Should you watch this, Wiki this, or wait for the recap? Wait for the recap.
Raphael and Casey Jones clash during their investigation of the Kraang, which leads to the discovery of two old foes teaming up! Will the Turtles be able to stop the combined forces of Slash and the Newtralizer, even with Casey Jones’ help?
“Newtralized” is the 17th episode of Season 2 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While April, Shredder, and the Foot Clan are absent from this episode, we do get to see Casey Jones – which is rare, considering he always appears alongside April. He seems to have taken a level up in badass, considering he’s holding his own against the Kraang now (although his lack of ninja training is an issue).
And then we have Slash and the Newtralizer! I’m just waiting for the villain team up episode (oh come on, you know you want to see one!) where all the non Foot Clan affiliated mutants come together to destroy the Turtles. So far we have Slash and the Newtralizer, but there’s the Rat King, Snakeweed, Monkey Brains, and Spider-Bytez! The rest are all either captured by the Turtles or part of the Foot Clan.
So back to this episode – it was a pretty run of the mill episode, featuring non-Foot Clan adversaries of the Turtles (notice how they’re alternating between Foot Clan and non-Foot Clan villains in each episode?) who are fortunately, mutants and not the bland Purple Dragons. Speaking of which, we haven’t seen the blind Mr Murakami and his pizza gyozas all season!
Highlights
Slash and Newtralizer team up
It’s sort of like seeing a pair of jocks team up. We’ve had the Fishface/Dogpound combo for awhile, and mixing it up with another pair of potentially more powerful bruisers makes it for a more interesting episode, both visually and in terms of storytelling. Also there’s this strange Slash-Raphael bromance (remember the Fishface-Raphael bromance of Season 1?) which makes the dynamic more interesting. And as for the Newtralizer, well, anything Dimension X is welcome. Traag, I’m waiting for your return!
Donatello’s moment of awesome
Donatello pulls off a fairly impressive trick (I say fairly, since he’s performed much more impressive feats) that is skills-based, rather than science-based. Given that we’ve only really seen Donatello in the lab for his character-centric episodes (or swooning over April), this was a refreshing change in the Donatello spotlight.
Letdowns
Casey Jones subplot was awful
The thread where Casey Jones is/feels like a third wheel goes absolutely nowhere – it’s not like they learn something about teamwork, or trusting team mates, or the value of human companions (the three morals that usually accompany the “useless team member” kind of story). He just reappears, they congratulate him on a job well done, and that’s it. Again, this feels like another unnecessary complication. And I like Casey Jones. Sigh.
No advancement of the story arc
There’s no Foot Clan, and no April. There’s some Kraang, but no Kraang Prime. Of course this isn’t going to further the series arc. The thing is, there’s virtually no mention of it at all, which kind of makes this episode operate in a vacuum – aren’t the Turtles worried about Karai and the Foot Bots and the looming threat of Shredder at all?
Raphael getting one-dimensional
I get that Raphael’s bad temper is his defining character trait (the opening titles even show Raphael flipping out after losing a pinball game, the very same game the Turtles are playing in the first Act, which is a nice nod to the fact that Raphael hates pinball), but it’s getting repetitive and he might get Flanderised at this rate.. His strange bromances are now the more interesting facet of his character, and I hope his relationships with his frenemies are explored further, rather than more rehashings of his grumpy behaviour. Grow up, Raph.
“Newtralized” wasn’t the best of episodes, although it did show some interesting character dynamics. Still, if you’re waiting to see what happens to Karai and Splinter, or what the Kraang’s master plan is, you’re better skipping ahead to a later episode. This one isn’t for you.
But I want that Kraang Walker that the Newtralizer hijacks in the final Act. Will we be getting one, Playmates? Please?
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