Official Episode Discussion S2 Finale: The Invasion

[Refractive Reflections]

With my adjusted lowered expectations for this show, the show did fairly well. The fighting scenes were superficially dramatic and enjoyable, but it fell on cliches by inserting either past TMNT events (Leonardo's confrontation with the Foot-bots with a similar Mirage scene), transforming human characters again (Kirby mutated again and with Irma actually being Krang Sub-Prime), and having a bigger, augmented Kraang battle. ...And it continued its irritating habit of plotline amnesia as I've mentioned before in another thread:

Originally Posted by Refractive Reflections

For me, what's the most frustrating with the big reveal is that in the beginning and middle of Season 2 (and even throughout Season 1 upon hindsight), April was touted as being the most crucial part of the Kraangs' plan and how they wanted to constantly kidnap her, but upon hindsight after watching the Season 2 finale, Krang Sub-Prime could have easily kidnapped April at around the time of "A Chinatown Ghost Story" episode when it was strongly hinted Irma was something other than human. (Even if we go with the notion that "human Irma" was somehow swapped before that episode.) It makes the reveal of Krang Sub-Prime wanting to know the Turtles' lair in first place (rather than the Kraang initially focusing on April, which was more important for one and a half seasons), seem more or less shoehorned, just to introduce the whole Southampton arc for Season 3. Ugh... again another example of plotline amnesia. It's why I can't emotionally invest in this series or care about most suspense scenes anymore, because 6-10 episodes later, more often the plotline will be ignored or contradict itself in a later development upon hindsight.

Here's a few events that caught my attention:
-I have to say it would have been far more entertaining if Shredder actually kept Leonardo as a hostage and used as a bargaining chip (what I thought he would have done after taunting Splinter about taking another child of his) when confronting the Turtles and Splinter, to add dramatic parallels, but... it decidedly used this opportunity to revisiting another past TMNT scene, just to see Leonardo crash through the window. **sigh**

-I am glad that at least this episode took some time to have brief reflective moments when April envisioned past events when she had to leave the lair, and the Turtles each taking a momento. It at least brought some emotional gravity to the situation they were facing rather than always seeing them in a crisis.

-The whole Shredder involvement seemed forced and unnecessary though in comparison to the grand scheme of events. The whole Leatherhead and Shredder fight at the end was melodramatic though , there's no way any mere mortal man could have enough strength to kick Leatherhead down and that far when the show displayed how strong and enormous Leatherhead is.

The developments were fast, climatic, and entertaining, but with the plot amnesia undermining its former suspenseful developments and lack of having its characters progress in any particular direction (excluding Karai), it makes the impact these characters endure in this Season 2 finale immensely hollow. To me, "Vengeance Is Mine" was a far better written episode than this Season 2 finale because one could feel Splinter's loss with Karai at a deeper level after watching and reflecting back on the episode of "The Wrath of Tiger Claw". In this Season 2 finale, Leonardo's fight at the construction yard was not as impactful (as with the plight of the other characters) because it did not draw upon his cumulative experiences unlike the Karai mutation which drew upon the history between Splinter and Karai. Yes the action and fighting was exciting in "The Invasion", but with such a lack of investment into most of the characters, and complacency for its storywriting, it has made me more indifferent than ever to the Nick Turtles' plight.