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There were other emotional episodes they could have expanded on rather than making them monster of the week episodes.
The Farm House Arc- Usually when the farmhouse arc is used it is a moment for the Turtles to emotionally reflect and mentally recover from heavy experiences in the city.
What I liked about the Farmhouse arc in the 2k3 verse is they had the episode "Tales of Leo" where each of the Turtles and Splinter use memories to bring Leo back from the dead.
With second invasion we have the turtles face their first major defeat, on top of that the six of them are all orphans because of the invasion. April definitely is, Casey supposedly is, and the Turtle's aren't but they are forced to believe they are because of cercomstance.
On top of that Leo is seriously injured and potentially on death's door. And the end of the season ends with what feels like some emotional events to come. Instead, we are told three months have passed since the invasion and we are given scene I don't really see as an event but more like a condensed timeline put in one scene.
Which is summed up as the group arrives at the farmhouse, Leo is put in the tub to keep him hydrated, Donnie at some point leaves, Mikey, April, and Casey also go about their business, and Raph takes it upon himself look after Leo as he recovers.
First off...Yes, I know the Raph looking after Leo moment is in reference to the first movie where Raph is seriously wounded and Leo is keeping vigil. However, in the first movie, it is also Leo who tells Raph that he is the one who isn't wanted or needed. So he is watching over Raph out of guilt, not just because he is the leader.
But in the second invasion, it's Donnie who makes the comment of "You suck as a leader" to Leo. So it is also natural that Donnie would figuratively chain himself to Leo's bedside out of guilt, not just because he's the "Doctor" of the family.
So instead of the whole three-month time skip, we have the turtles and their companions arrive at the farmhouse. All of them are reeling because of the defeat they have just experienced and emotional because everything they know and love is either dead, mutated, or lost somewhere in the city. And on top of that one of their own is also at death's doorway.
Donnie has been keeping Leo alive throughout the trip to Northampton thus far. April asks him if Leo will be okay, Donnie just morosely responds that if Leo survives the rest of the night, they would have more reason to hope. He then mentions that should Leo survive he would need to be kept hydrated at least for a certain number of hours a day.
Everyone begins to wonder about what they should do, how long they should plan to hide out at the farmhouse, etc. While everyone else is talking Mikey kneels by Leo's sickbed and starts talking to him. Everyone notices Leo reacting to Mikey's voice and April remembers her father recognized her when he had been a mutant bat. Perhaps talking to Leo may help him recover.
They could have some flashbacks to some moments between each of the Turtles, and April with Leo. These don't need to be childhood memories, they can be recent memories to moments off-screen.
Mikey would go first since he likes trying things out.
April would go next
Donnie would be reluctant but does tell Leo a fond memory.
Raph is also reluctant and thinks the whole thing is stupid, but he also tearfully gives his account of a moment where Leo was someone he looked up to.
When Raph finishes, morning has broken and it's stated that Leo has thankfully survived the night. Everyone but Donnie gets up to go see what they can rustle up for breakfast before they get some rest as everything over the past 20 or so hours has been hard on all of them.
Donnie opts to stay with Leo, this causes Raph some concern but he doesn't do anything about it. But once he is out of earshot of Donnie he tells April that he hopes that Leo does survive, because if they lost him...they could end up losing Donnie as well.
Implied some time has passed (a few days or a few weeks whatever you believe), Leo is now being kept hydrated in the tub. Donnie is still keeping vigil over Leo. Raph walks upstairs and sees an untouched plate of food on sitting on the floor. Fed up Raph storms into the bathroom to say it's beyond high time that he let someone else watch over Leo only to find Donnie has passed out from exhaution.
Donnie has a dream where he is told Leo died, because of him. He wakes up only to find Mikey tending to him. Donnie recovers, but Raph lets him know that he has lost his privledges in looking after Leo because he's too involved. He then tells Donnie that he is the leader now and they can't depend on him if he's going to become sick too. Donnie then responds by saying he never asked to be leader effectively handing over the raigns of leadership to Raph.
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