Monday, June 30, 2014

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Vengeance is Mine


Despite Splinter's (Hoon Lee) objections, Leonardo (Jason Biggs) leads the team into the Shredder's (Kevin Michael Richardson) lair to break Karai (Kelly Hu) out of the Foot Clan's dungeon. Although Michelangelo (Greg Cipes) is injured, the plan is a success. Reuniting father and daughter, Splinter attempts to curb Karai's need for revenge while still being truthful and sharing his history with Shredder and the events which lead to the death of Karai's mother.

Setting out on her own to exact vengeance for her mother's death and the years of lies fed to her by the Shredder, Karai is captured and held as bait for Splinter and the Turtles at Baxter Stockman's laboratory. Shredder's plan to mutate the Turtles into mindless killing machines under his control backfires as Karai is mutated into a mutant snake making Karai the main casualty in her vengeance (just as Splinter warned earlier in the episode).

Karai joining the Turtles doesn't last that long (less than half an episode) but it does allow for a fresh perspective as we see how a Foot-trained ninja views he unorthodox training regiment of the Turtles. It also gives us a fun scene of the young woman teasing Leonardo before knocking him out to stop the ninja from following her. Karai mutating closer to her human form in the final scene suggests her mutation may be different from all others we've seen so far, but it also means it will likely take some time (if ever) before she takes her place in the sewers with her true family.

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