Welcome back to another episode of TMNT. The shit is hitting the perpetual fan when it comes to the Eye of Sarnath. We still don’t know all the power it holds when assembled, but it’s gotta be serious AF since the dead alien said so.
So let’s not waste any more time, on to the next episode…
S.2,E.5: “Curse of the Evil Eye”. Original Air Date: 10/29/1988
Plot:
Donatello builds another new device to help them track down the third and final crystal piece that makes up the Eye of Sarnath, but despite this hot new tech, Shredder and Baxter again beat them to it and now has all the fragments. They got it out of the river which is great because we get Shredder dressed as Paddington Bear. He puts them together and then attaches the completed Eye of Sarnath to his helmet so he can increase his brain power…and utilize the powers of the alien device through mind control, obvi.
Meanwhile, Baxter Stockman is hungry AF after a job well done and picks up some Chinese. I don’t blame him. I’ve been dying for good Chinese food since moving out of NYC. I have places around here that are OK, but it just doesn’t compare. Although, when I visited my Mom over the weekend, we went to a place by her and it was pretty good actually. Don’t take good Chinese food for granted, folks.
The Turtles are still hunting for the Eye and spot Baxter leaving the Chinese place, but he sees them and uses his special eyeglasses to expose them out of their disguises. The Turtles still track the signal back to Shredder’s hideout, but he uses the power of the Eye to bring the red dragon on the side of Baxter’s Chinese food box to life. Leonardo and Michelangelo jump on the dragon to try to stop it from causing anymore of the unneccessry deaths we’ve become accustomed to just as April, Verne and Blodgett (the news van driver) are out looking for a story.
Blodgett is terrified and drives off while April and Verne were trying to get a closer look. Donatello and Raphael battle with Shredder and during the melee, Donatello knocks off Shredder’s helmet causing Shredder’s mind control over the Eye to disappear. Blodgett ends up picking up Shredder’s lost helmet after driving the van into the river and getting fired for being a moron.
Shredder is flipping out over losing the helmet, but Baxter is hot on the trail because he picked up Donatello’s new tracking device and is getting the signal. Blodgett, meanwhile, is realizing the mind control of the helmet and creates a huge comic book collection. Baxter is quick to discover him and steals the helmet with relative ease because Blodgett is completely inept.
Baxter’s not exactly being humble and uses the power of the Eye to build himself a Taj Mahal to live in right next to the fucking East River. Real conspicuous, asshole. The Turtles are obviously wondering where this fucking Taj Mahal came from and end up in a new fight against some kind of glue monster that Baxter thinks up.
Shredder does the hot run-in and is fucking pissedddddddddd that Baxter is using the helmet for himself and didn’t just give unlimited power over to him. Shredder breaks through the glue man and steals his helmet back before trapping the Turtles in a shrinking bubble and taking off on a flying carpet to destroy the Interstate Bridge.
April and Splinter hit the room after receiving an SOS on the Turtle Com and free the Turtles. Blodgett tells the Turtles that the Eye has no effect on gold and April calls her friend who’s conveniently the head of a museum and gets him to lend the Turtles gold shields so they can fight Shredder. It’s good to have friends in the right places.
Shredder is sure he’s got this in the bag, but he’s also holding the Sarnath-tracker which was built to destroy the Eye once it comes in contact. Shredder throws the helmet and device in the river and they explode. Thus ends the saga of the Eye of Sarnath.
Final Thoughts:
This arc kind of goes out with a whimper. I think they could have done a lot more with the effects of Shredder having control of the Eye for some time and the tension it would cause between him and Krang as well as what it means for the Turtles, NYC and the world!
The finish felt like a cop-out. The Turtles didn’t really defeat Shredder. He just carried around the tracking device for whatever reason and didn’t realize that this asshole, Donatello, rigged it to blow the thing up.
Besides that, we get some good tension between Baxter and Shredder with Baxter feeling he’s intellectually superior and thereby truly the one deserving of the power. But it’s weird because Shredder’s not exactly a dumb jock. He’s like part Mr. Science too and built Krang’s body with his bare hands. Maybe Baxter is just THAT smart.
I really love the visual of Shredder in his rain gear. It is stupendous.
Obviously, this isn’t the end of Shredder, but I’d assume he’s going to have to humble himself in front of Krang now. That should be interesting.
All in all, still enjoying the show, but yeah, a little disappointed with how this tale ended.
Favorite Quote:
While Baxter has the Turtles at his mercy, he brags about how he was able to defeat them and Shredder was not…until Shredder hits the room and says,
“I’ll bear that in mind Baxter, when I’ve delivered your eulogy, you traitorous vermin!”
I love when the heels use that kind of disparaging language.
Thanks for reading and we’ll see you again for tomorrow’s episode!
❤ Joe
Car JoeMeZ 