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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Recap – Season 3, Episode 11: The Pig And The Rhino

By Nick Tylwalk

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Hey there! Seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had a new episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to discuss, and that’s because it has — five weeks, to be exact. But let’s not dwell on the sad times. We’re gong full speed ahead after seeing the introduction of old favorites Bebop and Rocksteady, and you just know they’re going to be in the spotlight this time out since the title of this episode is “The Pig and the Rhino.”

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How will the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fare against these new mutants while also striving to track down Karai? Let’s find out!

Turtle-Powered Recap: We pick up right where we left off last time, if you can remember back that far. Zeck and Steranko are extremely unhappy about being mutated, especially Zeck, who notes that girls don’t like pigs. They try to take their anger out on Shredder, who defeats them easily and informs them that they will either serve him or fall by his hand. Specifically, he wants them to track down Karai again, or be introduced to new forms of pain. They choose the former option.

Even in Kraang-occupied New York, the Turtles can still watch Crognard. Leonardo cuts this episode short to call a meeting, where they discuss Karai’s last word to him, which was “comet.” They figure it could be a hint as to where she’s hiding out, and Donatello finds three possible locations that make sense. Leo sends Donatello and April to check out a dry cleaning business, Raphael and Casey to investigate a movie theater and allows Michelangelo to tag along with him (with some urging from Mikey) to head for Coney Island and its roller coaster. Donnie gives each team one dose of retro-mutagen to try restoring Karai to normal, but warns that it will take him weeks to cook up more.

(Sidebar: where is Splinter during all this planning? Or are they doing it without his knowledge?)

Meanwhile, Zeck and Sternako have agreed to put revenge on the Turtles over their assigned task. Zeck’s pig nose helps him sniff out Donnie outside the cleaners, and while Zeck’s invisibility tech has been repaired by Baxter Stockman, April is able to land a shot on him because he won’t stop talking. Even so, Zeck is able to glue April to a wall and KO Donnie with his hip lasers, relaying the other two locations to Steranko.

Speak of the rhino … he confronts Raph and Casey at the movie theater and easily overpowers them. At Coney Island, Mikey is in a bit of denial about the state of the abandoned amusement park, bugging Leo to let him do some rides and games. They spot Karai, who retreats into the Spooky House, giving both Turtles a few scares. Leo thinks he has a shot at Karai with the retro-mutagen only to be fooled by the Hall of Mirrors, and the chase heads back outside into the park, where Karai attacks Mikey. She’s able to be calmed, but only for a moment before Bebop and Rocksteady roll up. They offer to set April and Casey free if the Turtles surrender.

Mikey tries stalling for time while Leo attempts to sneak over to the van to free the others. As only he can, Mikey suggests Zeck and Steranko need mutant names, but all he can think of for suggestions are the names of various games and food booths he sees nearby. He finally settles on Bebop and Rocksteady, which appear on the side of the van in which the mutants arrive. Steranko likes his name, but Zeck hates his, and he threatens Mikey with a dose of retro-mutagen.

It takes a second, but Rocksteady realizes that the retro-mutagen could turn them back into humans, and they argue over who gets to try it out first. That gives Karai a chance to attack them, spilling the retro-mutagen while Leo finally helps the others to escape. As Karai takes flight again, Donnie, Casey and April chase after her as the other three Turtles face off with Rocksteady on the roller coaster. What follows is a pretty awesome set piece, during which Rocksteady grabs Mikey. He demands the final dose of retro-mutagen in exchange for not squeezing off Mikey’s head, and while Leo gives his word that they will make the trade, Raph does not.

Over in the Spooky House, Bebop’s invisibility tech is giving the others fits until a ninja smoke bomb finally reveals him. As their battle spills outside, Leo is able to smash into Rocksteady with a moving coaster train, hitting him hard enough that he flies over and lands on top of his unsuspecting partner. With the fighting over, Leo sprays the last of the retro-mutagen on Karai, and … nothing happens. Donnie cautions that Karai is special, and that there was no guarantee it would work on her. Leo wants Karai to return with them anyway, but she refuses, saying her mind is slipping and it’ll be too dangerous. Why give them a clue to her location, then? Karai says that she wanted to say goodbye to all of them, and she heads out into the bay. As Bill Simmons might say, I think it just got a bit dusty in here. April notes that the mutants are gone, but Raph says it’s okay, because next time they tangle, he’ll make sure they aren’t able to walk away.

Except it’s not okay, because we see Karai hunting for food in the city, where she’s captured in a large metal cage. Bebop and Rocksteady bring her before Shredder, who vows that he’ll cure her and they’ll get their revenge together.

Favorite Moment: When the mutants arrive at Coney Island, Bebop calls out, “Turtles! Come out and play!” Not only was that perfectly in character, it was a terrific reference to The Warriors, a cult classic movie that also uses Coney Island as an important location.

Final Thought: It was great seeing Bebop and Rocksteady in the spotlight since introducing them into the series was made out to be a big deal, and the writers did a nice job incorporating them into the Karai subplot. I’d like to see the focus shift just a little bit now, and it looks like the Turtles are going to get serious about freeing New York from the Kraang in an hour-long episode next week, which should be terrific.

Next: Previously, on TMNT ... our recap of Serpent Hunt

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