WILLIAM DIXON

According to Turtlepedia’s episode list, next week’s episode is going to involve Karai discovering the truth behind who her father really is. My question is where is that going to leave us? Adding Karai to the turtle team is going to expand an already bloated cast. Could we really manage to add Karai to the turtle team permanently?

No, at least not right away, I figure she’ll lose faith in the Shredder, but won’t be ready to side with Splinter yet. She has spent too much time hating the name Hamato Yoshi, and frankly, wouldn’t know how to mesh with the much more sentimental family Splinter has formed. Karai has trouble saying thank you, I don’t think she’ll be hugging everyone, unless she uses the opportunity to change radically. Who knows, she might have been holding back expressing emotions and feelings because Shredder is clearly not one to deal with anything like that.

I expect her to run off and disappear for a few episodes to reflect on everything that happened, but we should be in for a real treat. I don’t expect Karai’s character to turn on a dime, but I see this as a turning point for her, and we’ll get a radical change from her in future episodes.

What will be most exciting to see is how the individual turtles will react.

Should Karai join forces with the turtles we can definitely expect Leo to come face to face with his feelings for her once again. But now he’s going to be keeping in mind that’s Splinter’s daughter. It’ll be a great opportunity to define Leo some more, and I look forward to it. We should also expect a lot more shipping of the two from Nikelodeon, and their season one banter should make a return.

Raphael is definitely going to be apprehensive, and incredibly rude to her. For those reading the IDW comics, I expect to see a similar reaction Raph had to Alopex during the North Hampton arc. I would be interested in seeing a Karai and Raph sparring session; in fact I could see them doing that with each turtle. It would make for a great way to see how each character views each other.

Mikey hanging out with Karai could definitely make for an amazing episode that’s just for fun. I bet he could really help her come out of her shell, and get her to loosen up a bit.

As for Donnie, I don’t think the two really connect on any immediately apparent level. So I don’t how they would interact with each other, but I have faith it’ll be good.

April is most likely going to be siding with Raph in this case, and if they do work together, I think it’s going to be really funny. April is NOT going to like having Karai around at all, well, at least not at first.

During Karai’s Vendetta I felt that before the chase scene, they could actually get along quite well. And down the line far enough, who knows, maybe Karai will end up going to high school with April; unlikely but I think it’d be entertaining. Going to school would definitely make for more character growth and some fun along the way. That being said, April is really going to have to work through some distrust, all of them will, but I think April is going to be holding onto a grudge after being targeted by Karai.

Splinter is definitely going to be in for some rough times. Yes, I’m sure he’ll be over the moon about having his daughter back, but he’ll get to learn about the troubles she had living with the Shredder. While earlier I mentioned that Mikey could potentially serve to loosen her up a bit, my money’s on Splinter who will really turn her around.

It’s going to be a slow process, but I can see Karai opening up to Splinter and the rest of the turtle team. I didn’t mention Casey, but I don’t think he’s that big of a part of the core team at this point. In fact I’m not even sure they’ve officially met.

The Wrath of Tiger Claw is out next Sunday, and I’m positively stoked for my Turtle Time.