The Kraang’s grip on New York City remains as tight as ever, though two citizens have managed to evade capture: criminals Anton Zeck and Ivan Steranko, who are taking refuge in the latter’s hideout. Unfortunately, most of their supplies have been depleted and they’ve been reduced to living off moldy ketchup and dead cockroaches, making them decide they must somehow escape the city. This turns out to be problematic for them since the tanks Steranko owns are non-functioning show models and the invisibility function in Zeck’s suit is broken, making him unable to leave the city undetected.
- Acrofatic: Ivan Steranko is built like a refrigerator, but in a fight he is very quick on his feet. He is also able to quickly scale buildings to hide from Kraang Droid Scouts patrolling the city.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Both Steranko and Zeck whine, plead, and beg as they are tossed into the Mutagen vat.
- All for Nothing: Steranko and Zeck's actions in the episode were done in order to escape New York and prevent themselves from becoming mutants. At the end of the episode, that's exactly what happens to them.
- Bad Boss: Shredder threatens to turn Bradford and Xever over to a bored Tiger Claw who's eager for some action.
- Badass Boast: Steranko at one point brags about how he's a better hunter than his brother Boltak.
- Berserk Button: Anton Zeck hates it when his suit is insulted.
- BFG: Steranko has a few, he has some sort of laser scoped rifle that he attempts to sedate a snake Mutant Karai with and a Gatling laser gun that he whips out of Hammerspace when the turtles show up.
- The Bus Came Back: Steranko and Zeck return, and Bradford and Xever make their first official appearances in this season.
- This is also the first time we've seen Karai in Season 3.
- Call-Back: Shredder mutates Zeck for stealing the Kuro Kabuto last season.
- The Comically Serious: Ivan Steranko who speaks very gruffly, but also constantly messes up common sayings.
- Crazy-Prepared: Pretty much everybody in this show, Ivan Steranko especially qualifies in this episode because he walks around carrying an arsenal.
- Dance Battler: Zeck is just on it in this episode, as his cloaking tech is broken.
- Darker and Edgier: The ending is quite disturbing, and is darker than typical for the show.
- Evil vs. Evil: The Foot Clan want Karai back because Shredder wants her, and Steranko and Zeck want Karai to bargain to get out of the city.
- Xever and Bradford are about to fight each other when Xever tries to pull a fast one on Bradford to get all the credit for bringing Karai back, but they're immediately interrupted when Zeck snatches Karai and steals Xever's bike.
- Fighting from the Inside: Karai is trying her best to resist her reptilian side, but it's made clear she's fighting a losing battle.
- Flanderization: Steranko's being Russian.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Xever continues to show why he's the most unpopular member of the Foot when he tries to take all the credit for Karai's capture.
- Gratuitous Russian: Steranko gets more speaking lines than ever, so naturally this occurs. Especially his utterance of "Not over nyet."
- Human Shield: Well, snake-mutant shield. Steranko uses Karai as a shield/attack dog when fighting Rahzar at the end. Rahzar calls him out as a Dirty Coward.
- Indy Ploy: Rahzar and Fishface follow the turtles, knowing they will be able to find Karai. Anton Zeck ambushes them immediately afterwards, kidnaps Karai, and steals Fishface's motorcycle.
- Ironic Echo: Shredder, talking to Ivan Steranko, refers to him as an "old friend", much like Steranko did to Shredder in Season 1, albeit in a far more sarcastic and bitter fashion.
- Malaproper: Ivan Steranko is constantly messing up common phrases and euphemisms whenever he speaks. This is because he is from Russia and is still not very fluent in English. He is engaging in Poirot Speak, which is named after a famous fictional Belgian detective Hercule Poirot who often spoke this way to make people think he was a goofy foreigner, and underestimate him. In Steranko's case, he is completely unaware that everything he says sounds weird and goofy.
- Mythology Gag:
- The surveillance equipment Donnie uses to look for Karai resembles his headset from the 2014 movie.
- Raph taunts Zeck by saying "1987 called, it wants its jumpsuit back!"
- Steranko and Zeck become Bebop and Rocksteady, the original Shredder's henchmen.
- No Flow in CGI: Averted. This episode marks the first time the Shredder fights with his cape on, whereas he almost always took it off in previous encounters.
- Justified due to the animation having improved since the show's beginning, as capes are notoriously difficult to animate.
- Reduced to Ratburgers: By this point, Steranko and Zeck have been reduced to eating cockroaches and ketchup.
- Shout-Out: Zeck continues to pour on the Michael Jackson moves.
- Steranko wielding a Gatling gun looks a whole lot like The Heavy.
- Skyward Scream: The final shot of the episode is of Steranko and Zeck, now Rocksteady and Bebop, roaring like a rhino and warthog.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: Well, not "dies", exactly, but promos for this episode reveal that someone mutates in this episode. It's Zeck and Steranko who are mutated and become Bebop and Rocksteady.
- Villain Has a Point: It takes Ivan and the turtles about a day to find Karai. Rahzar and Fishface spent MONTHS failing. Shredder has a good reason to be angry...
- Wham Shot: If the images of what DNA Zeck and Steranko get mutated with isn't enough, the shot of them post mutation makes it clear they were Canon Characters All Along.
