sonic’s lost rings and keep them away from Dr. Robotnik.  Whereas there were actual stakes to go with that journey, here we just have Wade enduring endeavors more painful and pointless, both for him and the viewer cause God I was groaning a lot.  And let’s face it, the bad guys after them are nothing special.  Ellie Taylor and Kid Cudi play a pair of ex-government Mercenaries who are just there to be one line spouting tools while their boss, Rory McCann aka The Hound from Game of Thrones, feels like a super jacked up but less imposing or intimidating take on Jim Carrey’s awesome Dr. Robotnik.  None of these foes have clearly defined reasons for why they want to capture Knuckles and even when they try to explain it, it’s such weak motivation.  Plus, they’re boring and generic as all get out compared to the unpredictable fun of Robotnik (thank God he’ll be back for Sonic 3).
 
What little action there is actually isnt terrible.  It’s fun seeing Knuckles get creative with how he deals with threats in unique environments from a bowling alley to a family kitchen to a penthouse suite.  It’s nothing as fast paced as the Sonic films but Knuckles being more of a brawler, it works for him.  That said, the series also does the disservice of cutting away from the action to more irritating bickering between Wade and his family.  The final battle in Reno is one of the biggest offenders as when we finally get to the big showdown between Knuckles and McCann, we just cut away to Wade’s bowling tournament for like five minutes.  What is this, Godzilla 2014?  LET US SEE KNUCKLES FIGHT!!!!!
 
Ugh, this is a big letdown since I love the first two Sonic Films quite a bit.  Knuckles deserves to headline his own series and Wade isnt a bad companion for him.  Their journey of self discovery takes way too long, has a million pointless detours that stop the story in its tracks and steadily removes Knuckles from the equation for longer stretches of time as if to save money on the budget.  I don’t want to watch some rejected family sports dramedy script, I want to watch Knuckles the Echidna getting into shenanigans in new locations.  Here’s hoping Sonic 3 continues the streak of wins the Sonic series has brought to the bettering legacy of Live Action Video Game adaptations.  Cause right now, Knuckles is right there with the lows of Halo instead of the highs of Fallout or The Last of Us.
 
4/10