Shredder poisons April O'Neill with the dangerous doku plant. The Turtles must find an antidote—the gazai plant—to save April. Baxter Stockman is turned by Krang into a human mutant fly by accident, and he tries to take revenge.
Tropes
- Big Damn Heroes: In the climax, Splinter comes to help the turtles' aid in the Party Wagon.
- Brains Versus Brawn: Shredder requests Krang to send Bebop and Rocksteaddy (Brawn) to assist him in his next plan, believing they will somehow be more competent than Baxter (Brains).
- Disintegration Chamber: Krang throws Baxter Stockman into a disintegrator unit because he has no use for him. It malfunctions, merging Stockman with a housefly that had accidentally entered the chamber with him and turning him into a mutant.
- Dramatic Irony: Upon first encountering the newly mutated Stockman, the turtles have no idea it's him. It's unknown when they figured out his identity.
- Find the Cure!: And retrieve it after Shredder took it.
- Gaslighting: Shredder manages to convince Baxter Stockman that it was the turtles who got him sent to Dimension X where he got mutated and that Shredder himself (who sacrificed him to Krang to get back his other minions) is blameless.
- Hidden Depths: Old-fashioned as he is, Splinter is able to drive the Turtle's Party Wagon to back them up near the end.Splinter: It's remarkable what one can do, when one is forced to!
- Identical Stranger: A plant variation. The doku plant and the gazai plant look exactly alike. Perhaps they're related, which could explain why the gazai can cure the doku's poison.
- Instant Expert: According to the Turtles, Splinter has never driven a car before, and so are shocked to see him driving the Turtle Van to back them up from Shredder's trap. Splinter says they'd be surprised what one can accomplish when forced to.
- Interspecies Romance: April thought this to be the case when she thought the Turtles sent her the doku plant as a sign of affection. She goes down to the lair with the plant to "let them down gently".
- Manipulative Bastard: Shredder lies to a rage-filled Baxter that the Ninja Turtles were the ones that sent him to Dimension X, leading to his mutation. Baxter falls for this because he at least remembers they fought them together.
- Meaningful Name: Doku is Japanese for "poison".
- Oh, Crap!:
- When Splinter saw the doku plant in April's hands, he immediately throws it in the trash and asked if April smelled its fragrance. And when April fainted.
- Baxter, upon realizing he just flew in-between his own electrodes, lets out a brief cry of fright just before he's shifted out of range with the world.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: At the end of the episode, after April is cured, she smells a strange odor, with Leonardo hoping it wasn't another doku plant. Good news, it wasn't. Bad news, Michaelangelo had invented a new flavor of pizza the others were willing to try.
- Present Company Excluded: After Shredder contacts the turtles and uses the gazai plant (and April's life) as a means to lure them into a challenge, Michaelangelo calls him a "dirty rat". He immediately apologizes to Splinter for saying that, with Splinter understanding his use of the expression.
- Properly Paranoid: Shredder challenges the Turtles to a ninja-style battle for the gazai plant, but they already suspect he has set up a trap for them.
- Put on a Bus: Baxter, after accidentally flying between his own electrodes, sending him out of range with the rest of the world.
- Race Against the Clock: Splinter warns the turtles that April must receive the antidote for her doku poisoning before nightfall or it would be too late.
- Revenge: Baxter wanted revenge on Shredder for trying to get rid of him (which led to him becoming a fly). He tricks him into believing that the Turtles were the reason behind his transformation.
- Screaming at Squick: After using the gazai plant to cure April, Mikey uses the rest of it to make a new pizza. His brothers find that idea unappealing to say the least, and so he decides to have the whole pie for himself.Michaelangelo: Here's Gazai in your eye!
- Shout-Out:
- Stockman's transformation caused by getting cross-mutated with a fly is a direct homage to The Fly (1986).
- Baxter's line, where he claims he should have "reversed the polarity of the neutron flow", is a reference to the catchphrase employed by the Third Doctor from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
- The Unreveal: Whatever reason Shredder and Stockman were trying to create a giant forcefield between the Twin Towers is not explained.
- Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Averted. When Shredder and his goons corner the turtles in a landmark portion in the city, the heroes refuse to fight and trash the area and instead opt to get away.
- X-Ray Sparks: Briefly with Stockman as he's transformed into a giant mutant fly.
- You Got Murder: The Shredder anonymously mails a poisonous plant to April.
- You Have Failed Me: Frustrated at Baxter's recent failure at the start, he calls Krang to send Bebop and Rocksteady to assist him. Krang tells him that he will need to send someone over to balance the energy exchange from Dimension X. Shredder throws Baxter into the portal without hesitation.
