Truth be told, I’m kind of glad that Michael Bay’s horrific TMNT movie did so well, because that means Nickelodeon will continue their superior animated series. And thank goodness for that because the show hasn’t been this great since it began. And “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is usually an excellent show. But their season two finale was top notch. It was exciting, emotional, and absolutely surprising. If you’re still wounded by Michael Bay’s god awful treatment of this property, then go check out the Nickelodeon revival from the beginning. This is the show fans deserve. In either case, “The Invasion” is where it all comes full circle. Lives are put on the line and there’s a very excellent series of nods to the original film.
In the finale, a confrontation with the Krang prompts April to save friend Irma, and force her to bring Irma down to the sewers to hide out with the turtles. Much to their horror, Irma is really a Krang in a robotic suit pretending to be Irma, and now the Krang begin an all out invasion, teaming up with Shredder and his army. Meanwhile, the Krang Prime has come from Dimension X to wreak havoc on the world, destroying New York, and turning helpless citizens in to mutants of their very own. The Krang show zero mercy in putting the foursome at odds, and you can sense the battle for survival heightening more and more as the episode progressed. While the episode itself is excellent, the centerpiece of hour long episode is leader Leonardo going full ninja warrior on Shredder and his team. For years I was a big Raphael geek, but lately I’ve gone over to Leonardo. While the Ninja Turtles are in fact ninjas, Leonardo is a warrior, and one capable of great things.
Reminiscent of the roof top ambush in the 1990 movie with Raphael, the group are scattered and looking for their own escape from the Krang invasion, but Leonardo is split apart and has to go it alone. Shredder and his group catch up to Leonardo, and as a little source of amusement, Shredder drops his entire army on to the turtle. Not surprisingly, despite the bitter cold, Leonardo impressively destroys Shredder’s entire robot army single handedly. Though absolutely exhausted, Leonardo—in a fit of rage–also manages to take down his best warriors without fail. This is the episode where Leonardo is truly able to shine, and I suspect next year when he finally comes out of consciousness, he’ll have a hard time dealing with wounds and may even sound differently<strong>*</strong>. “The Invasion” is filled with all kinds of twists and pretty fantastic battles. Leatherhead gets in on the combat, Splinter finally shows how much of a deadly foe he is, and Shredder gets to display how utterly vicious he is with his enemies.
I also liked Mikey bringing Ice Cream Kitty with him as they fled, and Donatello stepping up as a leader. Out of the remaining trio, who knew Donnie had the chops to take over for Leo? I really cared more about the war between the turtles and Shredder’s forces, but that doesn’t detract from the awesome unveiling of the Turtles Mech Robot, which appears to make the Krang’s massive mutagen spewing robot’s invasion even more difficult than necessary. Season two puts the turtles at a crossroads once again with the group disbanded, many allies fallen, and the symbioses of Shredder and the Krang which will surely not end well for anyone. I suspect the season premiere will take from the 1990 movie where the turtles regrouped and built their confidence again in April’s old house, but that’s merely a theory. “The Invasion” is an hour long action packed finale that cements this iteration of the turtles as the quintessential reboot of the Heroes in a Half shell. I eagerly await the premiere for season three.
* Cast member Jason Biggs has left the series, and Seth Green is replacing him as the voice of Leonardo