Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1255374-20150228233509/@comment-995426-20150315184636

After we watched the new episode, a friend and I each observed that Mikey threw himself into Leatherhead's arms literally every time they were reunited, sometimes with lovey weepy eyes. This in addition to the cuddles, spooning, body rubs, heart eyes and angst between them the show has already dished out. If Nickelodeon ever wanted us not to think they're in love, they're doing a very poor job of it. Which is great&mdash;they're awesome together. :) This is a modern world of Legend of Korra and Steven Universe, after all.

The thing is, if the writers are planning on giving Mikey a love interest with later, they're going to have to at least passingly acknowledge LH in context. If they just ignore everything they've been parading in front of us, they will insult a lot of viewers' intelligence, young and old alike. "But what about LH?" will never be far a lot of people's minds.

Personally, I think it would be interesting if Mikey's chemistry with Renet turns out to be not what we expect. Mikey is certainly a very warm and kind personality, and it would be funny if Renet had a crush on him that ultimately turned out to be one-sided.

I considered the possibility there might be some kind of love triangle, but I don't think Mikey is the kind of person to be restrained or ambiguous about romantic tension the way April so famously is with Donnie and Casey. Mikey wants, Mikey loves, Mikey seizes, Mikey cherishes&mdash;it's really one of his most defining personality traits, and he always cuts to the chase.

Another possibility is Mikey, being emotionally-driven teenager he is, will be youthfully indiscreet (wanting to have it all with LH and Renet), but that is notoriously difficult to portray in a cartoon targeted at younger children because of the social mores it irritates. Legend of Korra did something similar with Mako, Korra and Asami, accompanied with a strong moral message that it's bad to be unfaithful or to mess around with other people's emotions, but that's a drama plot more for teenage audiences, and TMNT cartoons (in)famously target a preteen audience so they can sell toys.

But you never know&mdash;they may surprise us, since they keep subtly acknowledging that they know older fans are watching, and we're already familiar with all the foolhardy things Mirage/Image Mikey does when he's in love. :)

Another thing. We were pleased to see Slash make another appearance. (Or "Raph's boo," as one of my friends keeps calling him.) Though there seems to be a stark difference between the way Raph keeps emotionally pining over Slash's absence, and the way they interact face to face with little more than some smiles and fist bumps.

Raphael, O so broody one: Is this the same guy you said you love, who you missed so strongly that Splinter needed to teach you how to cope with it? The same guy you later reminded us all you love so much that you chose his photograph as the one most precious belonging to take with you when you abandoned your only home of 15 years? And you finally meet up with him and again, and you give him with...a fist bump? Turtle please. Where's all the TLC you always gave him before? The man deserves a hug. Mikey and LH are totally putting you to shame, bro. :P