These episodes feature different aspects of the new series I really like.
“The Longest Fight” features all four brothers in a story that moves the series arc forward, while “Hypno! Part Deux!” only features a Raph, Leo, April and Mayhem from the main cast in a strange, horror-like episode.
I think “The Longest Fight” has captured the best view of the brothers’ relationship.
The episode opens with a buffet of different styles of pizza. There have been mentions of pizza, but this is the first time we see the turtles naming specific, strange, but still edible styles. The brothers are ready to watch the Extreme Skateboarding finals. Leo showboats, saying he can do the same 1440 their favorite skater can do. A 1440 is 4 complete rotations, so naturally, Leo loses control and crashes, leaving his board to crash in to the WiFi. He still dabbed, and I had to look up if he was actually doing a dab. After unsuccessfully asking Splinter to watch the TV, they head to a closed mall that has working WiFi. It’s a bit weird they decided to go to a mall, but it works!
Of course, this is where the turtles run in to the Foot Brute. The Foot are breaking in to a particular store, forcing the turtles to take a break from their Skateboard competition. The meeting is a lot of fun, with the turtles constantly finding reasons to take a break and actually fight. The turtles come out on top, but the Foot Brute still get what they came for, even if the turtles don’t know it.
“Hypno! Part Deux!” features a smaller cast, but in a huge world where they are being attacked by dozens of enemies.
April is talking with Mayhem, her new magic kitten, about not wanting to go to her school dance. I get it. She’s coaxed in to going by Dale, who is a guy with a crush on her. He was invited by the popular kids! Just like April. Everyone is pressuring her to download this new game called “Hippo Crush.” After a few fumbles, and thanks to Donnie’s virus protection, she can’t download the game. Good thing, because it turns out Hypno-Pottamus is behind the game and is using it to control the school’s population and will soon make the school disappear.
Mayhem returns to the turtle lair to teleport them back to April’s school. Raph and Leo are the only ones there, but they’re ready to save the day. They go in to “High School stealth mode” to rescue April and the school. The end leaves an opening for Hypno to return, but for now the coast is clear.
While both of the episodes feature so much about what I like about the new series, there are some downfalls in the details.
In the first half, I still don’t know why a retail store had (SPOILERS) a claw that the Foot Brute needed for their plans. I’m not sure why they needed to go to a mall for Wi-Fi, especially since no malls I’ve ever been to have working public internet. And while I loved that them getting the claw they needed advanced the overall story, it didn’t feel like enough. And too much time was spent on the mannequin bumping thing! I did love the jokes about the brothers on their phones. After the turtles cheer on how excited they are to watch as brothers, only to cut to them watching their own tiny screens really got me.
The second episode was a lot of fun, but the beginning and end left me confused. I wasn’t sure why this episode started with a video of another magician disappearing a school. Hypno-Pottamus references it, but it doesn’t play any part in the story. Same with the ending. Hypno was poofed and disappeared from his own hats, but where exactly did he go? These could all be left open and answered later in the series, but for these episodes I’m still left wondering a bit.
While these episodes showcased a lot of what I liked, I’m starting to notice…either plot holes or open ended questions. Hopefully those questions make sense going forward in the arc of the show, but for these some of it fell flat.
And seriously, what was up with the mannequin thing? It was only like 12 seconds but I still am confused. Let us know what you thought in the comments below!
