Leo and Casey try to stop Hun and The Purple Dragons from escaping with stolen military cargo, but when a Purple Dragon opens a mysterious crate, a strange mutant monster bursts forth and starts attacking everyone in sight.
This episode provides examples of
- Alien Blood: The monster has green blood as seen when it gets cut in half.
- Always a Bigger Fish: This episode reveals that despite his considerable resources and power, Bishop does not operate with impunity, as he's forced to endure a vicious chewing out from the President and has to deal with the consequences of his actions in Season 3.
- As You Know: The President uses this to let the audience know that he has never been a fan of Bishop or his organization - and to remind Bishop of it so that his warning carries more gravitas.
- Breaking Old Trends: This is the first - and ultimately only - episode of the series to not feature all four Turtles, with only Leo appearing.
- Bring It: Hun when Casey wants to settle their unfinished business.
- The Bus Came Back: Hun, Bishop, and Stockman all make their first reappearances this season.
- Continuity Nod: The President invokes the Triceraton invasion when chewing out Bishop.
- Dark Is Not Evil: T9581 just wanted to go home.
- Didn't Think This Through: Bishop's very public actions in the Season 3 finale get him ripped a new one by the President. As the President says, it took some effort to put a lid on something attended by multiple prominent officials.
- Disappeared Dad: Because of whatever Bishop did to T9581, he is this to his son.
- Downer Ending: The Purple Dragons escape with the weapons they stole, Bishop evades responsibility for what has occurred. To add to the downer factor, T9581 is stuck as a hideous monster with no way to reunite with his family.
- Evil Former Friend: Flashbacks of when T9581 was human show that Bishop was the best man at his wedding.
- Foreshadowing:
- The President mentions that he's seriously considering cutting off Bishop's funding. This will play a major part in a future episode.
- Bishop threatening one of his men with volunteering him for genetic experimentation implies that T9581 may have suffered this fate.
- Stockman reports to Bishop some new discoveries and adjustments he's come up with regarding a secret project of his, which will later be explained in in a future episode
- Get Out!: The President caps off his chewing out of Bishop by ordering him out of his office.
- Healing Factor: T9581 is ripped in half by Hun's blaster and just pulls itself back together.
- It's Personal: Taking a bat to Hun, Casey says they have unfinished business.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Having not gotten much action lately, Casey says this is his big return before putting on his hockey mask.
- Little "No": Hun upon being attacked by Leonardo and learning the Turtles are still alive.
- Mistaken Identity: Leo's voice is lower and raspier than normal in this episode. It sounds more like Raph's voice. Casey briefly mistakes him for Raph when he appears in his house, in the darkness.Leo: (in the dark) No news like bad news, huh, Case?
Casey: (Startled, he leaps to his feet and grabs the lamp next to his chair) Oh. Jeez, Raph, don't sneak up on me like— (flicks on the light) Whoa, Leo! To what do I owe the honor? - No One Could Survive That!:
- Hun and Bishop fairly assumed the Turtles perished in the destruction of the Shredder's starship, and indeed, it took Utrom intervention at the very last second to save their lives. Leo has expressed how painfully aware he is of how lucky they were to have survived the ordeal.
- As Hun points out, he unloaded a thousand rounds into T9581 with the gatling gun, but it still came back.
- Not Quite Dead:
- Both Hun and Bishop learn that the Turtles survived the Season 3 finale. Likewise, Casey and Leo learn that Hun survived his fall into the rocket silo with Leatherhead.
- T9581 is believed to have perished in the explosion but turns out to have survived.
- Odd Couple: Played With. Casey lampshades that he’s surprised that Leo has come to his place alone and to undertake a mission together. Leo being a level-headed leader never seems super close to Casey, a bullish bonehead, who is usually paired up with similarly tempered Raph. But embittered, more aggressive Leo? That’s a more likely pairing.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Leonardo invites Casey out to hunt down the criminals doing the heists and to check it out. Casey lampshades it.
- Bishop's never been a people person, but he's almost always been quite composed, regardless of the situation. This time, he's barely masking his anger, as this situation threatens to put an end to his life's work.
- Put on a Bus: Downplayed, but this is the first episode of the series where all four Turtles don't appear, with only Leo featuring as he goes on a solo mission alongside Casey.
- Self-Deprecation: This exchange between Casey and Leo:Casey: Leo!... To what do I owe the honor?
Leo: I've been thinking, Casey. Doing a lot of thinking.
Casey: Yeah? What's thinking got to do with me? - Suppressed Rage: Bishop tries to hold out his anger while being chewed out by the President for his attack at Oroku Saki's mansion.
- This Cannot Be!: Hun over the Turtles still being alive and later when seeing T9581 survived a hail of bullets,
- Took a Level in Badass: As hinted at in "Cousin Sid," the Purple Dragons have gone from a bunch of violent street punks to a sophisticated, more skilled organization.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: We see another sign of Leonardo's growing anger and frustration following the Final Battle with the Utrom Shredder.
- Villain Ball: Averted. Much as he hates Casey and any of the Turtles, Hun lets them run off. He'd rather claim the valuable goods than waste time on petty scores.
- Villain Episode: The episode primarily exists to set up the new status quo after the final defeat of the Shredder - Hun has returned to the Purple Dragons and has reformed them into a far more powerful criminal organization, while Bishop remains on as another antagonistic force, setting the two up as the Big Bad Ensemble of the season (later to be joined by Karai). Leo and Casey have little to do with the plot of the episode, and only discover Hun's new operation after setting out to find who's responsible for the latest rash of robberies.
- Was Once a Man: T9581 is implied to have gotten "volunteered" by Bishop for genetic experimentation.
- Wham Shot:
- In the prologue, Hun's narration makes it seem like this will be a typical street-level episode, but then we cut to inside a container he acquired and see a mutated face that has five eyes.
- In one of the final scenes, a widow is seen comforting her son, before it pans over to the photo of her and her naval husband at their wedding, with his dog tags hanging off it. The dog tags read T9581.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Casey had heard about the various heists, but he didn't think it was the Purple Dragons, due to the skill involved in the jobs. He readily acknowledges how he was off-base.
- You Have Failed Me:
- The President chews out Bishop for being useless in the Triceraton invasion. He warns that one more screw-up would lead him to cut his funding of the E.P.F. off.
- With a mook searching for T9581, Bishop says he better find him or he'll be volunteered for genetic research. The guy is thrilled to detect the signal and be spared this fate.
- You Talk Too Much!: Stockman.Bishop: Silence, Stockman! I haven't got time for your servile chatter.
