Knuckles: Castagne

This show is stuck in this awkward spot where it looks great, but the show's reluctance to have any mature moments drag it down. Adults aren't allowed to be adults, and every line has me waiting to groan at a punchline. The villains are used for gags that ruin any sense of intimidation they could otherwise have had. The show has its great moments - the expressiveness of the characters is very fun to watch - but it's overshadowed by a reluctance to take itself seriously or respect its characters. The show focuses far more on Wade than the titular character, action scenes are inconsistent with how they use their powers and technology. While there are high points, overall it's generally disappointing.

... or something to that effect. The show focuses squarely on Adam Pally's Wade character and occasionally features a story line of Knuckles being hunted.

The show can't seem to decide what it is. It has a lot of nostalgic references and throw backs that will appeal to the adult crowd and go over the heads of any kids trying to get into it. It also relies heavily on essentially extended cameos from Cary Elwes, Paul Scheer, Christopher Lloyd, Kid Cudi, etc. And can't seem to get the full effect of what they could've gotten if they'd just written a solid story arc around one antagonist.

The biggest takeaway here is that Knuckles is WAY under utilized (especially for a show called Knuckles) and the relationship between Knuckles and Wade is under developed and wasted considering how many episodes are in the series. Although Pally once again plays his typical man-child character who can't seem to grow up, the back and forth bantering between him and a fish-out-of-water serious Knuckles is funny and adorable. But sadly the show chooses to focus on Wade almost exclusively. It's a big miss because the best scenes are the ones with Knuckles interacting with the people around him, not just Wade. His scenes with Wendy (played by Stockard Channing) are great and funny, as are basically any scene of Knuckles having to simply be Knuckles in this new world around him.

A better title would have been "Wade Whipple with occasional appearances by his friend Knuckles".

Not to say that it is a bad show. I actually liked a lot of of it and when Knuckles does appear he is pretty great. But, that has everything to do with Idris Elba because that dude is awesome. The guest stars are mostly good. My personal favorite was Julian Barratt of "The Mighty Boosh". However, Adam Pally, who is really the star of the show, kind of wears on you. I am all for the loveable lover, I am one myself, but after awhile his antics wear thin. There is a family subplot that was resolved in a pretty obvious way, but I still had fun with the show.

Before beginning watching the series I checked out this imdb page and read the comments. Many were complaining that the show focused on the Wade Whipple character too much. I mean Knuckles and Wade team up in this movie, so Wade is the human focal point of the series, but Knuckles is always there and part of the storyline. After watching I can't say that I agree with those complaining about this aspect of the show, if you haven't watched it yet then I wouldn't let that stop you.

My 5 -year old daughter loves this show, even requesting watching it unprompted. It's probably one of those shows I would never watch by myself, but watching it with my kids is great! I hope they make more, even if they focus on other supporting Sonic characters ...

Knuckles is a type of series that is more of a promotion for Sonic The Hedgehog 3. I'll say that there are some redeemable things it got right such as great visuals, enjoyable action scenes and good acting. But I feel that the story for this miniseries relies more on Wade than giving Knuckles a story arc, which can sometimes make it sound like a generic bowling story and that Knuckles himself can often be treated more of a side character. I think this series will be a lot more suitable for those that are huge fans of the Sonic films. However I know that not everyone has Paramount Plus, so you probably won't miss much from it. Considering we are getting another Sonic movie right at the end of this year, maybe I can look at this series as a side project and would just save the real fun for it. Maybe Paramount Plus will do more of this in the future with other characters having their own series perhaps after the events of the third film seeing the direction how the franchise will probably go. As this series has given Knuckles his own arc after the events of the second film, at least it tried.