Knuckles (TV Show) Review - Bare(ly) Knuckled

Sonic the Hedgehog was widely hailed as a live-action video game adaptation done right, thanks to borrowing a well-worn Hollywood formula--a buddy road trip with small-town sheriff James Marsden as his human sidekick. Now comes Knuckles, a six-part show pairing up the Sonic sidekick with Marsden's sidekick, Deputy Wade Whipple (Adam Pally). But whereas the Sonic movies focused primarily on the hedgehog and used Marsden's character for Sonic to bounce off of, the Knuckles adaptation flips that precedent on its head. Wade Whipple is the primary focus here, and Knuckles (Idris Elba) is alternatively the sidekick, mentor, and MacGuffin as the plot requires. The result is a generally entertaining family comedy about deputy and aspiring bowling champion Wade Whipple, which happens to have Knuckles peppered in.

Knuckles does feature heavily in the first episode, as we see his warrior traditions clashing with Sonic's family, including brief cameos from Sonic, Tails, and matriarch Maddie played by Tika Sumpter. (Marsden's character, Tom, is mentioned but never seen). But when Knuckles finds Wade in need of encouragement to win a bowling tournament, he takes this as an opportunity to train a protege in his warrior traditions. The two set off on a road trip for Reno, with shadowy figures on their tail aiming to steal Knuckles' power. Cue hijinks.

The focus on Wade means that your enjoyment of Knuckles will rely a lot on how much you like Adam Pally's comedy persona. He's not doing anything surprising here--he's playing the same likable, schlubby dork you may have seen in other roles, including the first two Sonic films. It's especially broad in Knuckles, and he spends some moments in the first episode winking a little too much at the camera, but it works. And since that firmly places this more on the "comedy" side of the action-comedy spectrum, the real proof is in the laughs. Knuckles passed that test for me, with at least one big laugh per episode and a handful of mild chuckles surrounding them.