Mrs. Cuddles

**"Mrs. Cuddles"** is the sixteenth episode (Episode 9B) of *Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*. It first aired on October 20th, 2018.

## Characters

* April O'Neil (Kat Graham)
* Donatello (Josh Brener)
* Leonardo (Ben Schwartz)
* Michelangelo (Brandon Mychal Smith)
* Mrs. Cuddles (Eliza Jane Schneider)
* Raphael (Omar Benson Miller)
* Splinter (Eric Bauza)

## Plot

The episode opens with the Turtles, Splinter, and April in the living room about to watch a TV cable program since April was hired to be an actress. As the Turtles are excited about this, Splinter is disappointed as the new program runs over his favorite show. Leo asks Raph to sit in front of the screen, and as the show starts, he is presented to Mrs. Cuddles, much to Raph's fearful disappointment and the others' amusement. April then asks Raph to head to the kitchen to get his mind off the scare.

In the kitchen, Raph puts together a sandwich, but is then pranked by his brothers and April who uses the actual Mrs. Cuddles puppet April borrowed. As Raph tries to hide the fact that he was scared, he notices the puppet has disappeared and took his sandwich. As Raph takes a bite of his sandwich, Mrs. Cuddles creepily taunts him with a pickle, much to the snapping turtle's horror. The living puppet tells Raph that his screams of terror only fuel her power to grow in size. The other Turtles and April hear him panic and check on Raph. However, they immediately deny the leader's accusations that Mrs. Cuddles is actually alive, especially after seeing Mrs. Cuddles not moving. After they leave, Raph notices that Mrs. Cuddles has disappeared and runs off to find the puppet.

Back out in the living room, Splinter is disappointed to see that Mrs. Cuddles has pretty much taken over most of the TV shows and commercials on all the channels. Raph then runs in and asks Splinter if he's seen the bunny puppet, but runs off again as he sees Mrs. Cuddles appear on the screen.

In the arcade, Raph runs to tell Mikey, Leo and April that the puppet has disappeared. Worried that she'll get fired, April goes to the kitchen to search for the puppet. However, Mrs. Cuddles finds her, and when she reveals that she is indeed alive, April starts screaming in fear.

In Donnie's lab, as the genius turtle contemplates what to work on today, and chooses the titanium bust of himself, Mrs. Cuddles appears. At first Donnie is only confused at Mrs Cuddles being extremely cute, but then Mrs. Cuddles takes Donnie's tech-bo, activates its chainsaw mod and cuts the head off of the titanium bust of the turtle genius. Donnie is shaken, starting to scream.

Raph hears Donnie's screams from his lab and goes to investigate. After noticing that his younger brother is missing, Mrs. Cuddles attacks him and tempts him to scream. During the fight, Raph stubs his toe on the head of the Donnie bust, but holds back his cries of pain. As Mrs. Cuddles pins him down with Donnie's tech-bo, Raph uses the bust head to knock out the puppet and lock her in a closet in the arcade. As his brothers see Raph barricade the locker, Leo and Mikey shrug off their older brother's fearful concern and leave to go skateboarding. Splinter then comes in, claiming that he left his napping robe in the locker, and after Raph tells him that he's protecting them from Mrs. Cuddles, Splinter offers to "stand guard" as Raph retrieves the weapons. But as soon as Raph leaves, Splinter pushes down the barricade to get his robe, releasing Mrs. Cuddles from inside the closet. Raph returns and is horrified to see that Mrs. Cuddles has escaped.

Leo and Mikey are then skateboarding inside the Lair, and Mrs. Cuddles finds them, causing the two brothers to scream. Mikey of course screams loud and long enough for the puppet to grow gigantic. She then captures Leo and Mikey, and takes them to Donnie and April, who are already tied up. The four teens try to figure out a plan, but realise they can't scream for help.

Raph then finds Mrs. Cuddles grown into a massive size, to the point where she towers over him. After realizing that everyone is gone and that Mrs. Cuddles has took them, Raph then claims that she's nothing but a bully, and he's not afraid of those. Raph then proceeds to fight the giant puppet, but Mrs. Cuddles uses the water from the pipes to hose him to be tangled in the basketball hoop.

Splinter, who was surprisingly oblivious and avoiding the whole situation, shows up and starts laughing at Raph. Mrs. Cuddles is enraged at Splinter's giggles and proceeds to spray him. The rat, however, dodges her, claims that no one messes with his family, and also interrupts his TV programs, and threatens that she's made an enemy with him. Splinter then fights Mrs. Cuddles, with the former overpowering her and using her to free Raph.

After knocking Mrs. Cuddles down, Raph gets a mouthful of cotton, and Splinter starts laughing at him. Mrs. Cuddles then starts to shrink, and Raph prompts his father to keep giggling until Mrs. Cuddles is rendered powerless. Raph then whacks the puppet with a skateboard. At Raph's mercy, Mrs. Cuddles pleads him to not lock her back in the trunk and send her back to the show. Raph however, decides to do just that and locks her away. Splinter and Raph then hear, Leo, Donnie, Mikey and April calling for help to untie them, and Splinter advises that they should go untie them... eventually.

## Trivia

* Raphael has a poster of Ghostbear in his room.
* April's new job in this episode is revealed to be acting on Mrs. Cuddles' television program.
* Prior to the episode's release, co-creator Andy Suriano posted a tweet, saying *"Subtle but big info dropped in today's TMNT eps "Mrs. Cuddles"... anyone catch?"*.
* Splinter refers to Raph by his name as he states that he enjoys laughing at his "fear-flops".
* Raph screams "It's alive!" when he first sees Mrs. Cuddles move, much like Dr. Frankenstein upon reanimating his monster in *Frankenstein*.
* This is the first episode to show Splinter fighting.