Recap / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 S 1 E 26 Booyaka Showdown Part 2

The Turtles must infiltrate the Technodrome in order to save April and the Earth from Kraang Prime. Meanwhile, Splinter discovers a shocking truth about his past.

Tropes:

• And Then What?: Splinter asks Shredder this in regards to his Revenge Before Reason, declaring he's been been so fixated on killing Splinter at the extent of everything else, and if he succeeds in killing him, then he'll have nothing left.
• Bald of Evil: We learn the hints are true when Shredder's helmet fell off, and that he has serious burn scars.
• Dance Party Ending
• Dramatic Irony: Towards the end of Splinter and Shredder's duel, Karai/Miwa comes into the fray. At learning that Splinter is Hamato Yoshi, Karai shows hostility towards him, declares she knows he killed her mother, and addresses Shredder as her "father". The cruelty of it all is, not only does Karai believe her mother's killer is her father, but she is unknowingly playing into Shredder's revenge: to curse her real father's name. To top it off, when Splinter leaves the fight, Karai calls it cowardice, not knowing the retreat was borne out of Splinter's love for his daughter.
• The End of the World as We Know It: This is what the Kraang are trying to accomplish.
  Leo: It’s the end of the world.
  Donnie: Actually, it's just the end of humanity's reign as the planet's dominant life form.
• The End... Or Is It?: The Kraang ship lands in the ocean, but reactivates, indicating that the fight isn't over yet...
• Evil Laugh: Shredder lets out one of these once he finds out Splinter is in the former's hideout. He let's out another one when he sees that Splinter is now a mutant rat.
• Heroic Sacrifice: As Foreshadowed by Splinter in Part 1, Leo was willing to sacrifice himself to save his brothers and the world. Luckily, despite the massive explosion of the Technodrome and his brothers thinking he’s dead at first, Leo is revealed to be perfectly fine in the end.
• Mythology Gag: The Technodrome is large, very advanced, and loaded with weaponry, like in Turtles Forever.
  • The final scene of the Technodrome features its descent/crashing into the ocean (a slap in the face homage to the 1980s cartoon if ever I've ever seen one!)
  • Kraang Prime has some parallels to Krang from the original 1987 cartoon. Their robot bodies both have similar-looking heads and Kraang Prime at one point refers to the Turtles as "miserable mutants", an insult the original Krang used against the Turtles a few times.
  • The climax of the episode is almost identical to the season 1 finale of the 1987 cartoon. (The turtles fighting a giant Krang in an exo-suit while Splinter and Shredder face off)
• No Holds Barred Beat Down: After taking off the gloves and starting to fight like a rat, Splinter nearly beats the Shredder to death, before Karai stops him.
• Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Splinter was able to not only catch Shredder blade, but break it with his teeth as well.
• One-Winged Angel: Kraang Prime initially appears to be stuck in the wall, but reveals its massive robot suit when the Turtles save April.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Kraang hooked April up to an unpleasant-looking machine to power the planetary mutation device.
• Primal Stance: A variant. When fighting the Shredder and taking off the gloves, he runs on all fours and claws at him like an actual rat in between more disciplined martial arts.
• The Reveal:
  • We find out that the Kraang needed April's unique mental energy, and they tried to use it to attune the planetary mutation mechanism to the Turtle's reality (as it was mentioned earlier that the mutagen didn't work like the Kraang thought it would on Earth).
  • We also find out the Karai is actually Yoshi's daughter Miwa and the Shredder has been telling her the reverse of the truth: that she's his daughter and that Yoshi was the one who killed Tang Shen out of jealousy.
• Shout-Out: Those pods look like evil Pokeballs.
  • Also, the Kraang trying to absorb April's mental energy is suspiciously similar to Xana trying to obtain the codes to his freedom by stealing Aelita's memories. However, whether or not this would have killed April is unknown.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Splinter angrily calls Shredder out on his Revenge Before Reason, pointing out that he's always been fixated on his hatred of Splinter, and if he actually succeeds in killing him, Shredder will have nothing left. Shredder's response is that after he kills him, he'll still have his daughter as a living symbol of his revenge for all her life.
• So Much for Stealth: After infiltrating the Technodrome, the Turtles are trying to stay quiet and rescue April. Unfortunately, after hearing April scream, Donnie loudly exclaims, “It’s April!” and draws the attention of the Kraang.
  Raph: Can you say that a little louder? I don't think the entire Technodrome heard you. Never mind. They did.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: The Turtles and Mr. O’Neil are regrouping after the brothers first spot the Technodrome, wondering what exactly the giant mothership is, when the TV conveniently turns on with the news anchor explaining the situation to them.
  News Anchor: Pandemonium in the streets as a ‘Techno-terror-drome’ hovers over downtown.
• Take That!: Gets in a stab at the upcoming Ninja Turtles Movie original idea pitch.
  Krang Prime: Krang shall not be stopped by pathetic mutants!
  Mikey: At least we're not stupid aliens!
• Two-Faced: The fire that killed Tang Shen has burned roughly half of Shredder's face, as shown when Splinter knocks his helmet off.
• Wham Line:
  Shredder: That...is where you are you wrong. You took something from me so I took something from you. Your daughter.