Spoilers below!

The plot in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles takes a huge step forward while keeping up the consistent stream of high quality laughs and action. 'TCRI' sheds more light on the Kraang and what their true objective is -- for the most part, that is. After a hilarious epiphany, Donny realize the Kraang are held up in the massive TCRI building. The Turtles gear up and head to the facility in an attempt to blow up the alien's portal to Dimension X. Chaos, hilarity and fun ensues.

Leatherhead fans will be happy to know he plays a key role in this episode and eventually steals the spotlight, too. The massive creature has yet another freak out session and Donny again falls victim to the infamous face grab... not once, but twice! This segment almost had me in tears.

As always, the humor's sharp and frequent. I know this is tough to believe, but Leo actually has a hysterical line! The blue-masked leader gave a stellar Kraang impression and totally nailed it. His teammates, however, were not amused. Poor Leo... he doesn't even get respect when he drops a legitimately good line. Mikey, on the other hand, is still pure comedic gold -- OLYMPICS! Even Splinter gets a laugh-inducing line thrown in there ("I like a good maze!").

Any TMNT fan out there is going to fall in love with the elevator sequence. Seeing them flip around was good fun and all, but when they go full ninja mode it's amazing. This time around the final encounter is with a new character name Traag, an enormous, lava-spitting rock creature from Dimension X. As usual, the "boss battle" sequence is a blast, especially when a certain Leathery ally shows up to the party and shows off some major strength.

While I love the latest Kraang development because it definitely hints at the Technodrome, it strongly contradicts what we've already seen. Every time the Turtles take down a Kraang, the alien jumps from the robotic body and runs away screaming. If our air is poisonous to them, shouldn't that mean they'd at least try to hold their breath as they flee? And doesn't that technically mean this show has killed tons of them, despite clearly trying to avoid killing? I know it's a small point, but it was something bouncing around in my head once we found out the Kraang can't breathe our air.

The conclusion has my curiosity and I have absolutely no idea what makes April so special to them. Could she be Neutrino royalty and they want to take her hostage? I have total confidence in the team behind this show and I'm pumped to see this plot dive deeper into Dimension X and how Shredder will tie into it. It truly is a great time to be a TMNT fan.

Gregg Katzman is a freelance writer for Comic Vine and IGN Entertainment. This is the part where he shamelessly plugs his Twitter page in hopes of getting a new follower or two.

eh, maybe it's like us, we need oxygen for the respiration process, but without all the other stuff in our atmosphere like nitrogen it would be weird to breath, maybe they want to make it more comfortable for them, and that includes some poison gas. they didn't say it would kill them that I remember.

anyway, great episode, hope it doesn't keep us in the dark about all the stuff it sets up with the end for too long.

Loved this ep! It was awesome seeing the new take on General Traag too! Can't wait for the next episode.

That Splinter line...

"My dad's a psychologist, he does experiments running rats through mazes. No offense."

"I like a good maze."

I love this show, its so funny, I was hanging out with my brother and my nephew who is 2, and we where making fun of all the kids shows that he was watching (they are bad man) we where talking about all the great stuff we had as children , I remember Ghost busters, x-men, spider man, and TMNT, and so just checking the On-Demand kids channel we saw there was a TMNT show, so we put it on to give him a taste of good cartoons (ya I know hes 2 and over his head, but lets be honest it was for us anyway) but I loved the show, Thought they did a great job, and I had hope for today's kids.

When is this show on? I've seen the odd episode on Saturday mornings, but not sure how you review it on Friday then?

Another great episode hopefully we get to see Leatherhead again and loved the twist at the end.

its an ok show. but still not the best turtle show. i want ralph to be badass. here is just a mix of the 80s turtles and the 2003 show. the tmnt movie ralph was kickass.

@Loki2u said:

When is this show on? I've seen the odd episode on Saturday mornings, but not sure how you review it on Friday then?

It was moved to Friday nights. Not sure why.

Good Episode

This show still never fails to deliver. I was wary like most about how it would be handled, but it's still one of the best representations of the turtles out side of the comics. And when they were revving up the portal, the whole time I was thinking "Ok, here comes one of the rock soilders..." and it was still exciting when it happened. I hope Nickelodeon gives this show a fair amount of seasons to tell it's stories unlike most the good shows that Cartoon Network is putting out these days.

@Beast_in_the_Shadows: It has already been renewed for a third season :)

@k4tzm4n Actually its still on season 1.

@BlueLantern1995 said:

@k4tzm4n Actually its still on season 1.

I said it was renewed for a third season. That means it's confirmed the show will get at least three seasons.

@k4tzm4n They also said Transformers Prime was renewed for 5. But yet after this season its done...

@BlueLantern1995: Well, TMNT is huge success for Nick and selling toys like crazy. I'm confident the show will make it that far.

@k4tzm4n Same thing happened for Transformers Prime but yet they wanted to cash in on the Bay movie...for all you know might happen to TMNT...lets hope I'm wrong.

@BlueLantern1995: The key difference there is the show (Prime) was made to capitalize of the film's popularity. TMNT, on the other hand, is standing on its own legs and still a huge hit. I can't comment on the quality of Prime, though, seeing as I don't watch it.

@BlueLantern1995: Prime was never going to be a 5 season thing. I mean the people working on it said it takes them about a year to do one episode so they have been working on Prime since late 2009 possibly early 2010. Continuing on, one of the writers in an interview said he only wanted Prime to last for three seasons since that's all they needed to tell their story for the show. Back on topic, this was a great episode, I'm happy to see the show is finally going somewhere in terms of the plot. The action was fantastic as well, really enjoyed the elevator scene.

@k4tzm4n: Renewed for a 3rd season already? Awesome! Just watched the episode and it was a great plot development one at that. This show has come so far in one season and I'm glad it's around for a while longer. Great review too Gregg!

Leo's and Splinter's lines were indeed hilarious! I was like, "Hey! These guys can be funny too".

Love the show. Still waiting on the Turtle Blimp and whatever Mikey decides to call it. That would've been more handy chasing a helicopter than a go-cart.

I also think that we're going to see a Technodrome as well. I think that it's coming through the portal. I also think that the Shredder and the Foot's gonna steal it.

Very funny episode!

THE OLYMPICS!

i missed an episode somewhere along the way. no idea who this leatherhead kat is. there is something special about april's dna as we saw in a previous episode when she sent her dna in for testing at a company that turned out to be a kraang front business. i always new there was something special about april, glad to see the writers see it too

Leatherhead! Nooooo!!!

@Perfect 10 said:

i missed an episode somewhere along the way. no idea who this leatherhead kat is. there is something special about april's dna as we saw in a previous episode when she sent her dna in for testing at a company that turned out to be a kraang front business. i always new there was something special about april, glad to see the writers see it too

How awesome would it be if she was Neutrino royalty and her "dad" was the Futigtoid?

Such a fun episode! :)

Leatherhead's appearance was a good one! Great episode and review!!

Great episode! The mystery is intricate and intense and the action is stellar and it's genuinely funny! I am loving this show!