One of the bigger suprises that a more cynical cinemagoer might have had while watching either Sonic The Hedgehog movie, was that between the vast swathes of CGI and clunky attempts to reference popular culture (the floss dance was broken out with depressing predictably), there was a sense of humor at play that was frequently and genuinely funny. Film scholars may disagree, but to be honest, a movie based on a speedy blue hedgehog from a video probably wasn’t made with them in mind and the main thing the spin-off Knuckles series had to nail was that amiable goofiness.
Well, so far, so good as Idris Elba’s humourless warrior echidna has been the dutiful straight-mammal to the man-child clowning of Adam Pally and a whole host of exaggerated characters; however, in its third episode, Knuckles is taking something of a sizable risk. Can sidelining the vividly colourful action sequences to focus on a plot straight out of the classic sitcom Manuel, still bring the laughs while managing to keep the kiddies firmly entertained?
While on the run for crimes they not only didn’t commit, but we don’t even know technically what they are, Knuckles and Wade Whipple stop off on they way to the Reno bowling tournament at the one place Wade doesn’t want to be: his family home. Not only does the infantile deputy have to introduce a burly red alien to his overbearing and very Jewish mother, Wendy, he has to endure the bullying taunts of his older sister, Wanda, who loves to rub in the fact that she works for the FBI.
However, Wade becomes even more worried when he realises that it’s actually Shabbat, which means it’s a Whipple family tradition to settle down and eat in each other’s company; however, some alarming flashbacks reveal that throughout his life, Shabbat has been nothing but a living hell for Wade as his sister has been outright terrorising him for years. While Wade and Wanda reopen old wounds, both figuratively and literally, Knuckles finds that Jewish traditions are a fairly fascinating thing and as he gorges on gefilte fish, he bonds with the long-suffering Wendy.
Later, Knuckles in his own blunt way, manages to uncover the fact that Wade’s absentee father, Pete, is a championship bowler and that’s why Wade wishes to go. Of course, Knuckles being Knuckles, he is absolutely thrilled that his doughy warrior-in-training is headed into metaphorical battle to conquer his own father, but family time is pit on hold when a gang of random bounty hunters figure out where our heroes are hiding out and crash Shabbat with actual crashing.
An agonisingly awkward family dinner has to be pretty close to the top of the top, overused, sitcom plots that have existed since the beginning of time and yet I don’t think anyone has managed to do it with a fuzzy, culture-shocked alien in tow (unless ALF did it first), but with The Shabbat Dinner, there’s a feeling that Knuckles has hit its groove. While the first episode was an expensive looking blowout with supporting roles for Sonic and Tails and massive action sequences, the second episode was a cheaper attempt to provide more of the same with a much tighter budget (no Sonic, no Tails and a noticably smaller set piece). However, with the introduction of Wade’s family, there’s a feeling that the series has found a good balance between some broad character humour and the usual bouts of immense property damage.
It helps that the casting is so fun with the incredibly random choice of Grease’s Stockard Channing as Wendy, who grasps the role of a Jewish housewife as tightly as a loving mother pinching her child’s cheeks. Be it the fact that she insists on pronouncing Knuckles as Knuchles no matter how much her kids correct her or the fact that this former Krav Maga teacher happily defends the prostitution in Pretty Woman to an uncomprehending alien echidna, she’s something of a joy and her bonding with Knuckles is genuinely sweet.
Meanwhile, Adam Pally gets to indulge with some brutal name slinging with The Righteous Gemstones’ Edi Patterson as two adult siblings with cartoonish levels of arrested development. As their rivalry involves ridiculous lies born of childish jealousy (Wanda claims she’s friends with a GUN agent named… Jim Gunagent) and some simple, good old fashioned violence (she stabs her brother with a fork), it plays to both actor’s strengths of frenzied overacting. In fact, the character stuff is so good, it’s almost a disappointment when the episode almost ditches it all for yet another climactic expansive action sequence that arguably isn’t even necessary.
However, when a gang of bike chain twirling and cattle prod waving bounty hunters suddenly arrive with a minimum of set up, you worry that all that good work has gone to waste, but thankfully, all that funny character goodwill carries over to the violence with a frankly stupendous fight that as spectacular as it is complex. Watching Rizzo from Grease (or at least Channing’s stunt double) and a CGI video game character engage in a intricate fight sequence with thugs while the camera rotates around the Shabbat candle in a single, extended camera move that’s worthy of a hallway fight in an episode of Daredevil. On top of that, but we also have the requisite punching-someone-through-a-wall bit (how the hell have Sonic and Knuckles never actually killed anyone yet, they’re more heavy handed than friggin’ Batman) and a neat back and forth involving a chain that seems more in line with a beat ’em up rather than the platform game origins Knuckles sprang from.
In many ways, The Shabbat Dinner is Knuckles’ strongest episode yet and it proves that the show can flourish without Sonic stopping by and contains a near perfect mix of comedy, pathos and action. Hell, it’s even got some cracking dialogue to boot as Wade introduces Knuckles to the strength-expanding powers of a song that really gets the energy flowing – “I had a friend who, when he listened to Alien Ant Farm, could lift a Toyota Corolla over his head. Swear to God.”. And yet best of all, as we see Wade chat to Knuckles in a childhood bedroom stuffed with 80s memorabilia (a Ninja Turtles bedspread and a Robocop poster? Wade’s my kinda guy!), there’s a real feeling that the entire Sonic franchise is becoming ever more comfortable with melding its frequent brushes with nostalgia with state of the art goofing.
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