As the Turtles and Splinter continue their assault on the Shredder's stronghold, they deal with three mutated clones in a Foot genetics lab. Afterwards, when they near their destination, they encounter the powerful Foot Mystics.
First appearance of the Foot Mystics
This episode provides examples of:
- Battle Strip: Hun grabs Master Splinter, but the Sensei slips out of his robe and kicks the monolithic thug senseless. Then puts his robe back on.
- Classical Elements Ensemble: The Foot Mystics control (and are made up of) Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Metal, which is a take on the traditional Chinese version of the classical elements, which is Earth, Water, Fire, Wood, and Metal, though wood is sometimes aligned with wind, anyways.
- Close-Call Haircut: A variation of this occurs with Michelangelo's bandanna
- Death Course: The turtles and Splinter find themselves in a seemingly empty hallway, but Splinter declares after sniffing for a moment that there are traps and they must be careful. He and Donnie avoid activating any as they cross, but Raph arrogantly declares there are no traps and rushes through the hall, setting off every trap in the process.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: How Splinter defeats the Foot Mystics.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Splinter gets the idea to use the Sword of Tengu against the Foot Mystics from what Donatello says as they desperately try to hold off their magical enemies.Donnie: There must be some way to fight fire with fire!
Splinter: Or magic with magic! - Game-Breaking Injury: After single handedly taking down the Foot Mystics with the Sword of Tengu, Splinter's hands are left burned by the sword's magic.
- Heroic Second Wind: The Turtles are initially losing to the Foot Elite and Hun captures Splinter, until Leo trips over Don's duffel bag, and is cornered by his opponent, where he overcomes his fear and fights back. This, in turn, inspires the others too.Leo: You may destroy me, but I will not! Live! In fear!
Raph: Me neither!
Splinter: In the words of the ancient master, "It ain’t over till it's over"! - He's Back!: Leo overcomes his fear when he meets the Foot Elite again, and proceeds to win the fight against them.
- Magic Must Defeat Magic: The Turtles and Splinter are hopelessly outmatched against the Foot Mystics until Splinter takes the Sword of Tengu and uses its magic to defeat their magical foes with the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors tactic.Splinter: I believe that conquering our mystic foes requires a mystic weapon.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The four-armed Shredder clone.
- Not Quite Dead: The Foot Mystics, though this isn't revealed until season 4.
- Shout-Out:
- Mikey does a Tarzan yell while swinging over the gaping hole in the floor.
- Splinter does a shout out to Yogi Berra after turning the tables on Hun:Splinter: In the words of the ancient master, "It ain't over till it's over."
- The Dog Bites Back: At the end of the episode, Stockman emerges from the ground having turned himself into a giant cyborg with intent on killing the turtles. However, he also informs Shredder his intent on taking him out too to get back at all the pain he had inflicted on him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Splinter delivers this to Raphael about triggering the Death Course due to his rash actions, leaving Michelangelo and Leonardo to battle through the now-activated traps.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Just as the Turtles and Shredder begin to fight at the end of the episode, Baxter Stockman appears to destroy them all.
