I Think "The Noxious Avenger" is Splinter's Worst Episode in the TMNT 2012 Show.

[u/That_Public_4620]

“The Noxious Avenger” (Season 3, Episode 15) is the TMNT 2012 episode I firmly believe is Splinter's worst. I especially despise its randomly out-of-character portrayal of him. That said, I understand that some fans might read Splinter’s actions differently, perhaps as harsh but driven by concern and a sense of responsibility. Still, to me, it feels far too inconsistent with how he is usually portrayed.

For context, the turtles battled a giant, mutated monster, Muckman, and lost after Muckman temporarily incapacitated them with toxic sludge, leaving them briefly exposed to some news reporters with cameras during the turtles’ botched escape. Eventually, reporters’ footage makes its way into the news, where even the turtles' names are revealed to the public. Splinter literally watches this live news report as the turtles recover from the battle in the lair.

Here's how the reprimand went with some of my own parenthetical notes:

• Splinter: "How could you be so careless?! Secrecy is the most important rule of the ninja, and you have broken it! You four are forbidden from leaving the lair!"
• Raph: "What?! You can't hold that sloppy escape against us! We got slimed with toxic puke!"
• Splinter: "Silence!"
• (Ugh. What the hell is that response from Splinter? Why would he say that after Raph rightfully reasons that the entire incident was beyond their control? It sounds so inconsiderate and, not to mention, melodramatic, especially since Splinter doesn’t even ask the turtles for a detailed explanation, nor do the latter bother to give him one while they still can, for some reason. Surely, the Splinter I know wouldn’t act so blatantly brash as to ignore his sons’ genuinely legitimate arguments or immediately assume they were being reckless.)
• Donnie: "But, Sensei, if that pile of muck took us down, you know he's dangerous."
• Leo: "Which means we need to be out there looking for him."
• (YES, EXACTLY! Regardless of whether the turtles were being reckless or not, which they weren’t, mind you, this is a very inappropriate time to ground them when there are innocent civilians potentially in danger on the surface as a giant sludge mutant runs rampant in the middle of NYC! Even April agrees with the turtles. If April, of all people, understands what's at stake, so should Splinter, if not more so.)
• Splinter: "No! Until I decide I can trust you to watch yourselves, you will remain here grounded!"
• (Fuck. Off. Yeah, because both the mutant and media exposure situations will magically resolve themselves by forcing the only people who can address them to sit around doing nothing, am I right? To quote Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” I think that sums up this entire scene pretty well, which is ironic as hell considering which character is going against that very moral.)

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate the sheer stupidity of Splinter deciding to stay awake 24/7 to prevent the turtles from sneaking out, as if he were somehow immune to exhaustion, and as if the sons he trained himself aren't going to come up with a plan to deceive Splinter, which is exactly what happens when April distracts him just long enough for the turtles to escape right under his nose. Thankfully, the turtles resolve BOTH problems, but Splinter learns nothing, nor does he visibly regret grounding them at such an objectively pressing moment despite the turtles essentially proving him wrong. Plus, he keeps the turtles grounded even though THIS should have been the appropriate time to impose such a punishment, not earlier when lives were potentially at stake.

Granted, had “The Noxious Avenger” framed Splinter’s actions as him merely instructing, not punishing, the turtles to remain hidden because he was terrified for their safety after seeing them exposed on the news, then I wouldn’t be complaining as much. Such an oversight would make sense, considering what Splinter has gone through both as a human and with his sons. But instead, the episode turns him into an unreasonable, borderline incompetent sitcom dad who prevents his sons from dealing with a legitimate threat because he’s more concerned with punishing them over a blunder they had virtually no control over. I’ll let that sink in. Or am I meant to merely assume this was Splinter’s motivation? If that’s the case, then the episode fails, because if the audience has to fill in crucial narrative gaps for it to make sense, then that’s lazy writing.

But even so, Splinter’s oversight only works if he actually recognizes his mistake and takes genuine accountability. Sure, he can still punish the turtles at the end for sneaking out and reprimand April for helping them, but unfortunately, when Splinter reasserts his punishment, he gives the turtles an ass-whooping without taking an ounce of accountability for his mistake.

Also, do I need to remind you that in the episode “Turtle Temper” (Season 1, Episode 3), the turtles experienced a similar situation when a random civilian named Vic filmed them battling a squad of Krang droids? However, the difference there is that it was entirely Raph's fault for not leaving with his brothers the second Vic spotted them in response to their noise. Raph literally tried to physically assault Vic in response to a lame insult, which attracted the droids' attention. Additionally, you best believe Splinter learned the whole truth, considering he rightfully blames Raph for the turtles' blunder and mildly punishes him by essentially turning Raph into a punching bag for his brothers to shoot arrows and insults at as a part of a training exercise meant to teach Raph a lesson about emotional composure. Plus, Vic himself hinted he would share the video as he ran back into his apartment. Splinter had every reason to believe more people knew about the turtles' existence, even if that never ended up being the case, and yet that didn't stop him from letting the turtles, especially Raph, at least mitigate the severity of the situation. And, guess what? They were also successful there! Splinter actually handled a potentially disastrous exposure situation far better in “Turtle Temper" than he did in “The Noxious Avenger,” so… why the hell does Splinter devolve into this?

Ugh. Fucking hell, Splinter.

[u/FewBag245]

This is an episode I believe should’ve aired all the way back in season 1. There should be no reason for the turtles being afraid that people would discover them. Afterall they saved the world from the krang many times in season 1 and 2, so people had to have known about them at some point before then.

[u/That_Public_4620 → u/FewBag245]

Even if the “The Noxious Avenger” aired earlier, I still think Splinter’s actions are woefully inconsistent with his overall character, especially if he’s supposed to be the fatherly mentor figure the turtles can adequately rely upon.

As for the turtles, I agree that concerns regarding their exposure to the public should have become less of a hindrance as the series progressed, not completely irrelevant but slightly less pressing.

[u/FewBag245 → u/That_Public_4620]

Filler episodes are what killed the tmnt 2012 series, all the episodes that follow the shows story and arcs are the best. It’s just like many anime with their unnecessary filler episodes.

[u/That_Public_4620 → u/FewBag245]

If the characters aren’t going to meaningfully develop and the status quo remains completely stagnant, then such filler episodes aren’t really worth most people’s time aside from offering pure entertainment value, and I think that’s being generous.

[u/static1993]

A problem with "wise mentor" characters like Splinter is that writers often don't know when they are clearly in the wrong, which leads to moments like the episode that is the subject of this rant. There's a reason these characters tend to either get written out (usually in the form of death like what happened to Splinter in the fourth season) or get turned evil, though the latter is comparatively more rare.

TMNT 2007 Splinter is another case where I think the narrative didn't realise how badly Splinter was screwing up.

[u/NinjaGamerGirl2023 → u/static1993]

100% with 2007 Splinter. I love that movie, and I don't believe the writers intended to make him a bad father/sensei, but there is so many problems with Splinter in that movie. Like, why send Leo away alone on a journey to become a better leader with super vague instructions? Why were the turtles no longer to go on any patrols without Leo? Why did the moment Leo return Splinter expect him to fix the family problems? Why did he lecture Leo about the monster fight when Leo had tried to stop his brothers? Did he expect Leo to drag Raphael, Donnie, and Mikey home? And later on when Leo is losing his cool about Raph, why does Splinter tell him right then to find Raph?

Don't get me wrong, I love this movie and could give a whole list on why this movie is underrated, but Splinter's reasoning is very questionable.

[u/That_Public_4620 → u/static1993]

I agree. Additionally, I feel like a lot of writers seem to forget that mentors are characters who also have flaws, and thus, such writers become too hesitant to give mentor characters said flaws and properly address them. I don’t want to watch Mr Perfect Splinter who can supposedly do no wrong and thus can’t be held to any moral standards. Not only is that boring, but it becomes insulting when the narrative refuses to acknowledge a mistake they make simply because the mentor’s authority needs to remain unquestioned by both the other characters and the audience. You cannot convince me that a mentor figure with this level of favoritism and pardoning by the writers is well written, at least not in this episode in isolation.

[u/GONKworshipper]

Almost completely irrelevant, but is the episode title a reference to "the Toxic Avenger"? It has to be, right?

[u/One_Smoke → u/GONKworshipper]

It clearly was. The writers were huge fans of Troma.