Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1255374-20151111163045/@comment-27062516-20160311020633

I think we should start talking more about what to expect from characters such as Splinter when we get back to Earth after Episode 13. I'm done racking my brain on how the Earth is ultimately/temporarily/whatever going to be spared from the Triceratons without cheating in some way(s), and am more interested about the ramifications that "Annihilation Earth" (if any) is going to have on the supporting cast. If I was running the show, those events have to be made knowledge to some of them, after all, we do have six witnesses who still remember it very vividly and whose mouths surely could let it slip.

In my case Splinter and Tiger Claw most of all would know because they'd hold so much potential. Tiger Claw had fantastic character moments in "Annihilation Earth II" and moments of concern with regards to the Shredder in "Vengeance is Mine", "The Invasion", and "Return to New York" and this knowledge would help pull him away from Shredder in some way and help put him on the path towards that interesting future Ciro hinted at when he talked about Tiger Claw in that spotlight video.

Splinter I think will be crushed under that knowledge and there have been hints throughout the series that will help change him. From his panged envy of seeing April and her father in "The Deadly Venom", to the multiple pains of losing Karai in different ways, to the madness on display in "Return to New York", to how much was on the line in "Annihilation Earth" and what his sons had to go through to fix Shredder's betrayal, etc. etc. etc. he's gone through a lot and I think this would tip him over the edge. I think all this will drive him to seek revenge against the Shredder by trying to make himself just like him only stronger. Think of it as the Yoshii he's mentioned he's not proud of (first mentioned in "Turtle Temper"), combine him with the Splinter in "Panic in the Sewers", and then make it worse: as bitter, vengeful, cold, and even as manipulative as the Shredder himself; all with dangerous consequences. That's what I'd like to see and I'd have the show go in that direction if I was showrunner.