Review: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season Two Finale

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

As the Foot Clan’s power grows with the revival of the Shredder, the Turtles try to learn as much as they can from Splinter’s past on how to defeat them. Using magic, they enter Splinter’s memories, showing that his becoming a movie star meant neglecting the responsibilities of his grandfather and mother, who were both so dedicated to stopping the Foot that they gave up their own lives. They also find a way to bring back Hamato Karai, ancient ancestor of Splinters AND daughter of Shredder, revealing that he is Splinter’s ancestor as well. He used to be a good leader, but he made a deal with a powerful oni in order to fight back against a clan that nearly wiped them out, but corrupting his soul in the process. Karai then grew up to make her own clan and eventually sacrificed herself to seal them both away until now.

Luckily, she has a solution: Hamato Ninpo, which is their best bet at defeating him again, and gives each of the turtles new inner strength. Unfortunately, Karai is killed in another attack by the Shredder (though her soul ends up in April’s body), with Splinter and Draxum holding him off so the turtles can escape. They hide out in the wilderness and learn how to harness the Ninpo, part of that involving Raph allowing himself to rely on the rest of the group instead of just taking on everything himself. They then head to Big Mama for help in saving Splinter, eventually finding him and Shredder in the Hidden City as they try to take Splinter’s essence(?). While they hold their own with their new abilities, they get some surprise assistance Foot Recruit, who is revealed to be this universe’s version of Casey Jones. With that, they are able to rally their forces and defeat the oni within Shredder and put him and Karai to rest. With that, the day is saved and the citizens of New York are returned to the city. Also Leo is the leader now?

OUR TAKE

Yeah, this seemed SUPER rushed, especially for a SERIES FINALE like this apparently turned out to be. This being the end was a pretty big shock to me and just about everyone else keeping track of this show, aside from the people working on it, obviously. The show was given two seasons of twenty six episodes as far back as the series premiere, so that led to the understandable assumption that this second season would be just as long as the first. Seems that message got crossed along the way and now we are facing the show’s conclusion only halfway through the reported amount we were supposed to get, barring the Netflix movie which seems to still be on track. The messages going out from the crew seem to indicate that this was the plan all along, but that seems kinda fishy to me. It already seemed a bad sign when the show was dumped on Nicktoons instead of the main Nick channel, and Nick has had a history of going years without showing several remaining episodes of shows they quietly cancel, but not suddenly axing half the season without notice. Basically a ton about this is really strange and it boggles my mind more than the issues I have with these episodes.

And yeah, while this was a pretty bombastic finale that saw the series go out with a bang, there are quite a bit of flaws I see in its execution. First off, the tone issues with the animation still plague this series all the way to its apparent end, with some scenes meant to feel series but played for humor to confuse me as to how I should be feeling. Then there’s the story, which feels pretty dang rushed to introduce so many new components and characters who are gone in a blink of an eye. And then there’s moments like the Casey Jones reveal, which feels like fanservice that doesn’t really serve that character AND smells of things they thought they would have more time to get into but didn’t because their episode count was cut short, if indeed that was the case. Also Leo becoming the leader feels about as sudden and out of nowhere as it sounds, considering he didn’t really have any moments that were just about him in this four parter AND it kinda throws Raph under the bus after his recent development. In fact, the “Rise of” in the title does kind of evoke a prequel of sorts, so maybe they were planning on a status quo for a third season that was closer to what people expected the show to be like? Sadly, we may never know, except in the Netflix movie perhaps. But another book of Turtles comes to a close, hopefully remembered more fondly than Next Mutation.