Follow The Leader

Follow the Leader is the third episode of the second season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series), and is the 29th episode overall. It aired on November 2, 2013.

Plot
This episode begins with the turtles continuing to search for more mutagen canisters. Raphael tells Donatello to relax, and that April will come back eventually. Donnie agrees and keeps searching. Donnie gets a reading from his gadget that a mutagen canister is up on a tall roof. They climb the building and eventually find it. Donnie says that they only have sixty-three containers left. Without the turtles noticing, Karai is on another rooftop, spying on them. She starts to think that it's going to be more fun all over again to try and defeat them.

While continuing to find more canisters, Michelangelo yawns in boredom, saying that the search is getting too bored and screams very loudly, which causes Leonardo to tell him to stop and that they will play a fun game: training. He motions to a Japanese-looking building, saying that the game is like King-Of-The-Mountain. Leo goes across the wire to defend his territory and without knowing, Raph has a plan. Leo steps onto the wire, preparing to fight his brothers. Mikey jokingly puts on his headphones, and starts to dance on the wire. Leo says that it's not fighting, but Mikey ignores this and starts to make Leo tilt, and Mikey uses this time to jump to the other side. Leo says that it wasn't fair, but then Donnie steps ahead. Donnie uses his mathematical skills to determine where he should strike his brother with his shuriken. Leo gets exhausted for blocking so many, and realizes that Donnie also made it to the other side, with Mikey. Leo asks Raph what "trick" he'll get from him. Raph asks sarcastically, "What are you talking about?", and then throws his weapons at Leo and kicks him off of the wires, causing Leo to fall down, along with his two blades, with one of them reading, "Lame-o-nardo". Leo starts to get angry and objects that they are always not taking his training seriously. Raph argues that they should train their way, and that Leo should train in his own manner. They walk away from him, which leaves Leo looking upset at his sword.

Leo talks to Master Splinter about how his brothers treat him disrespectfully, and he wonders if he has the skill to be the leader. Splinter comments that how can his brothers appreciate him if he has a lack of self-confidence. Splinter then walks away, and the scene then switches to Karai in Bradford's dojo, looking at a picture of her now deceased mother. Then, a squad of robotic foot ninja approach her from behind and challenge her. She holds her ground for a while, but is then grabbed by the arm and pinned to the ground. The Shredder interferes and orders the ninjas to stop attacking her. Shredder then tells Karai that he is going to Japan to attend to urgent bussiness, and that should Karai make any move on the turtles whilst he is gone, the consequence will be fierce.

In the Shellraiser, Raph is driving, while Mikey is reading a book. He then asks Leo if he is angry with them. He then offers that he will give his comic book to Leo, but Leo says that he doesn't want it. He just thinks that the others have to be better following his orders. Raph then sarcastically says it is to bad that he can't play his violin while driving. Leo is about to quarrel with Raph, but Donnie tells them to stop the Shellraiser because there is a mutagen canister in the area.

When they are out of the Shellraiser, Donnie states that the canister is in a basement. Leo tells them to not make a sound or move, but the others are already inside. Three of them search for the canister, with no luck. Mikey, however, manges to find it. He begins to chant with joy while running to it...Leo then tries to stop him, but it is too late. Mikey picks up the canister, which had a string tied to it, causing all of the doors to close shut, trapping the turtles inside. This provokes Leo to get angry at Mikey for not following his orders. Karai then intercepts his sentence, and surrounds them with Robotic Foot Soldiers. Donnie then says that Karai is getting better at setting traps, but Raph thinks that with them fighting the Foot, they won't break a sweat. They then start fighting. Raph holds his ground, but one of them kicks him, knocking him into Donnie, and then, the turtles begin to lose. Leo tells them to flee, but Raph disgrees and briefly starts to fight again, but is defeated and leaves with Leo. They then climb the elevator ropes, but one of the robots catches Mikey's foot, but he manges to kick it off. Donnie then discovers that the ninjas are robots. One of the robots then catches Leo's foot, but then, more come and ultimately make the wire snap. Leo then falls with the robots and gets captured. The other 3 then don't know what to do. Mikey then doesn't know how to explain what happened to Master Splinter.

Splinter overhears this, and his sons informed him that Leo is captured by Karai. Splinter explains to the turtles that Karai believes that he killed someone beloved. He tells them to go and rescue Leo, no matter what the sacrifice.

Trivia

 * Donnie says that there are 65 canisters (1 1/2 are already found) of Kraang mutagen in the city.
 * The Shredder goes off to Japan early in the episode. At San Diego Comic Con 2013, it was confirmed that Shredder would head to Japan in the season to recruit Tiger Claw.
 * Michelangelo chants out the hook of Vanilla Ice's Ninja Rap ("Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!") when he finds the ooze that Karai left as a trap.
 * At the end of the episode, when Leo and Karai are fighting behind them is billboard that said "Stockman Industries" and a picture of a Mouser.