New Girl in Town

"New Girl in Town" is the fourteenth episode of the 2012 TV series. It aired on February 1st, 2013.

Synopsis
Snakeweed returns and begins abducting people. Tired of Raphael's constant criticism while trying to stop Snakeweed, Leonardo lets Raphael try his hand at leadership. While away from the group, Leonardo meets a female Foot Ninja named Karai who tries to lure him to the dark side.

Major Characters

 * Karai
 * Snakeweed
 * Leonardo
 * Donatello
 * Raphael
 * Michelangelo

Minor Characters

 * Splinter
 * April O'Neil

Cast

 * Sean Astin as Raphael
 * Jason Biggs as Leonardo
 * Greg Cipes as Michelangelo
 * Rob Paulsen as Donatello
 * Hoon Lee as Splinter
 * Mae Whitman as April O'Neil
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Shredder
 * Kelly Hu as Karai
 * Danny Jacobs as Snakeweed
 * Brian Bloom as Captain Ryan
 * Anna Graves as Celestial

Plot
The episode starts off with the brothers chasing down Snakeweed, who is currently running amok in the city. He soon grabs an unsuspecting Pizza delivery man, and then runs into an alley way with him. Leo tells his brothers that they should attack him from above and tie him up with some nearby clotheslines, but Raphael suggests that attacking him head on will prove to be more successful and paramount. This results in him instigating an arguement between the two - and Snakeweed being able to escape. Then, Leo, very tired of Raph's constant, impudent attitude, reluctantly decides to let his brother try his own hand at leadership for a little while....While moaning, groaning and sulking on another rooftop, a greatly dissapointed Leonardo is pursued by several Foot Ninja for a very short distance and then he encounters them. Leo manages to defeat every single one of them in only a matter or seconds, but then a female warrior wearing a mask concealing the bottom half of her face (a Foot Ninja, seemingly) leaps downward, sarcastically complimenting Leo's skills. She then takes out a sword, which is totally coated in blinding powder and she flashes it directly into his face, which allows her to gain the upper hand with one simple kick. She then easily pins him to the ground, holding a sword to his head. She then reveals her name (which is Karai), spares Leonardo's life, and then runs away without revealing any other source of information....

Back in the lair, Donnie is trying as hard as he possibly can to pinpoint the location of Snakeweed's hideout (through the lengthy process of elimination), when Leo walks in. He asks Donnie what they're doing, but Raph refuses to keep his brother informed one bit. When the others are out and about investigating, Leo watches an episode of Space Heroes when Splinter walks in on him. He tells Leo that he shouldn't just allow Raph to be the leader all of the sudden - and to go find his brothers.

While back in the city again, Leo encounters Karai - this time in a back alley - and the two then begin fighting, both worthy opponents for eachother. They engage in a seemingly playful conversation about The Shredder needing to find a good hobby and the appeal of New York City, until Karai ends up holding a sword to Leo's throat on an escape latter. She tells him that she thinks that he's quite tired of being the good guy so frequently. He then breaks free from her grasp and holds one of his own swords on her. However, Karai is then quick to turn the tide of battle yet again, and afterward, she tells him that she wants him to meet her on top of a high-rise (The Byerly Building, which is located nearby) at Midnight sharp so that 'she can show him something' apparently.

Not sure what to do, Leo goes to April's apartment for some advice on the situation. At first, April is all for his interest in her, but then slaps him when she's told that Karai is in The Foot Clan. She tries to convince him not to see her, but Leo decides to stubbornly go anyway.

While all of that's going on, Karai quickly returns to The Foot Headquarters and meets up with The Shredder in his exclusive throne room. He tells her that he is more than aware of the fact that she purposely let Leonardo live for some bizzare reason. Karai tries to lie about it, but he then quickly steps down and holds a blade on her. Shredder warns Karai to dispatch Leonardo the next time that she comes across him, or else..."Understood??", he asks. Karai claims that she understands all too well, subsequently addressing The Shredder as her 'father'.

Meanwhile, Raph and the others follow the path in the sewers to where Snakeweed's lair supposedly is. They discover that he has set up an illimitable number of plant-like tubes throughout the entire area. And it turns out that he's been using the people that he's been kidnapping as a form of Fertilizer by preserving them within some type of fluid!!! They manage to set a few of the people free by cutting them loose, but then Snakeweed attacks them from out of nowhere. However, Raph begins to show several signs of ineptitude when the one and only thing that he can say is "Go for the head" and he then begins panicking alot when Mikey is soon knocked unconscious by the pugnacious mutant but Donnie is then forced to act as the intellect for a moment and tells him that the best option at this point is to make a hasty retreat. Thus, they grab Mikey and quickly leave. However, a tangled-up Snakeweed, without the three Turtles even noticing, attaches some type of 'pods' onto their backs before they are able to do so. After bringing a wounded Mikey back to the lair, Raph admits to Master Splinter that he does not like the burden of being the leader at all, and he now realizes and perceives what Leo has to deal with all the time....Splinter then advises Raph to go find him, but Raph hasn't the slightest clue of where Leo is. Donnie then tells him that Leo is heading over to the Byerly Building (he found this out with a text that he had just received from April).

Back in the city, Leo meets up with Karai on the top of the building and finds out exactly why she asked him to come there (or, at least, apparently) - She wants him to steal an extremely valuable katana (belonging to one of the most opulent and finest swordsmen in the history of Japan) from a building down below for himself, telling him that he should stop being so responsible all the time and that he, being a skilled adversary and all, might indeed deserve the priceless weapon....However, he bluntly refuses - and so Karai tells him that whether or not he'll go, she is taking it. Leo says that he won't let her, which upsets her quite a bit. Leo then tells her that he truly believes she has somewhat of a good side to her. Karai, after successfully fooling with Leonardo's mind, then grabs him in a blink of an eye and flips him over completely, just when Raph arrives there, finds the two, and demands an explanation of some sort, but before Leo can actually explain, Snakeweed appears there as well (having managed to follow Raph with the pod that he attached to him earlier)....The two Turtle brothers are instantaneously attacked and pinned down, and Leo then asks Karai for help as an act of desperation. Karai then then leaves abruptly, but not before throwing a knife of some sort right near Leo's head, which Leo promptly uses to fight Snakeweed off with. Raph and Leo then finally defeat Snakeweed by finding several bottles of Antifreeze on one of the streets and getting him utterly trapped in it. Snakeweed is then frozen solid and smashed to countless pieces, but after Leo and Raph make amends and leave, the mutant's heart, which is still completely intact, begins to beat once again.

Back in the Lair, the brothers are able to wake up Mikey with the unmistakable scent of Pizza. Raph and Leo soon step away from the others so that Raph can inquire who 'the girl that tried to kill him' is, while Mikey is left with the difficult mystery of if sewage is actually in the sewers or not...Leo thinks that Karai had really helped him, however, and it is soon revealed that he kept the knife that she mysteriously threw at his head, presumably as a memento of her....

Gallery
See: New Girl in Town/Gallery

Trivia

 * According to Kenny Byerly, the original episode production order was "New Girl in Town", "I, Monster (2012 TV series episode)", "The Alien Agenda"; US Nick chose to air them out of order and placed "I, Monster" before "New Girl in Town".
 * An early summary for this episode from Wikipedia, posted on December 28, 2012. It was incorrectly listed as the description for "I, Monster".
 * This episode was originally going to air on Saturday morning on February 2, but was moved to Friday night on February 1.
 * This episode primarily focuses on the introduction of Karai - but, in this incarnation, she seems to be quite a bit more "playful" than her character is in the 2003 TV Series, for instance.
 * The high-rise where Karai arranges to meet with Leo is called the Byerly Building, named after show writer Kenny Byerly.
 * The sword Karai wants to steal is said to have belonged to Miyamoto Musashi, a real Japanese swordsman and rōnin. He became a legendary figure for his excellent swordsmanship and remains very popular to this day. He is the founder of the Niten-ryū style of swordsmanship, which Leonardo specializes in, as well as the inspiration for the character Miyamoto Usagi.

Quotes
"NO! Not the pizza guy! Take Donnie!"

- Michelangeo

"Snakeweed's getting away!"

- Donatello

"I can't believe he's gone!"

- Michelangelo

"It's okay, Mikey. Leo, well, he just needs some space... You meant the pizza guy, didn't you?"

- Donatello

"Yeah..."

- Michelangelo

"Then work faster!!"

- Raphael

"Do you really think yelling is going to help?"

- Donatello

"No. I think hitting is going to help!"

- Raphael

"I´ll work faster."

- Donatello

"That's the spirit!"

- Raphael

"I'm...sorry."

- Raphael

"What was that? I didn't hear you."

- Leonardo

"I said I'm SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

- Raphael

"April texted me. APRIL TEXTED ME?! OH THIS IS THE BEST DAY!! ... I mean, it's had it's ups and downs..."

- Donatello

"So what's with the girl who tried to kill you?"

- Raphael

"She didn't try to kill me, she saved me."

- Leonardo

"She threw a knife at your head."

- Raphael

"She threw a knife near my head."

- Leonardo

"She's in the Foot Clan."

- Raphael

"Nobody's perfect."

- Leonardo

"(smells pizza, gains consciousness) Mmmmmmmm........ Pepperoni."

- Michelangelo

"Works every time."

- Leonardo

"And the award for the worst leader goes to-"

- Raphael

"How am I the worst leader?"

- Leonardo

"If we did this my way, Snakeweed would be toast by now."

- Raphael

"Man, that sounds like nasty toast."

- Michaelangelo

"This way would have worked if you haven't wasted time second guessing my orders!"

- Leonardo

"Well, don't make bad orders and I won't second guess them!"

- Raphael

"You know what, Raph. If you think you can lead the team better, why don't you lead?!"

- Leonardo

"First good idea you've had all day!"

- Raphael

"We'll compromise. I'll lead."

- Michelangelo

"Raph thinks he can lead the team better than me, so I let him."

- Leonardo

"That is not your decision to make."

- Splinter

"Why not Sensai? I've had to make every other decision and I'm tired of it! Those guys have no idea what kind of pressure I'm under and all they do is complain. Is it too much to ask for a simple "Thank you?""

- Leonardo

"(Bangs his staff in scolding disappointment ) Of course it is! Leadership is not about being appreciated, it is about responsibility. It doesn't matter that the burden is heavy, It matters that you carry it. Now go find your brothers!"

- Splinter