Wow.. this episode sure had a hell of a dark and tragic ending for the Pulverizer. For all of those that assumed he was going to be somehow mutated in this episode... you were right... but probably not in the way you were expecting.
The episode opens with the Turtles fighting the Foot, and easily winning as usual. However this time the Turtles find it too easy and comment that the Foot have been lacking in skill. Elsewhere, Shredder is also angry at Dogpound for having such lousy Foot Soldiers. Dogpound explains that it will be hard to get new ninjas so quickly. Shredder then looks at the captured Kraang and says he will use its technology to make stronger Foot Soldiers.
Later that night, Raph complains that they've 'run out of butts to kick'. Leo also says it's time to go home, but then they notice a chubby Foot Ninja trying to break into a place. When the Turtles try to attack him, they are surrounded by more Foot Ninja. After a brief fight, the ninjas are defeated and the Turtles find the chubby one.
This guy actually turns out to be The Pulverizer, who joined the Foot after training in Chris Bradford's dojo, since Don advised him to practice. The Turtles are surprised that he joined them, thinking Shredder must really be desperate. Pulverizer says he's one of the 'Hōdan no Ejiki', which Don explains is basically the expendable cannon-fodder. Pulverizer tells them that he's helping the Foot fight the Kraang. Realizing that the Foot are the bad guys, he decides to stay with them as a spy for the Turtles. Even though they say it's a bad idea, Pulverizer leaves and continues to insist on being their spy. Don is concerned that he's puttng himself in danger, but the rest of the Turtles think they need the intel.
At the sewers, Splinter tells the Turtles that they have gotten too complacent in their fights against the Foot and too dependent on their weapons. Splinter commands them to switch their weapons, and so Mikey has the swords, Raph has the nunchucks, Leo has the staff and Don has the sais. Splinter tells them to fight each other, and they're so busy fumbling with their weapons that they lose before the fight even starts. Splinter demands they continue to fight with their switched weapons for the rest of the day.
At the lair, everyone brags about how easily they won their fight with their weapons, and Splinter is angry to find out that they ignored his lesson. He then demands their weapons, so now they must fight without them. He reminds them that a true ninja can make a weapon out of anything.
Elsewhere, the Kraang warns the Shredder that the Mutagen is highly unstable and unpredictable. Shredder suggests they test it out on the Pulverizer. Excited about the news, Pulverizer calls Don about it, and the Turtles head out to save him.
The Turtles head out on the Shell Raiser and run into a bunch of Foot Ninja on Dragoncycles. As they try to stop them, Fishface also drives on his own Dragoncycle and jumps onto the roof of their vehicle. The mutant fish manages to overturn the vehicle and the ninjas get away. Don is worried about Timothy, feeling he is his responsibility and grabs the Turtle Tumbler. As he drives off, the rest of the Turtles head off on foot.
The Foot and Mutants are getting Pulverizer ready for his mutation, and the guy can't wait to become some sort of mutant hero. Don smashes into the building and uses a broom he finds to fight the Foot, Dogpound and Fishface. During the fight, Pulverizer tries to run into the Mutagen, but Don keeps pushing him away, warning him about how dangerous it is.
The rest of the Turtles arrive and have to fight the bad guys unarmed. Leo finds a steel pipe, Mikey finds some chains and Raph fights with sharp pieces of wood as they fight it out. Pulverizer makes a break for it and allows the Mutagen to pour all over him. However, the Mutagen starts to burn him alive, and he becomes some sort of transparent blob monster with his brain and other organs floating around inside it. Seeing what he's become in a nearby mirror, Pulverizer freaks out and starts attacking everybody. Dogpound sets a bomb and all the villains get away.
Seeing the bomb, the Turtles want to escape too, but Don doesn't want to leave Pulverizer behind. Don is able to store him in some sort of Mutagen Containment Barrel and they all escape before the place blows up. The Turtles decide to keep him as Don will try to figure out some way to cure him. Elsewhere, the Shredder is pissed off after another failure. The Kraang also mentions how they want to destroy the Turtles. Shredder then decides that the Foot and the Kraang share a common enemy...
Well, that sure was a cruel fate for the Pulverizer... wasn't it? I admit, I didn't like the character in his first outing, and was more excited to see Fishface getting back in action with his robot legs. I rolled my eyes and sighed when I found out the new episode was titled 'The Pulverizer Returns'. I was like... 'why?' And for some reason everyone thought he was destined to be mutated into an upcoming action figure called the Newtralizer. Again I ask why? The Newtralizer looks too bad-ass in design to be bumbling, fumbling and tripping over his own shoelaces.
Instead they opted to turn him into Mutagen Man... and man, oh man, what a dark transformation scene. The 80's version did something similar with some random delivery boy falling into a vat of Mutagen that broke him to pieces. Also kinda dark, but it was kinda hard-waved and turned comical. It didn't have the guy screaming in pain and such.
Once the Mutagen hits him, he complains that it 'kinda burns' and asks if it always does that. The humor soon fades away into horror as he runs around screaming in pain and begging for help. Seeing the poor guy turn into a glob with his organs floating around ... man, he did not deserve that. And then the Turtles attack him. What the hell? This isn't some mindless monster, this was a guy they knew. They threw their weapons at it, which melted as they just passed threw him... but what the shell... they were basically trying to kill him???
And then the Turtles were basically jerks for most of the episode, except for Donatello that felt sorry for the guy. They had no problem putting him into harm's way when he wanted to stay with the Foot, even though Shredder could kill him for failing a mission or something. Then after he mutated, Leo is like 'well he got what he wanted'. Dude... No. He wanted to be some kind of mutant animal that can kick ass, like you. Not a glob monster stuck in a containment unit. It is true that Mutagen is very unpredictable, but it's more like 'what kind of animal will I turn into' and not.... oh God, my organs are floating around in goo. Sure he was an idiot, but he wanted to be a hero. I did find it interesting that in his case, there WERE no animals in the area for him to come in contact with. Sure, the Turtles, Dogpound and Fishface, but maybe already-mutated animals don't count? Then Raph is like 'keep him in your lab so we don't have to look at him'. Dude. Crude. Rude.
I also find it interesting as to how they take new characters and turn them into pre-existing characters from past franchises. Dr. Falco was turned into the Rat King. Pulverizer was turned into Mutagen Man. I do wonder what other character they will take and turn into someone else. Will Mr. Murakami be turned into Tattoo? Karai into Tempresta? A random Purple Dragon into Man Ray? Just kidding... but you get the idea.
The Turtles also came off as kinda useless without their weapons in this episode. They are completely defenseless when using each others' weapons, and even moreso without them. Even if they are supposed to be martial arts fighters. I do understand the Turtles are known for their weapons, just as they are for their bandana colors, but I would like to know that if needed, they can kick some ass with their bare fists. Paige pointed out how once they got some weapons, Leo and Raph started doing spinkicks and such.... which they could have easily have done without their weapons... I do remember in several occasions in the 2K3 show Leo and Raph would also spin their weapons around and do a lot of kicks.... without really using their weapons. Maybe Leonardo kicks harder when he's holding his sword or something...
It's also a coincidence that the weapon switch came out around the same time of Free Comic Day in which the TMNT comic based on the show also dealt with them switching their weapons. While it didn't last long here, in the comic it was the main draw of the issue. But we'll get deeper into that as we blog about the issue later on. And yes, I know they also switched their weapons in one of the 2K3 episodes, but again, we'll get to that later when we review the comic. I did like how Raph was practicing with the nunchucks on his down time, and Mike poked fun at him saying that it's not as easy as he thinks.
Finally, Paige brought up a good point while watching the episode with me. What the hell are the other Kraang doing? Why aren't they looking for their captured comrade? Or why aren't they continuing their own plans? And where the hell is April since the last episode ended with her being forced to live with the Turtles? I do have to remind her that this show does seem a little sloppy when it comes to leaving out characters when the story doesn't call for it, even if they SHOULD be there.
The episode had nothing to do with April, so suddenly she's missing, even though she should be living in the sewers with them. At least a cameo in the background or whatever. And where is Karai? Napping in her room? I thought she lived with Shredder? I assume this will be the case with Mutagen Man as well, he won't be seen in Don's lab unless the episode is directly about him. Maybe he will share cameos with Metalhead.
Overall it was a good episode. Loved when Mikey did his impression of Leo, and when he tried to be the leader since he was the one with the swords now. I did think Fishface looked kinda silly on a motorcycle though. We'll have to wait and see whenever Don can build arms and legs for Mutagen Man so he can resemble his 90's counterpart. I'm still surprised they did that to the guy though. Let's see how he'll compare to the 90's version. And what exactly would he be able to do as Mutagen Man anyway? We'll have to see.
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