| “Donnie Goes Deep” | |||||||
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| Tale of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode | |||||||
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| Season Code: | 001 | ||||||
| Episode: | 10 | ||||||
| Original airdate | August 9, 2024 (Paramount+) | ||||||
| Written by | Matthew Bass | ||||||
| Producers: | Louis J. Cuck | ||||||
| Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg James Weaver Josh Fagen | |||||||
| Alan Wan Christopher Yost | |||||||
| Supervising Director | Colin Heck | ||||||
| Storyboard Artist: | Phil Allora Lyndsay Simpson Tim Rongtian Yan | ||||||
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"Donnie Goes Deep" is the tenth episode of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It aired on August 9th, 2024.
Synopsis[]
Donnie and Wingnut go to restore power to the Lair but get trapped by the East River Three! The water is rising and they're not done... there's a monster down there with them!
Appearing in Donnie Goes Deep[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
- April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri)
- Anenemies
- Bad Bernie (Michael Badalucco)
- East River Three
- Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu)
- Michelangelo (Shamon Brown, Jr.)
- Raphael (Brady Noon)
- Ray Fillet
- Scumbug
- Splinter (Fred Tatasciore)
- Superfly (flashback only)
Species[]
- Alligator
- Chicken (on television screen)
- Human
- Mutant bat
- Mutant cockroach
- Mutant crocodile
- Mutant eel
- Mutant goldfish
- Mutant housefly (flashback only)
- Mutant rat
- Mutant sea anemone
- Mutant seahorse
- Mutant turtle
- Rat
Objects and vehicles[]
- Assimilator
- Banana
- Bō
- Fishing boat
- Jersey Bight
Locations[]
- New York City
- Bad Bernie's Billiards (debut)
- Sewers of New York City
- Turtle Lair
- Unnamed seafood restaurant (debut)
- East River
- East River Pier (debut)
Episode[]
Voice-over introduction[]
Leonardo: Previously on the "Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"-- April's the best, out there in the storm, heroically doing weather news or something. The sewers are flooding, and her first thought is, "I have to get to Leo and, uh, my dad", who got attacked by the leader of the East River Three. These guys got mutated by Superfly's machine and have some mysterious plan to get back what's theirs. Super cryptic, right? April, with some help from Dad, fought off Goldfin and is now out there looking for me. And Dad still sounds like Batman.
Plot[]
Several weeks ago... A fishing trawler, part of the city's salvage efforts, begins pulling objects out of the East River. Under a nearby pier, a fisherman snoozes in a lawn chair while his portable television broadcasts the news. The newscaster speaks about the salvage efforts after Superfly's rampage and that upcoming rough weather may complicate things. The fisherman's line is pulled under the water, but he doesn't notice. Goldfin rises from the water and spits out the fishing line. Both Mustang Sally and Lee the Eel come up behind him. They walk onto the shore and the fisherman awakes, sees them, and starts running. Goldfin takes a seat in the lawn chair while Lee says she can't believe they kicked them out of their homes. Their friends and family called them freaks and monsters. Sally asks if Lee saw the shade his wife threw at him. Both complain about their predicament until a TV commercial from Bob's Gently Plucked Chicken Company interrupts them. The commercial makes Lee believe that humans are accepting and open-minded and maybe they'll be okay. Sally says that even though their friends and family did them dirty, they'll be okay, which is what matters. Goldfin agrees, saying that the pearl can hide them, protect them, and as long as they have that, they'll still have a home. At that moment, a trawler pulls a gigantic pearl out of the water, and the trio of mutants stare in shocked dismay.
April is still attempting to film Splinter as he tells the tale of the big storm, but with only 10% remaining power, she tries to get him to speed things up, since she needs it to be social media length. Splinter tries to take a drink from his cup, discovers it’s empty, and goes back to his story. He says if he recalls correctly, Donatello had gone to plug things in somewhere. He skips to trying to tell Leonardo’s story, but Donnie interrupts to ask if he’s seriously going to skip the part where he was almost eaten by a monster. Splinter says fine and explains that Donnie and Wingnut had gone deep into the sewers to do some stuff.
Cut to Donatello and Wingnut traveling through a tunnel full of wires and cables. Donnie explains that it’s a fiber optic connection and the storm is messing with it. Wingnut asks if he ever feels like he’s being followed as she nervously looks around. Donnie tells her she’s just being paranoid and asks if she’s been doomscrolling again. She says no, and then changes to answer to maybe. A noise makes her jump, but Donnie says it’s probably the construction that Raph was talking about. Wingnut starts to follow, but a spider makes her jump back and she asks how long this will take. Donnie assures her that they’ll be in and out, that he set them up with a backup generator a few years back.
Donnie offers Wingnut a banana, but she says they trigger her gag reflex and explains it only started happening after the transformation. Her voice echoes through the small conduit they are about the crawl through. She snaps at Donnie when he suggests mashing up the bananas and then apologizes, asking if he couldn’t have put the generator somewhere more spacious. Donnie enters the conduit as he explains his reasoning and she says she can’t argue with his logic. As she climbs into the conduit, she chuckles that they are both left-brained. Donnie agrees, saying that his brothers are so right-brained with their emotions and instinct, but thankfully, he’s all logic. There isn’t a corner logic can’t get you out of.
Wingnut begins to have a panic attack and Donnie asks if she’s okay. She says she feels like she can’t breathe and needs to get out of there. Wingnut cowers with her wings enclosing her body and whimpers until Donnie assures her that there is nothing to be afraid of. He takes her hand and tells her they’ll do it together.
Back on the beach, Lee draws figures from their underwater home and says she feels alone because they don’t fit in here. Sally complains that he won’t raise any of his hundreds of babies under the pier. Next to them, a couch has been set in front of the television and the Anenemies are watching. Breaking news draws everyone’s attention as the coverage talks about the Jersey Bight, thought to be one of the biggest pearls in the world. The news coverage reports that it’s on loan to the Natural History Museum in New York City. Goldfin is incensed, shouting that they stole it. Lee tells him there’s nothing they can do about it. However, Goldfin says they are going to steal it back. He says if they return to their home with the pearl, they’ll be welcomed back as heroes. Lee and Sally argue that they no nothing about stealing, so Goldfin says they need to find themselves a criminal.
In the sewers, Donnie and Wingnut have located the generator. Donnie explains they just need to recalibrate the system and be finished in no time. Then they can go outside and jump in some puddles or maybe play Bocce with Leatherhead. Wingnut asks if he’s noticed anything different about Leatherhead. She gets the sense that Leatherhead has been really down, that’s she’s unsure of herself and not fitting in. Donnie says he gets it, she’s an Australian in New York, not to mention the whole mutant alligator thing.
Wingnut says she checked out Leatherhead’s search history and there were articles about de-mutation. She wonders if that’s possible, but then the pair are startled as something crashes through the wall of a cross tunnel and zips down another tunnel in a flash. Donnie and Wingnut catch a glimpse of Lee and Wingnut thinks it’s a monster. As Donnie is asking what kind of monster, the floor under them starts to crumble and then collapses, dropping the duo into the tunnel below.
Both cough as dust billows around them. Donnie looks up to see that the opening is blocked by crisscrossing pipes and it’s a long way up. As he snaps a light stick so they can see, he tells Wingnut that he thinks they fell into the lower levels of the sewers. It’s very dark despite the light stick and Wingnut thinks she sees something. She starts to panic and tries to fly, but her wings make more of the ceiling fall on them. Donnie tells her to chill, but she shouts that there’s a giant monster down there with them. She goes on and on about monsters until he tells her to get hold of yourself and that there are no monsters. Whatever they saw is gone.
Donnie says that between her sonar and his having lived in the tunnels his whole life, they’ll find a way out, no problem. However, Wingnut points out that the water is rising. Donnie kneels near the water’s edge and starts to say things could be worse, but Wingnut stops him because that’s a jinx. Suddenly, a huge alligator lunges at Donnie from the water, and he leaps back.
Elsewhere, at a seafood restaurant, Goldfin and Sally are questioning one of the staff, mistaking him for a pirate because of his uniform. They want to know how to break into a museum, but the kid tells them he’s not an actual pirate and he’s freaking out. They let him go and Sally starts mocking Goldfin’s idea of hiring a pirate because they are excellent criminals. Goldfin wants to fight him, but Lee calls their attention to a TV news broadcast. Onscreen, Bad Bernie and his attorney are on the Courthouse steps. Bernie is telling the news people that he’s an innocent man, not some crime boss running the rackets on the East side. The attorney shoves him, stating that the interview is over. As Bernie enters his vehicle, he gets in a plug for his club “Bad Bernie's Billiards”. Lee says she feels like Bernie knows a thing or two about stealing stuff. Goldfin agrees.
Underground, Donnie snaps another light stick and then realizes the alligator is not the same monster they saw earlier. Wingnut thinks it’s a de-mutated Leatherhead but doesn’t understand how she did it. Donnie says with TCRI tranquilizers. It’s what they used on SuperDuperFly, but he doesn’t know how she could have gotten one. Wingnut starts guessing that it could be the dark web or that Leatherhead broke into a TCRI lab. They both start doing Australian accent impressions and then the alligator lunges again, making it partway onto the pile of rock where they are sitting.
Wingnut yells for ‘Leatherhead’ to remember they’re her friends, while Donnie pounds the alligator’s head with his bō. The alligator jumps and snaps the staff in half before falling back into the water. Then the alligator comes up again and Donnie begins kicking its snout. Wingnut spots the banana tucked into Donnie’s belt, grabs it, and flings it into the alligator’s open mouth. The alligator starts gagging and drops back under water. Wingnut guesses she falls within the 18% who have the banana gag reflex. The alligator begins circling them slowly and Wingnut says she’ll have to reason with ‘Leatherhead’, because their friend has to be in there somewhere.
Donnie tells her she isn’t thinking logically. His brothers will eventually realize they’re missing and they’ll come. They just have to hold tight because they’ve got the high ground. The snarling alligator swims close, churning the water, and startles both. Wingnut panics again and flies up, but manages to get her arm caught in some water pipes. Stuck, she begins to struggle and scream, causing more rocks to fall. Donnie tells her to stop moving, that she’s making things worse. Her struggles cause the pipe to break and more water floods into the chamber.
They are forced to climb higher on the pile as the water rises. Wingnut is in panic mode and Donnie tells her to stop, that he’s trying to think but all her neuroses are stressing him out. Wingnut thinks Leatherhead was right because she just wants to be a tiny bat again and fly away. Donnie takes her hand and tries to make her feel better, but she’s sobbing. Then he brings up something that happened in “Akira” and she calms, stating that there wasn’t actually a monster in there with the character. Then Donnie mentions a Star Wars reference and she in turn references when Superfly had the Turtles and squeezed so hard their shells cracked. Donnie then points out that what those events all had in common was that everyone got out alive.
Just as Wingnut has calmed down, the alligator leaps and grabs hold of her, dragging her underwater. Donnie yanks a long pipe loose from the wall and dives under. The alligator is rolling with Wingnut and Donnie jabs its underbelly with the pipe. It releases Wingnut and she swims back to safety as Donnie continues to battle the alligator. The alligator manages to clamp onto Donnie, but he uses the pipe to pry its mouth open. He swims back until his shell hits a pillar of stone and then darts aside as the alligator attacks. Its head hits the pillar and the stones fall on top of the alligator.
Wingnut is relieved when he surfaces and then both duck as more rocks shake loose from the walls. This opens a wide crevice in the wall and Donnie says they have to go now. The pair enter the opening, which leads to another cavernous space with more surface area up from the water. Unfortunately, the staircase they need to reach is on the other side of a wide expanse of that water. Wingnut screams at a banging sound, and then the alligator swims out of a wide pipe. Screaming that the alligator followed them, Wingnut asks how that logically makes any sense.
Donnie says she’s right. He’s been trying to use logic this whole time, but his brothers were right. Logic won’t get them out of this corner. Leaping onto a boulder, he says he needs to do it on a reptilian level, on instinct. Right brain style. He’s sure that if Leatherhead’s in there, she won’t hurt him. He starts bringing up past discussions they’ve had and dips his hand into the water. Donnie keeps talking, as does Wingnut and the alligator swims closer. Then it comes up, mouth wide open, but then stops. They both think they’ve done it, but then the real Leatherhead appears from a side tunnel as asks what they’re doing. Donnie says that if she’s there then …. The alligator lunges.
Flashback to an alligator memory. A little boy is forced to release a trio of small alligator pets into the sewers. The memory makes the alligator sad and angry. It circles the boulder Donnie is standing on and then leaps, startling the Turtle into falling into the water. It chases him in the water, snapping at his feet. Wingnut shouts at Leatherhead to do something, but she explains that she has a torn-up hip. Donnie manages to make it through the bars of some scaffolding and then climbs as the alligator finds an opening as well. He manages to make it back to safe ground with Wingnut and Leatherhead. Donnie tells them the only way out is across the water. They just need a plan. Wingnut asks where Leatherhead has been. Leatherhead explains she was on walkabout when she ran into her own kind down there. She thought it was a sign, but then the alligator bit her. The whole group of them were unpleasant and she thinks she’s ready to accept being a mutant. Donnie says he needs to accept that he’s not like his brothers.
Leatherhead asks if he’s got any ideas, but it’s Wingnut who announces that she has one. She pulls off one of her arms and asks for a wrench, which Donnie takes from his fanny pack. Leatherhead comments on the fact he carries a wrench with him wherever he goes. Donnie and Wingnut work together to make adjustments to the arm. Donnie says they are going to shut the gator’s trap once and for all – by keeping it open.
Donnie enters the water and looks around. The alligator comes out of the shadows and attacks, but Donnie manages to leap onto its back. He tries to get the creature to open its mouth so he can stick the device inside, but it won’t. The alligator manages to knock him off its back and as it comes back around, Donnie dodges, but its tail sweeps the device from his hand. When Donnie swims to get it, the alligator catches him in its mouth, but not before he retrieves the device.
The alligator starts rolling with him and Donnie is struggling to hold his breath. He finally manages to stick the device into the alligator’s mouth, where it whirs to life and expands like a car jack, forcing the creature’s mouth open. Donnie escapes and announces his victory. Then Wingnut notes that Leatherhead mentioned a group of alligators. Leatherhead assures her that she took care of one of them. As Wingnut is asking how many there were, a third alligator leaps from the water behind Donnie. Wingnut dives and pushes Donnie out of the way, but the alligator follows them on shore. Before it can attack, Leatherhead smacks it with her tail and then flips it onto its back.
Leatherhead complains about her hip as the alligator’s eyes shut and it falls asleep. When Donnie expresses surprise, Leatherhead says just flip them over. It cuts off the blood supply to the noggin. Donnie fusses that they could’ve used that information earlier. The trio cross the water and climb the stairs. Leatherhead says that being a mutant has its perks. She mentions some things she likes, and then Wingnut does as well, including having friends. When they reach the top of the stairs, Leatherhead asks if they know there’s another mutant out there. It’s some kind of snake or eel creature. Donnie says that’s what trapped them down there and then Wingnut says she assumes it did that, indicating the tunnel in front of them is blocked by rubble.
At one of the three tunnels that are blocked, Donnie hears voices. When the pile of rocks starts to move, they think it might be the eel returning, so they hide. The rocks blocking the tunnel fall, but it turns out to be Raphael, Scumbug and Ray Fillet. Raph tells his brother that they are in trouble.
Cut to Bad Bernie, seated at his desk in his club, enjoying a platter of sushi. Goldfin stands in front of him. Bernie’s men snicker at the joke he makes at Goldfin’s expense, but the mutant merely tosses down a pamphlet from the Natural History Museum announcing the display of the world’s largest pearl. Goldfin tells Bad Bernie that they need his help.
See also[]
- Donnie Goes Deep/Animations
- Donnie Goes Deep/Gallery
- Donnie Goes Deep/Transcript
Quotes[]
Lee: I feel so alone. We just don't fit in here. |