The Shredder is back, and he's got some new dastardly plans. Meanwhile, the Turtles run into a lone Triceraton, who is stuck on Earth and has become delusional breathing Earth's atmosphere...
This episode provides examples of
- All for Nothing: Discussed by Karai. According to her, the infighting in the "City at War" three-parter has left the Foot severely weakened.
- Berserk Button: Someone impersonating him in order to harm his family is apparently one for Splinter.
- Brain in a Jar: Baxter Stockman's loss of body parts has now reduced him to this, plus a spinal cord and one eye.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Zog, who was only seen briefly in "Secret Origins Part 1", returns.
- Deadpan Snarker: When Shredder sees Baxter Stockman in his new, reduced state:Shredder: This is Baxter Stockman? You've lost weight.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Shredder, of all people, provides a type 2 example when seeing Stockman as a Brain in a Jar:Shredder: You should have quit while you were a-head.
- Foreshadowing: Mikey's comment on an Triceraton invasion.
- Lack of Empathy: When Hun demonstrates how they can electrically torture Stockman into cooperation, a visibly horrified Karai pleads with Shredder to stop the torment, only for Shredder to angrily silence her and declare that Stockman will make the perfect example of what happens to those who betray him.
- Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb: The Shredder's Splinter-bot.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Turtles are caught completely off guard when they encounter two Splinters. Hun being a pragmatic Genius Bruiser tries to have the Splinter-bot play a Wounded Gazelle Gambit by claiming that the other Splinter was the one that attacked him, which creates confusion amongst the Turtles. Shredder, however, impatiently tells Hun to cut to the chase and have the Splinter-bot attack the good guys and finish them. This quickly gives away which Splinter is the real one and helps the good guys win. Although, to be fair, the Shredder pointed out that the Turtles won't fall for such an obvious trick before ordering Hun to take them out.
- Noodle Incident: Last time we saw Baxter Stockman he was an intact head atop a robotic body. How exactly Hun got hold of him and made him into a Brain in a Jar isn't explained.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: The Turtles find a Triceraton that was accidentally teleported back to Earth with them, a soldier named Zog. Since he can't breathe oxygen, he's delirious, and thinks that the Turtles and Splinter are commanding Triceraton officers. They save his life, but he's still delusional, and they wind up taking him on a mission to fight the Shredder. The fact that they knowingly and willingly manipulate a delusional alien by masking as his commanding officers, dragging him into a fight which is not his, and if he were aware of who they were would consider them enemies and want to kill them is never addressed.
- That said, they initially simply wanted to help the poor Triceraton (who was suffering) and it was the Shredder attacking them with a duplicate Splinter, which makes them decide to take Zog with them on a mission.
- Pun: From Shredder, of all people, when he tells Stockman that he should've quit while he was... a head. The good doctor is not amused.
- Robot Me: The Foot have used Utrom technology to make a robotic duplicate of Splinter.
- Spot the Imposter: Hun rigged up a robot duplicate of Splinter to trick the Turtles into revealing their lair. The Turtles are fooled until the real Splinter appears on the way home. Hun tries to trick the Turtles into attacking the real Splinter, but the Shredder derides this strategy and orders the duplicate to just start attacking them.
