User blog:TMNTInsider/Late to the Party - "Under the Microscope" Review - S4E1-E2

Work, social life, MLB playoffs, illness, death in the family, and that explains why I haven't written anything in a while. Well, that and the fact that there hasn't been a lot to write about with regards to these first two episodes. After game-changers like "Annihilation Earth"--which, despite a couple of hiccups in getting to it's resolution, was a masterpiece, no doubt about it, so let's get that out of the way--establishment is the precedence for the following season premiere. Excellent comic animation, a great full-time premiere by David Tennan's Fugitoid who I have a lot of expectations for, and a time-travel format which can actually be pretty good depending on direction. That's one thing I can go under the microscope and really examine, almost everything else is fun surface material to either be taken as such or not very seriously at all. BTW, did anyone notice how similar Peter Stormare's voice as Dregg was to Jeffrey Combs?

I said in a post here regarding the premiere that time travel can be like a cheat if used to simply retcon something. But, if used in TV series' such as "Gargoyles" or in an episode such as "Tale of the Yokai" (which just beats out AE for best episode of Season 3), it becomes more effective as a way of connecting future and past events together and brings about strong implications. Sure your head can really hurt by the end, but it brings about the tragic conflict of man vs. fate. And that's the conflict here if the show chooses to go with this route, just like it did with "TotY". If it follows that episode's format, there's no way the turtles can stop this! Sure some details might be changed, but the song will remain the same. Remember, the Triceratons aren't even supposed to know who the turtles are at this point! The turtles may end up being the reason that the dino men are led to Earth in the first place!

The only way I can see this taking a turn--well, probably the best way--would have to be if someone takes the hit for Splinter which would allow him to stop the generator. I can easily imagine the turtles, without being seen by their past selves, trying to hold Shredder back while Tiger Claw, who was not only closest to the action but also had some neat moments in the episode, notices what's happening and wants to know what's going on...which of course allows him to be the one to step out in front and take the blades when Shredder breaks free of the turtles. I'll leave whether he lives or dies up to the producers, not to mention how the past turtles get onto that ship. Of course, this being my prediction and all, it's not gonna happen!

Other than that part with the premiere, the backbone of the second episode was the relationship between Mona and Raphael and whether it would work or not. At first viewing, Raph would seem out of character here for how much he accepts Mona and exactly why he did. The why, at least the first one, was because she hits hard. Things like that have led other fans to call this relationship forced or convoluted despite how sweet it felt and that's certainly what it felt like. However, there are times when characters have shown bad traits and need to break free of that. Case in point is Raphael's disregard for Karai/Miwa even under the torturous circumstances that the TMNT crew has put her through. Other than episodes such as "Metalhead" where Raph has just been a bully, he pulled out every possible reason you can think of to have a badly broad characterization under arcs such as this one such as "She's not worth it", "She can't be helped", "She has a bad reputation", etc. It's both refreshing and reassuring for him to have a better characterization--perhaps the characterization he should've had in the first place?--in S4E2. When Mikey describes her assets to him in a mocking sort of way ("She's bigger, stronger, and a better fighter than you") he doesn't get offended or jerkish like his past self would. I'd call this character development if I thought it would last but I doubt even Mona's enough to keep it intact for him. And here I thought the only excuse could be that they feel lonely out there in the universe far away from Earth and are looking for new allies or friends where they can. Aside from this curious interaction, like the premiere, this episode is mostly more establishment with some fun moments that otherwise wouldn't make for a multi-paragraph review--unlike "Annihilation Earth" which was just full of character and character interaction, poetics, and insight. For example, I for one loved Leo's flirting thing with the alien chick on that Dantooine-like planet in the previous episode, not only was it really funny and unexpected (unless you compare Leo's hero Captain Ryan with Kirk) but the boyfriend just seals the deal that you can't take it too seriously and just go along with it.

P.S. Sometimes it's easy to forget that Sal Commander and Mona belong to the same race as the Newtralizer. It's very fitting that Raph and Slash would have relationships (to different degrees of course) with one of their members.