An ancient ninjutsu master's spirit turns the Purple Dragons into powerful warriors, seeking to restore his humanity.
- Big "NO!": Casey lets one out when April is kidnapped, followed by a half-hearted one over Irma.
- Blow You Away: One of the powers Ho Chan grants when making you his servant.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Raph, Leo, and for the first time in the series Mikey.
- Breather Episode: The episode qualifies as this considering it's sandwiched between the incredibly dark and complex "Vengeance is Mine", and the episodes that either lead up to or consist of the season finale.
- Continuity Nod: The Turtles, Casey and April are searching for Karai, with Splinter still being shaken by the ordeal.
- We also learn that Steranko has hired the Purple Dragons for a job, indicating the Purple Dragons are no longer allied with the Foot.
- Casey orders pizza from Antonio's, and thankfully, it's of the non-sentient and brainwashing variety.
- Damsel in Distress: Irma and April, though obviously moreso the former.
- Foreshadowing: Ho Chan recognizes that Irma has some kind of power he can't understand. She will later be revealed as Kraang Subprime.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: The Purple Dragons are openly acknowledged to be this by the Turtles, which is a reason why they don't take Casey's account of their powers seriously.
- And the Purple Dragons get beat pretty easily, even with their new powers
- How Unscientific!: This is the first time that this particular incarnation of Ninja Turtles featured magic, bringing it closer to its usual Fantasy Kitchen Sink setting.
- Large Ham: Ho Chan, courtesy of his actor James Hong.
- Love Triangle: The Casey-April-Donnie one gets focus in this episode, to the point Donnie and Casey spend more time fighting each other than Ho Chan. Raph of all people has to break it up at one point.
- Mythology Gag: When describing April, Ho Chan believes she's wearing a yellow jumpsuit, before correcting himself.
- The Shellraiser can fire pizzas as ammunition.
- Mikey comments on how awesome the straw hats are. In the 2003 series, Mike, Don, and Raph all had similar feelings towards the straw hats of the Elite Foot Ninjas.
- Outside-Genre Foe: Up until this point, the Turtles have been fighting the Kraang and the Foot Clan, and the various humans, mutants, robots, and aliens that entails. Ho Chan, the ghost of an Evil Sorcerer, is the very first genuinely supernatural foe they've faced; therefore, they have more difficulty fighting him.
- Shock and Awe: Ho Chan can grant his servants the power of thunder and lightning.
- Shout-Out: The plot basically resembles Big Trouble in Little China. Ancient sorcerer, abducts a special girl to undo a curse that makes him ghostly and is defeated when he gets stabbed with a knife. It even has James Hong, the original Lo Pan, voicing a Lo Pan expy. In fact, let's compare these lines:Lo Pan: I will send both of you to the Hell Where People Are Skinned Alive!Ho Chan: Begone, before I banish you to the Pit of Endless Morons!
- Ho Chan has three servants all have straw hats, who have weather powers. That's also from Big Trouble. But the one who uses lightning gibbers and jumps around while he fights. There's another character with a similar straw hat and lightning powers.
- The Goldfish Poop Gang gets supernatural powers from the Chinese evil sorcerer, and their fighting skill is only marginally enhanced. Daolon Wong must feel Ho Chan's pain.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Donnie talks about wanting to split April and Casey up (not for the mission, but because they’re hanging out together), Leo is seen giving him a disapproving glare.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Mysteriously, Ho Chan states that both April and Irma have more power than they know, albeit a kind of power he's never seen before. Whilst April's may be chalked up to being a half-Krang mutant, it's unknown just what he's talking about when it comes to Irma.note
- You Have Failed Me: A non-fatal version of this trope; after Leo, Mikey and Raph defeat the powered up Purple Dragons, Ho Chan makes them his new servants, stripping the Purple Dragons of their powers.
