Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-31255465-20170923034221/@comment-33165688-20171012071243

TMNTInsighter wrote: This was definitely something similar to the kind of stories that Eastman and Laird would've written back in their days at Mirage. That being said, whether it took place in an alternate universe or not, I don't really care. It was a very good episode bordering on great. It stayed true to the theme(s) of the franchise--at least since it first hit the TV airwaves all those years ago, as the search to find each other (no matter how they've changed or what they've been reduced to) was quite poetic and well done. I also thought Leo being the villain of these episodes was very interesting as well as Raph's reaction in the face of it. Leo's turn was very reminiscent of the Shredder as he had been without family for a long time and it got to him. And Raph, who at the beginning of this series, couldn't stand Leo so much is unwilling to shoot Leo in order to save himself. I myself am leaning on the side of it being an official episode. Not only did Ciro want it that way to put an official stamp on the series himself, but I've also seen no in-episode evidence that this is not official. Plus there's also the fact that if you count this episode unofficial, you have to count ALL the Tales unofficial. And I have trouble believing that the Kavaxas/Epilogue arc (most of all), WWC arc, LR&C episode, and the crossover arc are unofficial. Either way, I'm content with it and am looking forward to the next series. If you like it, that's cool.

But I do need to point out that it had a lot of in-episode flaws, dropped plot threads and continuity errors (which some fans have been bending the show into pretzels to excuse away), and being comparable to a Mirage story does not make it any more compatible a story for THIS show. It's not the kind of story that this show was ever about telling, in that it invalidates everything the characters ever did.

Honestly, Ciro's decision/intent seemed very petty and uncaring of the fans/mythos for me. So it is just fine to me that Nickelodeon has declared it non-canon and not the "real" ending (as per a writer for the show, who cited Kavaxas as the real ending). If you enjoy it, that's awesome, but I think that the people who actually run the franchise need to be listened to as well.

(As much as I loved it, LR&C also had huge continuity issues, in all honesty)