Karai's Vendetta

"Karai's Vendetta" is the twenty-first episode of the 2012 TV series. It aired on Saturday, April 27, 2013.

Plot Synopsis
In the Foot Headquarters, The Shredder interrogates a Kraang he captured about why they were hunting the Turtles when he encountered the aliens in the previous episode. At first, The Kraang's speech is not understandable at all, as they only produce senseless squealing when out of their exo-suits. When inserted into it's exoskeleton (which Karai took in "The Alien Agenda"), however, it completely refuses to speak...When The Shredder threatens it with a blade, it begrudgingly admits that April O'Neil is the link that is missing from The Kraang's conspiracy, and that the Turtles are harboring and protecting her. Shredder then orders his adoptive daughter, Karai, to find and capture April, as they can use her to lure the Turtles out from their place of hiding...

Down in the sewers, everyone is immersed in their training. While April is there practicing some of her moves alongside Splinter, Donnie and Leo are duelling, and Raph and Mikey are as well. Raph attacks Mikey head on, but the latter then moves into a position that allows him to flip Raph over when he attacks...Mikey joyously celebrates for a moment, but then Raph gets up and grabs him from behind, demanding him to give up...Mikey complies, only for Splinter to step into the scene and teach his pupils yet another valuable lesson. He has Raph grab him from behind like the latter did with Mikey; but instead of surrendering, Splinter promptly licks Raph's face. Obviously disgusted by this, Raph lets his sensei go and this allows himself to get easily defeated...

Just when Leo, Mikey and Raph are all watching "Space Heroes", Donnie comes in, talking about the results of a test that he and April just completed. He says that The Kraang have recently put some form of Mutagen into New York City's water supply (which he found out because of the Kraang data storage device), which is extremely dangerous. Mikey accidentally knocks over the container of purified Kraang water that Donnie managed to segregate from some sewage, and it spills onto April's arm, but, oddly, it does not have any noticeable effects on her....She quickly shrugs this enigma off, however - and then decides to go up to the surface to get some 'human food' for a change. Donnie then tells the others that they can destroy the underwater Kraang base (which they've determined is where the Mutagen is being put into the water) with another invention of his: A cool-looking submarine. However, it runs primarily on kinetic energy, which means that the Turtles have to constantly supply it with pedaling (until both of the engines are totally charged)...

As they begin to approach the Kraang's base, they encounter a large creature that Donnie assumes is from Dimension X. They are able to easily outsmart it, however, and successfully break into the base undetected...When Leo says 'We've got bigger fish to fry now', Mikey playfully cracks a joke: "I don't think we're gonna' find a bigger fish than that".

Meanwhile, April unknowingly encounters Karai on the surface when the former has trouble figuring out how to work a new type of food machine up there. After helping April out, Karai asks if she can join her; April says yes, but she is still very oblivious to this stranger's true identity...The two then enter Murukami's noodle shop. They begin engaging in a relatively serene conversation and they are actually able to identify some similarities that the two have. Eventually, Karai (who, at first, comes up with the alias 'Harmony' to fool April) ends her facade and promptly decides to reveal herself when April is almost baited into trying her order: turtle soup!! April then tries to leave, but Karai grabs the strap of her purse from behind and pulls her back, telling her that she is coming with her...Thanks to Murakami, however, April manages to make a quick escape. She steals a pizza delivery guy's motorized bicycle (much to the guy's resentment), but is pursued by Karai on a motorcycle that she quickly finds in the area...

Just as the Turtles prepare to attack a large horde of Kraang, April calls Donnie at a horrible time. She tells him that Karai is after her, which causes him to panic a tremendous amount - However, he tells her to stay calm as much as possible, but to keep some distance between herself and her pursuer...He and his brothers soon defeat all of The Kraang with relative ease, but Don then tries to urge the others to leave so that they can help April. However, Leo is able to convince him to destroy the chemical tanks in the base before rushing to her aid. So, Donnie manages to rig a Kraang gun to go off in less than 90 seconds, but the creature from earlier breaks into the room from a hole below and attacks the Turtles, complicating matters further. However, Mikey seemingly defeats it and all four Turtles escape just before the base itself erupts in a massive explosion. However, the creature somehow managed to survive, and it begins chasing down the sub, thinking of it is a female of it's very own species!!! The gargantuan beast latches on, but Leo pulls down a lever that releases some type of depth charges, which, in turn, cause the creature to release them, leaving it emotionally crushed.........

Back in the city, Karai is forced to take to the rooftops (due to a moving van that is backing up and impedes her path forward) and starts tracking April from above for a short while, but the latter unintentionally ends up trapping herself in an alley way...April bravely draws her new weapon (that Splinter offered her a couple episodes back) and Karai compliments it's utter 'beauty', before quickly disarming April and throwing the Tessen aside...April then tries attacking her opponent directly, but Karai manages to dodge every single one of her attacks. Just when April starts running towards Karai once again, Karai delivers a kick that sends April reeling backwards...She then kicks April into the wall of a building, before mercilessly kicking her again and again in the chest.

April falls down, though gathers just enough inner-strength to get herself back up, but she is already extremely weak...Karai then grabs April, hoists her up on her knee, and punches her hard in the gut. She then knocks April into the street with yet another fervent kick - and Karai then jealously demands to know what makes her so very important to everyone, while she continues attacking....April, however, is able to verbally defend herself and provide her own form of questions. However, just when Karai has truly pinned down her down, April mentions that she lost her mother. For some reason, this causes Karai to hesitate quite a bit (most likely because something similar occured with her). April then remembers the lesson that Splinter had taught her and the Turtles earlier. She then gathers up enough strength to grab Karai by the collar, throw her over her own head and down some nearby subway stairs - and April then escapes on one the motorcycles, saying to herself, "Not bad for a nobody". Karai quickly gets herself back up on her feet as well - but then bears what appears to be a conscience-stricken expression on her face: Once again, this might suggest more than a thing or two...

Soon, the Turtles and April all meet back up in the sewer lair, where April tells them all about her own dramatic duel with Karai and her first, laudable victory. As expected, all of the Turtles are quite impressed by what she tells them, but Splinter (who does tell her that she used her training well) is also more or less concerned and tells her that, since both the Kraang and the Foot Clan seem to be after April now, the smartest decision would be for April to stay with them in the sewers as much as possible, since it is the only place that she is truly safe. This results in April protesting - and Donnie briefly cheering with joy....At first, she's very upset, due to the fact that she won't be seeing any of her good friends or family members for a while, but Leo reiterates to her that everything will go back to normal once The Kraang and Shredder are defeated for good, and have exited out of her life (and when her father has been rescued), which makes April strictly determined to get her old life back......

Trivia

 * Several clues are given to Karai's origins:
 * In this episode, April reveals she lost her mother. Karai's reaction implies that she has also lost her mother. This could refer to Karai's possible past as Splinter's daughter, where Tang Shen, Splinter's wife and Miwa's mother, was killed in the fire.
 * The name "Harmony" Karai uses to introduce herself to April can be read with the kanji 美和, which reads "Miwa" in English, and translates as "Beautiful Harmony".
 * The sea monster in this episode is strongly based off the legendary "Loch Ness Monster"
 * The scene where Shredder and the captured Kraang having difficulty talking to each other is loosely based on their 80's counterparts.
 * This is the first time April used her weapon Splinter gave her in Baxter's Gambit
 * Donnie introduces a new invention: the Turtle Sub (a submarine powered by stationairy bikes). By accident or deliberation, it could be a pun reference to the Turtle, the first submersible vessel ever constructed, invented by David Bushnell in 1776, which was likewise powered by a pedalling drive.
 * Karai's line that her father "is in kitchen utensils" was likely a reference to the 1987 series, where in the first encounter between Shredder and the Turtles, Raphael replied to the Shredder introducing himself by calling him "a kitchen utensil"
 * Karai's "Turtle Soup" line is loosely based off the well known Shredder quote "Tonight, I dine on Turtle Soup." from past Ninja Turtles incarnations.
 * When the Turtle Sub goes into stealth mode, the lighting makes the turtles look like they all have red bandanas, which was their look in the original Mirage Comics.
 * Apparently, April learned Japanese from the turtles.
 * A very adult joke occurs when the sea monster amorously mounts the Turtle Sub as if attempting to mate. As Red Dwarf's David Lister said, "It's either gonna eat us, kill us, or hump us!".
 * When April steals the Pizza delivery boy's bike, she says "I'll bring it back someday!" This is a reference to the first episode of the Pokemon anime, where Ash stole Misty's bike and said these same lines.

Quotes
Leonardo: "OK, we have to be quiet."

Donatello: "Do you have to say that every time? We're ninjas, we know how to be quiet." (His T-Phone rings, loudly)

Michealangelo: "Ooh, that is embarrassing."

Leonardo: "So Donnie, how are we gonna get out there?"

Donatello: "Don't worry guys, I've been working on something that's pretty awesome."

(In the Turtle Sub, Leo, Raph and Mikey panting from petaling on stationary bikes)

Raphael: (panting) "This...is not...awesome."

Leonardo: (also panting) "Seriously Donnie? A submarine powered by bicycles?

Raphael: (still panting) You know what would have been more efficient; swimming! (Mikey laughs at the comment)

Donatello: Hey pipe down, guys! Kinetic energy is the only way to charge the engines which should be done...right about now. (presses a few buttons which causes the jet engines to activate and the others sigh in relief)

Leonardo: We're almost there. Up periscope. (the periscope comes down and it's made from a toliet seat and the 'toliet flushing' sound effect plays while Leo just stares)

Michealangelo: (Mikey knocks down two Kraang-droids) "That's a twofer! Thank you and thank you-" (Raphael stabs two Kraang-droids who where about to approach Mikey from behind)

Michealangelo: (turning around) "And thank you."

Raphael: (yelling and knocking Mikey on the head) "How many times have told you: no to celebrating until the fight is over?!"

Michealangelo: (also yelling) "How many times have I told you I assumed it was over?" (Mikey pokes Raph and Raph bends Mikey's finger backwards, causing him to scream in pain)  

Donatello: "Children! Children! We have to go!"

Leonardo: "Uhm, have you forgotten a little something called "completing the mission"?"

Donatello: "But April's in danger!"

Raphael: "If we leave now, the Kraang will poison everyone in New York, which last time I checked includes April!"

Leonardo: "Think Donnie. How can we take this place out?"

Donatello: "Well...uh...the chemical is highly explosive."

Michelangelo: "How do you know that?"

Donatello: "Partly because it has a hydro-crabon on it's outer ring and partly because of that sign." (a sign that practically says, "Don't shoot any lasers at the chemical tanks because it will explode.")

Donatello: Come on April! Come on April!

April: (On the phone) Hey Donnie!

Donatello: April! You're OK! Did you guys hear that?! My sweet princess is alive! Did I mute that? (the others facepalm)

April: Let's agree that you did.

Donatello: You got it!

Leonardo: Donnie, can you make this thing go faster?!

Donatello: Of course I can! (presses the engine button, which causes them to fall off and go off in another direction)

Michelangelo: Wow, that is fast!

Donatello: Pedal faster! (the others start pedaling faster)

Michelangelo: Feel the burn! (they pedal and pant a lot faster and harder, but the sea monster is gaining) Go go go!

Donatello: (he looks in the behind them and screams and the sea monster hits the sub in the head to make it stop, then the monster grabs onto the sides of the sub while the Turtles gasp) That's it! It's got us! We're die! (the sea monster starts making happy whale sounds as the Turtles stare in horror and disgust)

Raphael: Egggh!

Donatello: Oh, ew! Egggh!

Michelangelo: Hey, we're not that kind of sub! (Leo pulls down a lever and explosives get released and it makes the monster and have it's feeling hurt as the Turtle Sub swims away)  

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April: So, what brings you to New York?

Karai: I'm with my dad. He's here trying to close an "Old deal."

April: Oh! What does he do?

Karai: He's in kitchen utensils. Knives, mostly.

Gallery
See: Karai's Vendetta / Gallery