Spoiler free?

Knuckles is junk food, by which I mean the show is like Kraft Easy Mac. Actually the Velveeta version. It doesn’t take much time to heat and eat, being six episodes, and it’s not that great for you, but it sure is tasty and goes down well with some Oscar Meyer hotdogs. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, Knucks. Scott Mescudi is really the only guy allowed to call Knuckles “Knucks” in this show on account of everyone else being white.

Airing on Paramount Plus, Knuckles takes place following the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. We get a very brief guest appearance by Sonic (Ben Schwarz) and Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) before Knuckles (Idris Elba) goes off on a new adventure with his pal Wade Whipple. Played by Adam Pally. Wade Whipple is on a journey of self-discovery and confidence building, having been kicked from his bowling team just before the upcoming tournament in Reno, Nevada in favor of a ten year old girl. Knuckles decides to help train Wade to be a great warrior in the way of bowling so he can win the tournament and get his dad’s respect.

I’m actually glad that Jim Carey didn’t show up in this, as he would immediately steal the show with his performance. But the show has a great cast. Playing the villains is The Buyer played by Rory McCann. Yeah, Knuckles has The Hound hunting him down. The Buyer wants Knuckles because as we learned in the prior movies the simple hairs from their body can become sources of immense power. Let this be a lesson about greed kids, The Buyer could have had plenty of power with a few hairs but decided to go all out and ultimately lose it all in the process.

Helping The Buyer are Scott Mescudi as Mason and Ellie Taylor as Willoughby. Hold up, you’re telling me Kid Cudi is in this show? And he does a great job at it too. The ever delightful Stockard Channing plays Wanda Whipple, Wade’s extremely Jewish mother. Edi Patterson plays Wade’s immature sister. I love Edi Patterson and if you don’t recognize her, shame on you. Edi Patterson most notably plays Peters who is constantly on camera with St. James St. James in his films. Patterson plays the role of adult with the brain of a six year old quite well and bounces off of Pally like a bickering sibling would. There’s probably a better way I could have phrased that.

Also this show has Christopher Lloyd voice an echidna. Cary Elwes plays Wade Whipple’s dad, a champion bowler and the most accomplished actor that is not voicing a character in this show. We also get an appearance by ESPN 8 The Ocho and its commentators Dylan (Rob Huebel) and Gary (Paul Scheer). I love that ESPN 8 The Ocho started out as a joke on Dodgeball and then eventually became a streaming channel based on obscure sports, just as it was made for the film.

Knuckles is goofy, stupid, immature, and partially a vehicle for the soundtrack. But it’s a great show and a good filler between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3. Who would have thought Idris Elba would come back to do the TV show?