The Splinter/Shredder Connection (some plothole clean-up for part two)

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While I wasn't particularly bothered by the lack of connection between Splinter and Shredder at first, the more I thought of it, the more it bugged me. However, I felt like the movie left enough leeway so the next flick could get it right.

There are four points that can be expanded upon in the sequel, and if the writers can hone in on these four points, it will make a lot of us happy.

1. In the flashback scene, Splinter mentions that he has no recollection of life before the lab. It would be easy for the sequel to suggest that Splinter's cognitive abilities were superpowered by the mutagen. As he grew larger and smarter, memories of his life before the lab becames startingly vivid and after him and the turtles were full-grown, Splinter remembers that his original owner was a ninjitsu master named Hamato Yoshii...a man who was killed by Oroku Saki in Japan.

2. After murdering Yoshii, Oroku Saki takes the rat and gifts him to Eric Sachs, his adopted son. A prepubescent (but still genius) Sachs submits small animals to experiments ranging from groundbreaking to just flat-out sadistic, but he spares his newest pet rat. The Rat is witness to not only Sachs' cruelty, but Oroku Saki and the Foot Clan who're terrorizing Japan, thus instilling in him a great fear and disgust of both Sachs and Shredder in the present day. This would explain Splinter's extremely convenient knowledge of Shredder and Sach's relationship in the first movie, and give him the drive to one day defeat Shredder and the Foot Clan, which he would do by...

3. Training his sons in the ways of the ninja. Splinter's skills came from not only remembering the years he spent as Hamato Yoshi's pet rat, but also from watching Shredder and the Foot honing their skills. He actually LIED to his sons about the root of his knowledge because he remembers the carnage and death that the Foot Clan wreaked in Japan and was ashamed of being witness to it. He made up a story about finding some book so he wouldn't have to admit his little connection to the Foot. A connection that...

4. Shredder has never forgotten. Upon Shredder's encounter with the mutated Splinter, he hisses "Rat" in such a derogatory manner that one can assume Shredder never forgot that Splinter was his pet. In the sequel, Shredder (Super Shredder?) can toss off a line like "When Karai told me that her men were defeated by monsters who were masters of the Foot Clan's fighting style, I didn't believe it...until I saw it with my own eyes" or something. He can go on and monologue that explains how Shredder decided to experiment on Sach's pet rat as a final eff you to Hamato Yoshii's memory...but never thought it would come back to bite him in the ass.

So there you go. I know it may seem like a cheat utilizing false memories and lies to forge the connection, but if handle correctly, the writers of the second movie can fake like all those missed beats in the first movie were intentional, maybe as a way to seed the sequel.

Or maybe the third movie? I kinda don't want to see Shredder again until it's the FINAL showdown.