TMNT Season 3 Best Episode Tournament Round 2: Vision Quest vs. Buried Secrets
 

We journey on in the TMNT Season 3 Best Episode Tournament. With still every top seed advancing on, 11-0 to the top seeds. Will this make 12? Let's find out, it's 4 vs. 13. Two of the three remaining Northhampton episodes do battle with yet another one of the arc biting the dust.



Round 2 Polls will last 5 days and will be private polls, but of course you can still discuss who you voted for and your reasoning why.

Note: All Round 2 Matches will begin on Tuesdays. Going to keep it uniform, so always be tuned in this time each Tuesday.

To check out the complete up to date bracket, the link is here:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cf...Best%20Episode

Now with that said and done, it's time to take a look at the "Tale of the Turtle Tape"!

Official Seed: #4
Where JTH seeded this episode: #3
Total Points Received: 110
Official IGN Review: 9.0/10
Current TV.com Rating: 9.0/10
Highest Rating Episode Received: #3 (5 Times)
How did it get here?: Recieved Bye

Official Seed: #13
Where JTH seeded this episode: #8
Total Points Received: 26
Official IGN Review: 7.8/10
Current TV.com Rating: 9.5/10
Highest Rating Episode Received: #2 (Tarris Vaal)
How did it get here?: Defeated The Creeping Doom in Round 1

Winner faces #5 Dinosaur Seen in Sewers! in Round 3


JTH's Prediction:


Which episode wins in your mind, vote away. Remember...HAVE FUN!!! :D

How is Buried Secrets winning? I though Vision Quest was a fan favorite.

I wouldn't be that surprised. These were both very strong episodes - and although vision quest was certainly very hyped up and very popular it is the more flawed of the 2. Mostly because Vision quest really needed to be a 2 parter and take more time with its content. As it is, it does come across as a bit rushed.

Buried secrets on the other hand was nicely self contained and better paced overall. More importantly, though it was self contained, it did also advance some of the mystery behind April and the Kraang - making it more than just mere filler.

Add in that Secrets is genuinely quite a tense episode and Vision quest is almost more comedic and you can start to see why Secrets is holding up so well against VQ - and may even beat it.

Quite an interesting match up this time around, after this only one (or two which might be impossible because of what's next) Northampton episodes remain. I will say Nin that Buried Secrets is as much a fan favorite of the Northampton section as Vision Quest. However, both are flawed.

I will say what Vision Quest gets correct is finally bringing the plot back full force. Besides taking the Splinter spirit directly out of the first movie, it does succeed on some brilliant action scenes and resolutions. In addition, the suits are pure eye candy with the successful accomplishment of putting an end to the Foot and Kraang for good.

The issues though? Besides there being very few mentionings in the previous seven episodes, the whole episode feels like a massive rush. It easily could have been two parts with Leo also fighting Karai, Raph battling Slash, Donnie confronting Mutagen Man, and even Mikey going up against Leatherhead. Then maybe the brothers unite in an illusion involving the Foot and Kraang teaming up before Tiger Claw blasting them down. (Unless TC is no longer fighting Don, best to use Baxter)

Well besides the scenario, it really didn't accomplish much. Yes, Leo and Raph wore their outfits but they were entirely halted and the development went nowhere outside Leo himself. Needless to say, while a powerful conclusion to a lackluster arc, it's still a heavily flawed episode despite the good.

As for Buried Secrets, I have to admit I'm not fond of it in comparison to In Dreams or even Within the Woods; despite that I do find it middle of the road in Northampton. Recasting Jacobs as April's mother is a wonderful nod; despite references to The Thing and setting up the episode I hate, it does contain issues too.

Besides how the Kraang came to be, what exactly was buried in the first place? That and Mikey suddenly against the eventual Mom-Thing which came off as immediately out of left field. Granted, I can see Mikey still being a strong character here before the episode I hate, but there's almost no justification.

While both episodes are heavily rushed, I have to give my vote to Vision Quest. Yes it might have been rushed heavily and repetitious on character flaws for the Turtles, but I do think it has more going for it over Buried Secrets overall.

Yeah I agree.

And for me, I thought that Vision Quest wasn't 100% up to the hype around the episode. Like you said, it would probably have been better as a two-parter.

But then again, Buried Secrets overplayed on the 'idiot Mikey' thing. Which isn't normally as much of an issue for me as it seems to be for other people. I get that it's overemphasised for the kids to set up the episode, but his brothers ignoring his vibes when he's been right about this sort of thing before so many times?



I went with Buried Secrets in the end.