Horns up!
Warning: Full spoilers from this episode follow.
You know a season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is drawing to a close when the brothers reach the last episode of their latest TV obsession. Indeed, this episode marked the penultimate installment before the two-part season finale, and, hilariously, the Crognard finale was pretty anticlimactic (anti-climate?), as it ended with Crognard’s unceremonious demise. Not only did this provide some humorous moments throughout the episode (“Really, though? There wasn’t like a movie or something after?”), it was also, in its own way, a sign of things to come.
While “Dinosaur Seen in Sewers!” started out like any other mutant-of-the-week episode, it soon became clear that there was more to it, as the mysterious “Dino-Man” turned out to be Zog of the Triceratons (voiced by Aliens’ Lance Henriksen). He was also given a similar origin to the one in the comics, with Raph pretending to be his superior officer “Zoraph” — because why wouldn’t you take advantage of having your very own dinosaur companion? (“We bonded over our mutual love of destruction!”)
“Well, this day is getting awesome!”
As with other new characters this season, I liked how we were thrown right in the middle of Zog’s story, without any context, leaving Raphael and the guys to figure out what was going on as they went. For example, the reveal that the Kraang were secretly plotting a new way to take over Earth wasn’t that surprising, but the fact that they had built a new base in the Statue of freakin’ Liberty was a fun twist and made a great new locale.
We also got a sense of just how powerful Triceratons were. (No doubt this will make things extra difficult for the Turtles in the upcoming finale.) Not only were the Turtles’ weapons completely ineffective against Zog, but the alien soldier even gave the Kraang a scare when he arrived at their base. And how rad was it to see him take out a whole squad of Kraang — and three Biotroids, gorging one in the butt cannons — all on his own? Suffice to say, Dr. Rockwell was right about Zog being the most powerful creature they’d ever faced.
That said, I kind of felt bad for Zog after he came to his senses and confronted Raphael on the rooftop. It was amusing at the time, but Zog was right to point out Raph’s deceit, well-meaning as it was. And even though we only got to know Zog for one episode, his (apparent) death was certainly felt at the end of this episode. It was also telling of the Triceratons’ vehement loyalty to their empire, which, again, will probably come back around in the finale. In any case, I’m excited to see how the Triceratons change TMNT’s villain dynamic yet again.
Though it started out typical, TMNT’s “Dinosaur Seen in Sewers!” quickly signaled the dawn of a new threat for the Turtles, as Zog the Triceraton made his debut. In addition to learning about Zog’s seemingly invulnerable alien race, we also found that they were enemies of the Kraang. Alas, our puny, “Kraang-infested planet” will likely get caught in the Triceratons’ crosshairs for the Season 3 finale.
