Operation: Breakout Review (Nickelodeon)

Written by: Jase Ricci
Directed by: Michael Chang
Release Date: July, 27 2013

Spoilers!

This is the penultimate episode before the two-part season finale, and it's a really good . It continues a lot of plot threads and moves the story forward more than most episodes this season. The episode focuses on Donatello sneaking into a Kraang facility to break out Kirby O'Neil in order to impress April. It goes horribly wrong, but hey, it would be a really boring episode if things went smoothly.

A lot of people are really against Donatello having a crush on April. I'm not going to call it a romance, because that's not what it is. A romance would imply that something was being reciprocated, and that's not the case. And let's face it, it's a cartoon show, they're not going to have any kind of relationship where they need to go through the difficulties of her being a human and him being a Turtle and how that would even work. Not gonna happen.

/

"You named something without me?"

I think the crush itself is fine, and it actually gives Donatello something to do. In every incarnation of Donatello outside of the comics,  he does nothing but stay in the background, only coming out to fix some kind of machine. I like having his story a little more in the forefront of the series, it makes everything feel more balanced. Plus, giving Rob Paulsen more dialogue is always a good thing. He's a great voice actor and the nostalgia of having him do another Turtles voice is right up there. I'm also curious to see what this will do for conflict when Casey is introduced next season. Conflict is always a good thing, and this will probably a reoccurring problem.

Once Donatello has broken into the Kraang facility, he releases accidentally other

prisoners aside from Kirby O'Neil. One is a giant neut that Donatello names Neutralizer. Michelangelo's reaction to this is great. Throughout the season he has named all of the villains, and his offended reaction to Donatello is my favorite part of the episode.

There's a strangely violent moment in this episode that really stood out to me. The primary target audience for this show is obviously kids, so that leads to a lot of censoring and downplaying violence. Yes, this is an action show, but you're certainly not going to see things like blood. There's a quick shot here where Neutralizer eats one of the Kraang. Just kind of slurps him down. It's not graphic, but it doesn't change the fact that he ate and killed one of the Kranng. I'm surprised they got away with this.

Splinter is teaching April about invisibility

The animation in this episode is great. There's a lot of action going on and it feels smooth and frantic at the same time. The explosions are done really well, and there's a gross bit of animation where Neutralizer licks some glass and the residue saliva is seen. The action is really spectacular considering how many fights are in this episode. There was one pretty big animation flub that happens in the Turtles lair. Splinter is walking around April, and you can see right through him. It looks like the ghost of Splinter and it's very strange. Hard to believe nobody caught that before the episode aired.

Things end with the Kraang and Shredder discussing how they're plan is coming together. They wanted the Turtles to rescue Kirby O'Neil and bring him back to the Turtles lair. Is he a Kraang, some other kind of alien, does he have a magical crystal on his pencil, or is he just working for them? Don't know, but we'll find out in next weeks two-part finale.

3/5