I hope Viral is gone for good

[The Terror of Death]

*If you don’t want to read a wall of text please scroll down to the last paragraph.

After watching Tempus Fugit I’m sure a lot of you know Viral was overpowered by the foot virus and was transformed into the Cyber Shredder. At first I was disappointed she was disposed of so quickly into the season but the more I think about the more I realize it was probably for the best. I wanted to like her as a character 1. Fast Forward didn’t have a lot of interesting villains, 2. She’s the only other female main villain besides Karai, and 3. Her hijacking abilities allow for her to cause a whole lot of chaos. But in the end I feel she can be summed up in three words an evil computer virus. Nothing more and nothing less. Despite her capabilities she was never really that big of a threat and her schemes to eliminate the turtles are pretty much the same. She sends the turtles to different locations and then watches as they fight some creatures or warriors. Then at the episode she’s weakened almost to the point of death and then she escapes. That’s pretty lame if you ask me. You can argue that she never received any back story or character development but even if she did I doubt anything would really change about her. For a back story she would most likely be written as a highly advanced computer virus created by the Kanobos to serve them. And any character development would be almost nonexistent unless you count becoming more powerful and dangerous as character development. What makes her even worse as a villain is that she could probably kill the turtles in a matter of seconds if she wanted to but since the turtles cant die all she really accomplishes is giving them a nice workout. And yes, I do know there’s nothing definite saying she will never return in some shape or form but I honestly wish she doesn’t. And if she does return I hope its in a minor role. I know this must seem like a lot of hate for Viral but does this show really need another unnecessary character?

I’m basically saying Viral has served her purpose (setting up the main plot for BttS and giving birth to Cyber Shredder) and any more episodes with her as the antagonist would mean yet another rehashing of episodes such as Home Invasion, The Gaminator, Timing is Everything, and Tempus Fugit. Maybe its me but I think this show had one too many episodes revolving around time portals, reality bending, and video games. I don’t hate every episode that includes those things or Viral for that matter but I would prefer episodes that weren’t so fillerish and gimmicky. Dinosaurs, ancient warriors, and Utrom Shredder cameos are great and all but its beginning to feel way to repetitive. More Viral centric episodes might mean more of the above. I don’t think the show needs to rely on these things in order to be good.

Note: I’m well aware this series had this stuff even before Viral was introduced but she’s become a major contributor.