Nicktoons TMNT Episode 45- Wrath of Tiger Claw

By Mark Rodriguez

Originally written on Sunday, July 27, 2014. Keep in mind, these were our thoughts as they were back in 2013 when the show was new and was written shortly after seeing the episodes after their initial broadcast. At the time we had zero way of knowing what to expect. 

Karai is in the Shredder's hideout looking at a picture of her mother, while having flashbacks of the Turtles telling her that Splinter is her father. Shredder walks into the room and she demands to know the truth about Splinter and her mother. Just then Tiger Claw comes in, much to Karai's surprise as she saw him get eaten by an alien worm and trapped into the 80's TMNT world. Tiger Claw explains that he was able to escape the worm (and defeat the 80's TMNT) and fight his way through Dimension X for months until he could finally return home. Shredder sends Tiger Claw and Karai together to find the Turtles and Splinter, much to her disagreement.

The Turtles are hanging at Murakami's, where Don, Mike and Raph fight it out over who will catch one of the blind chef's pizza gyozas. Leo gets involved at the last second and wins the gyoza. Leo's happiness quickly fades as he still worries about Karai working for Shredder despite knowing Splinter is her father. Mikey feels it's not her fault she was raised by Shredder, and Raph just doesn't trust her.

Tiger Claw and Karai run across the rooftops, and he tells her Shredder chose her for this mission because she knows more about them. They soon go to Murakamis to ask him about the Turtles, but he doesn't know where they live. Karai refuses to attack a blind man, but Tiger Claw doesn't have that problem.

April, Casey and Irma walk out of the movies and April was super excited by how awesome it was. Casey was disappointed that Irma had to come along and be a third wheel on their 'date', though April never considered this a date. Suddenly, April feels they're being watched and they decide to split up, leaving Irma alone.

Mikey forgot his doggybag at Murakamis, so they have to go back. When they do so, they see the place has been attacked. Murakami says he was questioned by 'the girl' and 'the growly man', and sadly, he told them about April and Casey. The Turtles figure that Tiger Claw is back, and Raph insists 'the girl' just has to be Karai. Don calls April and receives no answer. Later on at April's apartment, her dad tells them she went to the movies recently.

Tiger Claw runs into Casey and starts to chase him down.Karai is chasing April, but when she catches up to her, she wants to talk rather than fight. Karai says she believes them about telling her that Splinter is her father and is having doubts on Shredder's honor (even April says the G-rated version of 'no shit Sherlock' to that one). Don and Leo find April, and she tells them Karai's story.

Eventually Casey runs out of tricks and unfunny oneliners and decides to fight it out. Tiger Claw easily defeats him and throws him off a roof. Before passing out, Casey manages to activate his T-Phone. Raph and Mike are hanging around the skating rink (not sure if waiting in case Casey showed up... they could have just left after seeing that he wasn't there and continued the search) and get Casey's distress signal. Raph and Mike find Casey and take him back to the lair.

Leo is happy to see Karai come around and is happy to take her back to the lair. Raph is pissed that they were crazy enough to bring Karai to the lair, especially after how Tiger Claw nearly killed Casey. As Leo and Raph argue, Karai activates a device that lets Tiger Claw home in on the lair. Splinter shows up and tells Karai to follow him.

In his room, Karai sees that famous family portrait of Yoshi, Shen and baby Miwa and realizes that they were telling the truth. Karai realizes this out loud and Leo asks why she's 'just now' believing she was Miwa if before she was telling them that she did believe it. Karai regrets her treacherous actions and warns the Turtles that Tiger Claw is on his way. Splinter suspected this and says this was something she had to see with her own eyes. They leave quickly so they can lead him elsewhere, and Mikey knows just the place.

Tiger Claw finally homes in on the gang, but his search leads him to a meat locker. The Turtles fade in and out of the shadows and get some cheap shots in.... but they're still unable to take Tiger Claw down in actual fight (I again feel sorry for the OT Turtles and hoped for the life of them they chose to stay down). Tiger Claw aims his sword at Leo and asks if Karai wants to finish him off. Karai decides to regain her honor and starts to attack the tiger.

 

Unfortunately, she doesn't fare any better than anyone else did, and she is quickly knocked out. He holds Karai over a bunch of sharp machinery to keep the Turtles at bay and escapes with her. Leo is worried about her and Raph, in probably one of the dickiest things to say ever, says she's raised by Shredder and he's probably welcoming her now. Um... cause Shredder will be glad to welcome home a traitor and will just let bygones be bygone, right? Leo has no time to decide since Mikey is gravely injured and needs medical care (his shell was knocked loose... really?? How would they cure that???).

Karai is taken back to the Shredder, where Tiger Claw informs him of her betrayal. Karai demands to know if Splinter really is her father. Shredder finally admits that yes she is indeed the daughter of Hamato Yoshi... and then has her taken to a cell and locks her up.

My Thoughts-

 
Well, let me get the good stuff out of the way. Tiger Claw is awesome and he is a completely unstoppable threat. He really is Shredder's second in command and it shows. Chris and Xever might be jokes now, but they were more dangerous in their first episodes.... and even then the Turtles defeated them. Even if just barely. Against Tiger Claw it really is a fluke if they win.... or they just have no choice but to escape. He really is a huge threat.

We do have minor plot holes in how Karai somehow knew about Casey Jones, even though they have never shared any screen time. Tiger Claw also seems to know April and Casey, even though he only saw them for half a second when the giant worm swallowed him hole.. and in that instant I assume you're attention is more focused on the giant-ass alien worm than the two random teenagers riding it. Also, Irma sure is incredibly lucky the bad guys didn't decide to chase her as well. Sure she's got nothing to do with anything... but it's not like the bad guys have used innocent friends as bait to capture the main characters before.

 

Irma is... pretty much useless at this point of the show still. She's just 'that friend' that suspects that April and Casey are into some kind of strange trouble, and also there to showcase that April has more than one friend. And well, also to bring back an 80's character. I wonder when she'll actually do something.

It was nice to see Karai finally see the truth. She was conflicted with honor back and forth throughout the episode. Having her see the famous portrait of the Hamato family. Paige did wonder why Karai (and possibly Shredder) has colored pics of Miwa while Splinter has a black and white one.

Now for my main complaint.... as this show continues to suffer the whole 'well the episode's almost over so let's wrap things up real quick and not care about the consequence' thing. Karai openly betrayed the Shredder's forces... is captured, and is taken back to Shredder. And Raph acts like she's fine. Dude. Shredder, for all you know, could have killed her as soon as he was told of her betrayal. And aside from Leo, zero damns were given. And yes, I know Mikey was in bad shape... but even Paige asked why they just didn't split up. I mean, had Tiger Claw captured April instead of Karai... or hell, one of the other Turtles, they still would have found time to go after him. Or have one of them stay with Mikey while the others followed. It's just sloppy 'who gives a damn' writing just because it's 11:57 and Spongebob is eager to start his ten hour marathon.

Overall, still a good episode, but that kind of rushed ending still bugs the hell out of me. It reminds me of the one where the Turtles had to get the Power Cell back from the Kraang so they wouldn't be able to use their portal to bring stuff from Dimension X... and then had to bail without stealing the crystal back or otherwise destroying the portal machine.... because reasons. Speaking of which, I am finding myself to be a little bored of the show... or at least any episode that isn't about Shredder and the Foot and doesn't further the Karai is Miwa storyline. It's just the best part of the show, and anything else is wasting time or padding out the series so it has X amount of episodes. The show can't be episodic and have long story arcs at the same time. Choose one and stick with it.