New Ep Discussion: "Prodigal Son"

[Machias Banshee]

EPISODE NINETY FOUR

"Prodigal Son"

Story Editor: Lloyd Goldfine

Senior Supervising Director: Roy Burdine

Written by Gavin Hignight

Synopsis:

Leonardo returns from his lessons with the Ancient One to find the lair destroyed and his family scattered across town… all by the hand of Karai. This will not stand. It looks like there’s going to be a showdown of masterful swords… a showdown between Leonardo and Karai.

NOTE: The new season synopses are based on early drafts of the scripts. Due to this and differences in the broadcasting order, this title and synopsis may be inaccurate.

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I remember seeing Fleder do a thread like this, and figured why not give it a try..

So, Leo's returning to New York City after a two month hiatus in Japan. How has his healing process gone? Two months is a very long time...

I remember a story about "the prodigal son", focusing on a father and his two sons. It involved money, loose women, livestock, love and jealousy. Sounds like a pilot for a reality show, doesn't it?

Well, lets focus on Leo and Splinter...

After the months of anger, conflict and subsequent "fight" in which Leo injured his father in a moment of clouded judgement and rage, Leo was sent off to conquer his inner demons.

During this time, we've seen some development of the other brothers. In last week's episode, we've seen Raphael's shift into 'leader mode'. He's not as hot-headed as he's been in the past - he's shifted into taking responsibility for the others, as we saw last week.

Donnie... well, what Have we seen of Donatello? Does he continue to bottle his emotions down, repressing the memories of his nightmarish experiences? Or is something going to happen to Him eventually?

Mike.. how many times have you seen him sit still long enough to build a card house? As Mike had said in The Samurai Tourist, Leo's being as he was allowed the others to "..not think. ...to dream. ...take it easy." We Have seen Mike mature in recent episodes, especially in Grudge Match, and a lil bit in Samurai Tourist

What of Splinter..? He obviously worried about his son. It makes you wonder how Leo and Splinter will react when they see each other again. I don't know about YOU guys, but I"m hoping for a nice sappy mushy family moment. Get yer galoshes ready!


NOW....
Its been two months since Leo's left. All he knows of is that something bad has either happened, or its Going to happen. The Ancient One didn't give much information. What will Leo be thinking on the trip back? Its going to take Days, maybe even Weeks until he gets back home. To agonize about his family, only to return to a destroyed lair, and his family resumed dead... what is this going to do to him? All of his healing in the past months.. what will this do to that?

Karai no doubt has been planning and chomping at the bit for him to return. her final 'revenge' has assumingly been accomplished, saved for the one Brother. Now Leo would understand the fear and isolation of being an orphan... or will he?


WILL LEO BE REUNITED WITH HIS FAMILY?!
WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN BETWEEN HIM AND KARAI!?
HOW ARE HIS BROTHERS... HIS FATHER GOING TO TREAT HIM?!
HOW MANY LOOSE WOMEN WILL LEO--- Wait, nevermind.... bad mod, bad mod..


So Be sure to have your sugar-coated cereals and strong coffee ready for the biggest showdown of the season!

And even though Devils may Cry when I say it..

STAY TUNED!!!

[Machias Banshee]

Up and at em, Everyone!

*makes poll*

That New Intro's... interesting. I can't wait to hear people's opinions.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes a bit... However, I was glad to see Don was all emotional about the reunion. This ep just.. I dunno. It didn't have the impact I was hoping for.

*edit*
Is it just me, or is it odd that the Leo and Karai ep is on the Lovey Dovey Valentine's Day Weekend?

[XERO]

'Home is where you hang your hat.'

Where have I heard that before?

Welcome back, Leo.

[rayfillet101]

Wheres Casey and Leatherhead?
ANGEL!
April dissapointed me.
good episode though.
Where have a seen mutated birds before? I know Ive seen them but I cant remember where!

[userpjx]

Decent episode. The theme has now changed completely. It kind of ticked me off that Leo didn't kill Karai. Deep down I knew he wouldn't.. I just hoped that he would. It's not as if she's going to stop hunting them now. Oh well...

In many ways this episode is like a fresh start for the series. New lair, new shredder, new walking stick. Angel also made an appearance which makes me glad. It always makes me happy when they show secondary charcters being useful every once in a while. Now where's Leatherhead... and Casey?

[Katie]

I'm with you , Machi...it was kinda flat. I mean....could we EVEN get a hug???? He's been gone TWO MONTHS.


But the new intro was interesting......and the fight was interesting...And there was another of those goofy shorts this morning ("turtle powered generator")

Somehow I don't think Karai is gonna make good with her second chance. Kinda made me think about SAINW and how long Leo must have been giving her "Second Chances" If you leave a scorned woman to fester...you are only gonna get trouble in the end.

And Leo beheaded Saki....again

Now.......what was all this craziness for next week????

[Tinuvielsdreams]

Yeah I agree what was with the lack of Casey and April didn't seem quite as Phased as expected. I would have thought Casey would have been the first place Raph would have gone

[Anarchistguy]

well, at least, Leo's back to normal...

[stege-chan]

OMG, what the HELL was with that opening?!!!11one And that new Battleshell...

Wheeee~ not a bad episode. Good call on Leo's part sending Angel to talk to April. The Foot dun know who she is. I was glad to see Leo kept his head too...I expected him to, but there were a couple times I thought he was gonna lose it. Donnie (or someone) totally should've glomped Leo. Man that would'a made my YEAR. XD The reunions were a little cheesey, but I still found myself going, 'awwwwww.' And the way Leo talked to Klunk was soooo cute!

Leo's finding everyone was great too-- he could TOTALLY be on CSI. XD

Fight scene was good, nice n' fast paced. Can't wait to see if Karai really does turn around. If she doesn't, Leo might hunt her down in some dark alley. XD

And about the preview for next week, I'm wonderin' if this's where the Monster Donnie episode will come in....I mean, red-eyed mutant vicious critters? I was hoping a whole episode would be devoted to that... >.>

Anyways, that's all I've got for now! *waves and skips off*

[vagrant718]

The new opening is interesting, didnt expect them to change it mid season but it's good that they change it to go w/ the current storyline.

The episode was alright, leo remembering past events like that was kinda far-fetched. And Karai being part of the intro means she's not gonna turn around anytime soon. Leo handle Karai with no problem at all does this mean he surpass splinter as a fighter?

[Rhane]

Teh new intro was...well i've never been a fan of the intro's so i'm nota gonna judge it. The episode is self is lacking some in my opinion. It has turned into The tales of Leonardo, the Psychic Flying Fighter turtle... and his family. It bothers be some, actually alot. I really didn't like that there was a lack of emotion from everyone, but also the episode can be broken down into, Leo comes home, Leo saves his family, Leo stops Karai and is the better person/turtle. It's getting old. One of the things i loved about other JL/JLU was that is season 4(2, if you wanna go JLU timeline) Flash was the one to stop the big bad, not Supes and Batman. In BtVS Willow became more powerful than Buffy and it made it interesting. A suporting character coming out for an unexpected victory is great. I would really love to see Mikey or Don do something, anything for that matter. I gave it a 5/10. Not one of TMNTs best. No where near it, but you know what they say. When you hit bottom there is nowhere else to go but up. Let's hope the up is on it's way.

[Torrant2]

I don't think there's any hope for Karai now, after all they put her in the intro as shredder. Speaking of the intro, I hope they're not going to keep screwing around with it.
Somehow I expected more from this ep. The little thing between Leo and Splinter was nice but I just expected more, hoped for more I guess.
This must have been really closely timed, the robot still in the lair, fresh footprints and tracks,and the fact that nobody went looking for each other.

[TerranigmaFreak]

The helicopter's cool, but the new battle shell looks like an ice-cream truck. A rocket launching ice-cream truck... The old battle shell's much cooler.

Cool episode, I thought the Karai Leo fight would be longer, though. It's still very cool fight. I'm gonna miss their old lair. This lair was hands down the best design of all the TMNT lairs. And it's got a magic elevator! I hope the new lair will be equally awesome.

[TheGreenMagic]

Well, that was interesting... though I agree, the whole bit with Leonardo having visions of what really happened to his brothers was a bit far fetched... and repetitive. IMO, but some things could have been condensed with Leo finding everyone already at the docks where he found Don and Splinter. Say, they planned to rendezvous there when they escaped. Would have given the gang (sans Leo) a little more credit without having to wait for him to come save the day. And this coming from a big Leo fan. Hh.

As for the big fight at the end... is it me, or has the semi-new art style changed Karai around a bit? She looked pretty much like her old self in Bad Day, but now... new haircut? Anyway, onto more pertinent manners... at least Leo did the right thing, as I imagined him to. Recognized that Karai was going down the same self-destructive path as he was before he went to see the Ancient One, threw in her face that she was becoming just like her father, a far cry from the Karai he first met and in the end, gave her a chance (perhaps the last one) to make amends and go back to who she once was and who she truly is and not what the Shredder wanted her to be. And at least he pointed out she shouldn't mess with is family... and in turn, pretty much told her they're all still alive. Still, perhaps if the episode had more time, or shifted its priorities around and devoted more time to other parts, Leo could have said more and gotten his point across perhaps a little bit better. But you know what they say about hindsight...

Again, better it wasn't the old Season 4 Leo. That reckless fool would have just charged in, swords ablazing, not thinking things through... and thus proudly have tried to reach Karai the hard way, going from the first floor of the Foot's tower and up. That wouldn't have ended well, no sir. Sure, it all worked in in Return to New York, but that took everyone and careful planning and outside interference on the part of April to mess with the security system... and even then the TMNT came close to losing to the Shredder. A one turtle wrecking crew would not have been nearly as effective in that situation (or the one presented in this episode even more so).

Considering how flexible the people behind the show are, I can't say I'd be surprised if that new intro with Karai as the Shredder last only an episode or two. It would be nice to see, after Karai redeems herself, Bishop taking that spot in the opening. Perhaps its just me, but he darn well deserves to be the main baddie once the Foot aren't the main spotllight when it comes to villainy. Unlike, say, Dreeg or Dragon Lord, Bishop has everything that it takes to be a good permanent replacement villain for Oroku Saki and he truly needs to step up, take names and become the main baddie. Long as he puts up a better fight than he did in his last episode. That was a bit pitiful compared to his showings in his first appearance and Hun on the Run.

Getting back on track here... the new lair is certainly a nice one. Can't say I'm complaining on that. Always good to have a nice change of pace.

[BigApple3AM]

I realize most of the posters on this forum tend to prefer the new toon to the original, and prefer the mirage comics over everything. But I still gotta say the new toon is just kind of disappointing lately. I don't expect any of you to agree with me, and I'm not trying to change anyone's minds, but hey it wouldn't be fun if we didn't have different opinions right?

About 15 minutes wasted getting every turtle back one at a time, would it have been hard for Mikey or Raph to try and find the others? They seemed fine... I dunno but it was like this most of the episode

Then the whole karai showdown and it's what, over in like 2 minutes? The foot rush in right after Karai and Leo fight (of course) because obviously in one episode's the enemies have gotten way stupid.

There really was no other way to end this 2 parter, my opinion is that it shouldn't have happend in the first place. Seems like just another reason to make new toys and hope for betting ratings with a complete make over. The show started out decent, but I think it's time for it to end (you may not agree with me now, let's see about next season, turtles in time :p).

This show has this sort of cheesey quality to it lately, and I don't think it would be nearly as bad if they didn't try to play it off as a serious action cartoon. Serious and cartoon are like an oxymoron, and it just doesn't work that well with TMNT in general.

Feel free to disagree, hopefully future episodes will be great, but am I the only one who got in this downward spiral of disappointment after the first season ended?

PS It seems like the companies are trying to reinvent TMNT by not doing anything different. The cartoon is the same just with new vehicles and a new lair, the toys are probably the same even though they're acting as if this new season is going to be a new show or something, and from what I'm expecting the new movie is going to be sooooo cheesey because it thinks it's gritty that only hardcore tmnt fans who dig mirage are going to like it, if that. I wouldn't be surprised if it made it's way to dvd faster than doom did

[Masked Ninja]

"swords abalazing" I like that one.

This was a good epsiode, but not as good as last week, and not nearly as good as the greats like SAINW, Shredder Strikes Back, etc. I too would have liked to see much more emotion, but I guess they were pressed for time as it was. And using Leo as a device for the flashbacks was a little, erm... He's learned a lot from the Ancient One, I'll grant - but probably not the ability to be his own crystal ball.

I dunno, maybe it was supposed to be him reconstructing events in his head a la CSI. Still.

And was anyone disappointed that all three of his brothers mananged to escape the vehicles just before they exploded? The Tunneler is tough; maybe have Leo drag a seriously injured Mikey out of the wreckage? Mikey could gripe about spending two MORE months in a cast, etc... And Klunk could be cute and stay at his side or something. I found it adorable that he hissed at Leo for his sleeping master! And was like "Oh wait... I know you... purrrrrr..."

All in all, I think this epsiode suffered because it was trying to cram too much stuff into a 22 minute episode. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I could have, had it been done differently (split into two, like they should have for so many other recent episodes... and cranked up the emotional stuff).

[TheGreenMagic]

Originally Posted by Ectocooler

I realize most of the posters on this forum tend to prefer the new toon to the original, and prefer the mirage comics over everything.

I might be considered a strange one, but I myself love the two cartoons equally and in thus, in turn, prefer them both to the comic. Though I do like the comics as well, at least the first volume.

Originally Posted by Ectocooler

I dunno but it was like this most of the episode

Well, I can admit to that. Then again, I've been waiting since Exodus to see Leo and Karai confront one and another, so, to me, everything preceding it this episode was just getting in the way.

Originally Posted by Ectocooler

Feel free to disagree, hopefully future episodes will be great, but am I the only one who got in this downward spiral of disappointment after the first season ended?

To an extent. For me, Season 1 was a great (re)introduction to the world of the TMNT and I truly cannot think of a bad episode from it.. well, maybe The Search for Splinter. And it was the only season where we could consider (as we where at the time led to believe) Oroku Saki was his human self.

Season 2 had its ups and downs for me, since I don't much care for allt he space adventures... and, to me, Secret Origins was a bit on the predictable side and made you want to smack the Turtles upside the head because they couldn't put two and two together about the evil Ultrom and the Shredder. Though I did like The Ultimate Ninja. And then City at War came along and renewed my faith quite a bit. And then Rogue in the House actually made me not despise the notion that the Shredder was an Ultrom.

Season 3 was interesting, as it got to do something the comics could not, actually showing the relationship between Karai and a still-living Shredder... even if a few things were obviously a bit different compared to the comics. And it gave us Bishop. Always a good thing.

[rayfillet101]

during winx(right before the TMNT) they showed a Monster Hunter preview, with the new van and everything. new footage and stuff...I think its a reality more than a promo. I hate hate hate the new previews with mikey and don announcing. last week they were supposed to be dead, and then they pretend to be the triceriton announcer guys? lame!

[Rikirk]

My only gripe was that in the previous eppisode all 3 turtles and Splinter couldnt even take down one of those foot Battlemechs. And lo and behold Leo swipes one a few times and makes scrap out of it. Yes I know the mechs had backup foot soldiers and all that but the epp seemed a bit rushed to make it to the final confrontation between Leo and Karai.

Now..getting to the Leo/Karai face off. I liked it. It was far to quick a battle for my taste...but I'll live with that. Again I think Leo defeated her way to easily...it should have been fleshed out more, but then Im thinking theres not a lot you can do in a 30 minute time frame.

I would like to have seen Leo a lot angrier than he was, then drive his point home as he beheads the Saki statue...but thats just me. And wouldnt it have been a shock if he actually did not give Karai her second chance? We wouldnt have much of a series if that happened would we.


Overall...good eppisode.

[Masked Ninja]

Originally Posted by Ectocooler

I realize most of the posters on this forum tend to prefer the new toon to the original, and prefer the mirage comics over everything. But I still gotta say the new toon is just kind of disappointing lately. I don't expect any of you to agree with me, and I'm not trying to change anyone's minds, but hey it wouldn't be fun if we didn't have different opinions right?

This show has this sort of cheesey quality to it lately, and I don't think it would be nearly as bad if they didn't try to play it off as a serious action cartoon. Serious and cartoon are like an oxymoron, and it just doesn't work that well with TMNT in general.

Feel free to disagree, hopefully future episodes will be great, but am I the only one who got in this downward spiral of disappointment after the first season ended?

Well, I can agree that Season 4 hasn't been as good as the others... it almost seems lost, kinda wandering.... We've had a good episode here and there, but it doesn't quite measure up to previous seasons. As I said above, SAINW and Shredder Strikes Back are my personal favorites, but several others come close. And since episode 1, the voice- and animation-acting have improved markedly. That I do enjoy.

The thing I take issue with is the "serious and cartoon are like an oxymoron." Sounds like you're bit with the misconception that plagues most of the Western world (and drives me nuts) i.e, that cartoons should only be funny and they're for kids unless there's a bunch of obvious sexual innuendo. I think this show does a good job being serious. They actually develop their characters and in battle, are actually hurt from time to time. Did the old turtles ever have to sport bandages and recuperate for whole epsiodes? The only difference between this and a scifi live action show is the characters are drawn instead of real. And while I'll admit this show isn't the best thing to ever hit TV, it does a darn good job anyway.

As for preferences... I love both the old and new toons. I lean toward the new just because there are so many animation errors in the old one, it's almost painful. But at the same time, I love old Raph and Don, and the theme song will forever kick the new one's trash. I haven't read much Mirage yet, but I really want to. I love how the new show is following the tone of the original Turtles, and not trying to piggyback the old show.

As for cheesy? I know what you mean and agree when it comes to some of the stuff that's happened this season. But seriously, this show is about ninja turtles. Nothing with that premise can escape cheesiness entirely.

Originally Posted by Rikirk

My only gripe was that in the previous eppisode all 3 turtles and Splinter couldnt even take down one of those foot Battlemechs. And lo and behold Leo swipes one a few times and makes scrap out of it.

Agreed. Even though I like Leo and acknowledge that he has the best skillz, I was rolling my eyes a bit at that. At least they just made the thing fall over, instead of falling to pieces or something terrible. Maybe if I twist my own brain I can say the guy wasn't ready for him... at least, that's how I'll rationalize it.