E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

"E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is the twentieth-first episode (Episode 12A) of the second season of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and is the sixty-seventh episode overall in the series. It first aired on August 7, 2020.

## Characters

* April O'Neil (Kat Graham)
* Baron Draxum (Roger Craig Smith)
* Donatello (Josh Brener)
* Foot Clan
	+ Foot Brute (Maurice LaMarche)
	+ Foot Lieutenant (Rob Paulsen)
	+ Foot Recruit (Zelda Williams)
	+ Shredder (Hoon Lee)
* Leonardo (Ben Schwartz)
* Michelangelo (Brandon Mychal Smith)
* Raphael (Omar Benson Miller)
* Splinter (Eric Bauza)
* Hamato Atsuko (Keiko Agena)
* Hamato Karai (Gwendoline Yeo)
* Hamato Sho (Matt Yang King)

## Plot

The first part of the Finale episode special starts with the Foot Shack, since the events after the disappearance of the city and the return of the Shredder, The Foot Recruit is telling Shredder that they can finally fulfill their mission. The Lieutenant tells her that he's not gonna respond unless they move the ring. Foot Recruit angrily says that they remove the collar and bring him to life.

Meanwhile, the Turtles, April, Draxum and Splinter return to their lair after the fight with the Shadow Fiend. With the people still inside in the mystical orb. Mikey asks Draxum to let the people out, but Splinter refuses them to open it because Shredder is out there and Leo agrees with his father, saying that he don't want them to get "shredded". Splinter regrets not listening to his Grandpa Sho's story about defeating the Shredder. There's only one place that the information can be found - his memories.

Draxum conjures a mystic ritual and tells the Turtles that they have to find the way to defeat Shredder in Splinter's memories. April asks him if it's safe, and Draxum informs her that it's... probably not. When Splinter asks if they will see his private memories, Draxum comments that it's not his problem as he bids them good luck and sends the turtles into Splinter's mind so they can travel his memories to learn how to defeat the Shredder.

They go to the last ever time Yoshi saw his Grandfather, revealing a bitter argument on a movie set in which Yoshi, now the famous actor Lou Jitsu, dismisses Sho, telling him that he's too famous to follow some ridiculous 'Hamato destiny'. Yoshi rudely slams the door in Sho's face, and Sho decides it's time to respect his grandson's wishes, leaving him on this sad note. However Yoshi opens the blinds of his trailer and watches his grandfather leave with tears in his eyes. The turtles follow Splinter's grandfather but then Yoshi's subconscious starts fighting them... like in that movie.

April is shocked to see the Turtles struggling, and sensing that Splinter's subconscious is rejecting them, Draxum moves them into another, older memory.

A younger, teenage Yoshi is arguing with his grandfather. Human Teenage Yoshi reveals his frustration to his grandfather towards his own clan, asking if he must waste his life to protect the world from the 'boogeyman' that is the Shredder, just like Sho and his mother, who's now deceased. He states his desire to carve his own destiny - becoming a famous movie-star. He insults and dismisses his grandfather before walking out on him. More dark visions of Lou appear and attack, and Leo, Donnie and Mikey try to slow them down while Raph goes after Sho again.

In the final memory, Raph learns that Yoshi's mother left her family when Yoshi is still a child to defend the world. His mother Atsuko promises him that one day he'll understand the sacrifice all Hamato must make and the words "anata wa hitori ja nai" were heard before she fades into cherry blossoms. They also learn that the Shredder was long ago banished into the Twilight Realm by a powerful weapon, and that same weapon can defeat him again. Splinter arrives in this memory beside Raph, finally remembering how he felt abandoned by his mother and begins openly weeping, while Raph attempts to comfort his father.

Draxum ends the ritual and Raphael reveals to the family that there is a weapon which can defeat the Shredder. Unfortunately, Raphael has no idea how to get the weapon. Fortunately, Draxum is more familiar with the Twilight Realm, and conjures a portal to the Twilight Realm where they rip the weapon out. But then it turns out it turns to an unknown woman wearing a Hamato clan robe, she angrily asks them what they have done before she faints.

From below the Foot Shack, blue flames alight and the Shredder finally comes back to life, laughing maniacally as the first part ends.

## Trivia

* Donatello mentions that Splinter's subconscious senses them and is fighting back, and then adds, "Like that movie." This could be a reference to the movie 'Inception', which the episode takes a number of cues from.
* April chooses to wipe Donnie's face when the Turtles are struggling with Splinter's memories. Later, she and Donnie hug tightly twice in celebration.
	+ The episode's title is a reference to the 2004 drama film *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*.
	+ This marks the first time in the series where the Shredder speaks.
	+ The animation used when April first emerges in Splinter's mind to rescue the Turtles is recycled from "Mystic Mayhem" when she jumps to attack Draxum in his laboratory.
	+ The Lou Jitsu production crew members depicted in the first memory when Sho talks to Lou Jitsu at his trailer are (from left to right) *Rise of the TMNT* director and story artist JJ Conway, *Rise of the TMNT* production coordinator Nancy Covarrubias Ramirez, *Rise of the TMNT* production assistant Kiara Franklin, and *Rise of the TMNT* production coordinator Cindy Y. Avila.
	+ The green action figure Yoshi plays with is a kappa (kanji: 河童, "river-child"), a type of yōkai in Japanese folklore, and his red action figure is reminiscent of a tokusatsu (kanji: 特撮, "special effects") superhero.
	+ Hoon Lee, who voices the Shredder, also voiced Splinter and his father in the 2012 TV series.
	+ The "soft c.p. sales" writing on the Foot Shack store front stands for "soft consumer products sales". The "hard pause" that is also depicted on the store front is a reference to the series' indefinite hiatus, referred to by the network as a "pause".
	+ Sho and Yoshi's apartment complex is next to a karaoke venue as shown by the neighboring building's signage, カラオケ (written in katakana).
	+ Splinter's manifested subconscious is called "Shadow Lou Jitsu" by *Rise of the TMNT* character designer Bryce Collins.
	+ Although in the final memory they each wear red and indigo outfits, Yoshi wears Western clothing while Atsuko and Sho wear traditional Japanese clothing.
	+ When Atsuko stands up, instead of being wrapped left side over right side, her kimono is wrapped right over left which is used exclusively for the deceased.
	+ The poster hung on the side of Yoshi's bedside bookcase is a poster for 1954 epic film *Godzilla*. The katakana on the poster is: ゴジラ, "Gojira".
	+ Sho and Yoshi are shown wearing shoes (Sho wearing zōri and Yoshi wearing sneakers) indoors in the second memory. This is unusual in Japan as shoes are customarily removed when in homes, Yoshi wearing shoes on his bed is also disapproved of in Japan.
	+ The legible Japanese text on the Hamato Clan scroll (界, "kai") translates to: "border; realm; bound; world; boundary".
	+ Shadow Lou Jitsu's sunglasses fall damaged from his face once he is struck by April's baseball bat, but in the following shot, his sunglasses are intact and worn by him again. This may possibly be a result of Shadow Lou Jitsu supernaturally regenerating his sunglasses instead of a continuity error.
	+ The lanterns hung on the building exteriors during the Shadow Lou Jitsu chase sequence are likely akachōchin, implying that it is a commercial area with many restaurants and/or izakaya.
	+ A figurine that resembles Doraemon from the 1969 manga *Doraemon* can be seen on the second shelf of Yoshi's bedside bookcase.

## Transcript

E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Transcript

## Gallery

E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Gallery