Monkey Brains

"Monkey Brains" is the seventh episode of the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series). It originally aired on November 3, 2012.

Major Characters
Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and April O'Neil

Secondary Characters
...

Plot Synopsis
The episode begins with Donnie and Mikey training. When Mikey uses back-flips to defend against Donnie's "seoi nage" attack, Donnie criticizes him for using the wrong defense. Donnie asks Splinter what he would do if he was attacked with "seoi nage", but Splinter says he doesn't know and tells Donnie he must learn to fight without thinking.

Later, Leo, Raph and Mikey find Donnie making an elaborate flow chart plan to get April to hang out with him. He explains that in order to maximize his chances for success he has to prepare for every possible response. Suddenly April comes in and shows the Turtles a news report on her laptop. Dr. Tyler Rockwell, a renowned scientist, has been reported missing. April suspects the Kraang are behind it and wants to investigate. Donnie jumps at the chance to hang out with her and leaves his brothers behind. This is one of the situations Donnie planned for on his flow chart, much to Leo's surprise.

April and Donnie sneak into Dr. Rockwell's lab and find the place an empty wreck. While going through Rockwell's desk, they find a canister of mutagen hidden in a drawer. A man tries to sneak up on Donnie with a golf club, but April warns him and Donnie pins the man down. April turns on the lights, revealing that the man is Dr. Victor Falco, Rockwell's colleague from the news. Falco tells them that the Kraang bribed Rockwell to experiment with the mutagen and that he used it on a monkey he kept in a cage. April concludes that the monkey must have broken free and taken Rockwell.

Back outside, April wonders how she and Donnie will find Rockwell without any leads. Donnie shows her a flash drive he took from Rockwell's desk that might have useful information. Suddenly the mutant monkey ambushes them in an alley. Donnie fights it but is no match for its mindless attacks and is knocked out cold. Then the monkey advances on a scared and defenseless April. It grabs her by the shoulders and roars at her, but stops short of harming her. April sees that the monkey looks scared and tells it everything will be alright. The monkey releases her, backs away and takes to the roofs.

April brings a badly injured Donnie back to the lair and tells his brothers what happened. After Donnie tells them he'll be fine, they laugh at him for getting beat up by a monkey in front of his "girlfriend". After he's had some time to recover, Donnie broods over the fact that he was beaten by such a mindless beast. Splinter again tells him the importance of fighting without thinking and uses Mikey as an example.

Later, April is going through notes on Rockwell's flash drive when she discovers something important. She tells the Turtles that he was doing psychic research and was able to modify the mutagen to give someone psychic abilities. She concludes that the mutant monkey was psychic and that it must have been reacting to their emotions, since it was hostile only when Donnie was hostile. Leo says they should spread out to find the monkey before it can hurt anyone else, and Donnie provides the group with T-phones to stay in contact.

Back on the streets, April and the Turtles spread out. The locate the monkey, but it moves to fast for any of them to catch. They regroup and start arguing over where it went, but April finds the frightened monkey hiding inside a dumpster. Keeping calm, she reaches out to the monkey and it climbs out of the dumpster willingly, only to be tied up by the chain of Mikey's kusarigama. The Turtles celebrate the monkey's capture, but they still don't know where Dr. Rockwell is. Then April says that she thinks the monkey is Dr. Rockwell.

April and the Turtles take Rockwell back to his lab, where Falco sedates him. He says he can't turn him back to normal, but promises to look after him. When the group goes back to the sewer, Splinter asks April how she knew the monkey used to be human. She says she doesn't know how she knew, she just had a "feeling" about it. Splinter exits, intrigued by her answer. Donnie, meanwhile, has been going through Rockwell's notes on his computer. He tells the others that according to the notes, Rockwell only experimented with monkey DNA and never had a monkey in his lab. So if he never had a monkey, what broke out of the cage in the lab? They realize that is was Rockwell who broke out of the cage, meaning that Falco put him there.

Meanwhile, Falco has Rockwell strapped to a chair in the lab. He uses a needle to extract the psychic neuro-chemical from Rockwell's brain and injects it into himself, gaining psychic powers. The Turtles arrive just then and announce that they know what Falco did, but Falco can now read their minds. Raph attacks him first, but Falco sees all his attacks coming and dodges every blow before knocking him out. Leo tries next, but the same thing happens to him, and Mikey is the next to fall, leaving Donnie the last one standing. He realizes that in order to beat Falco, he must fight without thinking. Once he is able to turn off his thoughts, Donnie attacks Falco and wins. The other Turtles recover and take the mutagen, but Falco vanishes before they can ask him any questions. They decide to set Rockwell free, leaving the mutant monkey to fend for himself in the city.

In the lair, Splinter tells April she has a special sensitivity. He offers to train her to be a female ninja and she accepts. Afterward, Donnie asks April if she wants to hang out tonight. She says she can't because she's training with Splinter, but Donnie uses his flow chart to suggest that they train together some time. She agrees and Donnie celebrates while Raph rolls his eyes.

Quotes
Leonardo:  "I bet that wasn't on his flow chart." (Flips board over and examines flow chart)  "Woah it is. That is spooky..."

Dr. Falco: (While pinned to the ground by Donnie) "Ah! What are you?" Donatello: "Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you." Dr. Falco: "You already hurt me." Donatello: (While getting of, off him) "I mean any more..."

April: "Carefull Donnie, that's a dangerous mutant!" Donatello: "That makes two of us!"

Leonardo: (After Lying Donatello down) "Donnie, are you gonna be okay?" Donatello: (In pain) "Yeah, yeah I'll be fine." Leonardo: "In that case..." (Leo, Raph and Mikey start laughing at him)                                           Raphael:  (While laughing) "Y-Y-You got beat up by a monkey?! In front of your girlfriend?!" Donatello: "She's not my girlfriend! And that monkey was a vicious mutant!" Leonardo: (While still laughing) "Yeah, I'm sure he went bananas!" (laugh more) "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He went ape!" Raphael: (Makes 'cut if off' sign) "No more monkey puns." (Stop laughing because April's coming)               April: "Are you laughing at him because he's hurt?" Michelangelo: "No we're laughing at him, because he was hurt by a... monkey!" (Others start laughing again)

April: "It's more like he was reading our emotions. After all he was only hostile when Donnie was." Donatello: "Yeah, well next time I'll try to think happy thoughts when I'm beating a little sunshine into him."

Donatello: "Ha, see that? I got her number." Raphael: "Her number is on the fridge, you dork."

Leonardo: "Alright Falco, we've had enough of your-"                                                                                               Raphael: "-Do not say monkeying around." Leonardo: "I wasn't going to!" Dr. Falco: "Yes, you were."

Michelangelo: "Wow, it's like he's psychic." Donatello: "He is psychic, shellbrain. That's what he just said"                                                                            Michelangelo: "Oh, yeah I kinda tuned out when he did his whole 'I'm evil, blah, blah, blah thing'."

Donatello: "It's over, Falco! We now it was you who mutated Rockwell." Dr. Falco: "I used him as a guinea pig." Michelangelo: "Well it didn't work, you turned him into a monkey."

Donatello: "How are we gonna defeat him if he can read our minds?" Michelangelo: "No prob, I'm good at this. I just have to fight without thinking. Wait a minute, how do I fight without thinking!? Oh no, now I'm thinking about not thinking!" (Gets knocked down by Falco)

More to be added...

Trivia

 * When April and Donatello are out investigating, she is wearing Greg Cipes's line of holster accessories (Wholesters). She is shown wearing them again in Panic in the Sewers.
 * The instrumental hip-hop music Michelangelo listens to on his headphones is the same piece he listens to with the T-Pod in I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman.
 * The injuries Donatello gets from his fight with Monkey Rockwell are the same as his injuries from fighting the Stockman Pod in I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman. He gets the same injuries again in The Gauntlet.
 * The Kraang photo on April's phone is the last time a Kraang-droid is shown in human disguise.

Monkey Brains