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This week's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began with an action-packed first act, as the Turtles launched a final rescue mission to save Karai... against the counsel of Master Splinter, which basically assured the team's failure, in my mind. However, this was actually one of the most successful Turtle missions we'd seen in quite some time. In fact, there was almost a Star Wars-ian quality to the operation, as Leondardo and Raphael infiltrated Shredder's lair to free the "princess," as it were, along with Donatello skidding in with the Shellraiser for a quick getaway.

But as Tiger Claw and the other henchmen tailed the group, I couldn't help but think that the mission would ultimately end in failure. Again, I was mistaken. Despite the Shellraiser's lack of manhole-cover projectiles, Donnie's impressive arsenal of distractions actually did the trick in ridding them of most of their foes. ("This baby's still got a few tricks left in her!") And finally, as Tiger Claw made one last jetpack-fueled attempt to recapture Karai, I thought, certainly, this would be the end of the line for Team Green. But no, they'd really done it: the Turtles had safely gotten Karai back to HQ

Of course, the highlight of this week's episode was Splinter and Karai's reunion. More specifically, I was enthralled by Splinter's story of how he and Shredder really came to know each other. Actually, in this instance, I almost would have rather seen an entire episode dedicated to this backstory, since it seemed to hint at a much larger rivalry between the Foot Clan and the Hamato Clan. Not surprisingly, Splinter's wife Tang Shen played a major part in this story, with Shredder failing to assassinate Splinter, and killing Shen instead. Suffice to say, of the flashbacks we've seen, this account was probably the most emotional in the entire show. I only wish we could have seen more.

Indeed, as the episode's title would suggest, this week's storyline was squarely focused on themes of vengeance and "just" retribution. This extended to Shredder's "final mutation," which was referenced several episodes ago. Previously I'd thought this might be Shredder's own mutation into "Super Shredder." Alas, Shredder's plan here was a bit, well... goofier, as he commissioned Baxter Stockman to create a vat of serpent-mutagen to transform the Turtles into mindless snakes.