TMNT Season 3 Best Episode Tournament Round 2: The Pig & The Rhino vs. Fourfold Trap

[JTH]

ROUND 2

Welcome again to Round 2 of the TMNT Best Episode Season 3 Tournament. We're one match down and about ready to kick off Match number 2. The 8 vs. 9 which is always the most interesting to me, the last episode to get a bye against the episode that had to work through Round 1, we now see if the right episode got the recognition. Let's go.

Round 2 Polls will last 5 days and will be private polls, but of course you can still discuss who you voted for and your reasoning why.

Note: All Round 2 Matches will begin on Tuesdays. Going to keep it uniform, so always be tuned in this time each Tuesday.

To check out the complete up to date bracket, the link is here:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cf...Best%20Episode

Now with that said and done, it's time to take a look at the "Tale of the Turtle Tape"!

Official Seed: #8
Where JTH seeded this episode: #13
Total Points Received: 56
Official IGN Review: 8.5/10
Current TV.com Rating: 9.4/10
Highest Rating Episode Received: #4 (ToTheNines)
How did it get here?: Recieved Bye

Official Seed: #9
Where JTH seeded this episode: #6
Total Points Received: 51
Official IGN Review: 8.4/10
Current TV.com Rating: 9.3/10
Highest Rating Episode Received: #5 (Aaronardo)
How did it get here?: Defeated A Foot too Big in Round 1

Winner faces #1 Annihilation: Earth in Round 3


JTH's Prediction:

Spoiler:

Well, like a typical 16 vs. 17, the 8 vs. 9 can always go either way. I personally liked Fourfold better but I presume the official debut of Bebop and Rocksteady will get a bit more love. Not to say I didn't like it, cause I did. And it did set a lot of the later season in motion with Karai's capture. I personally liked the devolopment all the characters had in Fourfold having to work together despite being alone. But overall, I think Pig & Rhino moves on

#8 The Pig & The Rhino - 14
#9 The Fourfold Trap - 11
[/I]

Which episode wins in your mind, vote away. Remember...please...HAVE FUN!!!

[GoldMutant]

I love the irony in this match, it's the episode where Karai was captured versus the final episode she has following her capture.

Honestly though, Pig and the Rhino I do prefer over Fourfold Trap. The former does an excellent job portraying Bebop and Rocksteady in this series as dangerous (before their eventual decline in the season as idiots), providing a great deal of suspense. That and the Coney Island fight is among the best of the series alongside Splinter vs Shredder and the Turtles against Shredder for the first time. While it being placed before fighting the Kraang feels off to me, I did enjoy the episode due to the intensity of the conflict; though Shredder easily dominating them in their mutant forms and Zeck and Steranko suddenly used to them are issues.

On the other hand, Fourfold I honestly can't praise too well. It's conflict was suddenly finished with a deus ex... I mean healing hands resolve. In addition, I feel not enough time was dedicated to either of the plot points; the traps were suddenly concluded exactly like Vision Quest in the trials. Even as standalone, so much time is wasted telling the backstory of the plot that there's no time for the actual traps. In addition, I'm all for Splinter saving the day with Karai being a prediction since the beginning of mine, but why of the unholy is the hands a resolve? We don't get what happened in Deadly Venom for how it affected Karai and we certainly didn't get it here either; despite the possibility of Karai gone savage, it's not well thought out at all.

Overall, the former is the better to me due to the intensity of not only Karai's minimal role, but due to Bebop and Rocksteady's presence increasing the drama. That and because they referenced Next Mutation of all things before the battles began.

[The Happy One]

Its Pig and The Rhino for me, too.

Like Gold said, Fourfold's ending solution seemed a bit meh-ish, especially for us to not see Karai again after all that. That whole argument with the boys (Leo and Donnie mostly) was great! It let us see just how much stress is on Don, on Leo- the heartache for Splinter and touched up on Karai....but then it was never resolved So...while the ep was pretty great, it fell flat on just a couple of things.


On the other hand Pig and the Rhino did justice to Bebop and Rocksteady and, I dunno if it was just me, but the writing was topnotch, too. I really had no fault with that one

So...Ding! Ding! Ding! The Pig and the Rhino it is!

[Shiro Kame]

I enjoyed the Fourfold Trap more. With it, it felt more optimistic at the end, along with more progress being made for the turtles.

[ssjup81]

This is tough. I liked both eps a lot. In the Fourfold Trap, I loved the fact that Donnie snapped on Leo. I love conflict between those two given how they get along usually. I also like how Karai spit out the worm at the end. Unlike most, I don't think his healing hands mantra is what caused her to regain control of her mind. Based on how they got Raph, Slash, and Rockwell back in the other ep, I believe it was Splinter's heartfelt "I love you" that did it and she seemed to react before he landed that final hit with the mantra. That was so sad because he lost her again. Oh I also liked the traps, but would've preferred it if they'd all been connected.

The Pig and the Rhino...I was skeptical at first, but I loved this ep. Bebop and Rocksteady are such fun characters and glad they aren't dumb, like OT Rocksteady and Bebop became. They were entertaining and cool how they managed to capture Karai, and I loved the fights for this ep.

Hm...I'll go with the Fourfold Trap.

[Amaranthus]

I still don't get why they named it The Pig & The Rhino instead of The Hog & The Horn. Sounds much better.