Mutant Gangland

Mutant Gangland
Season 4, Episode 18

Airdate	September 4, 2016
Writter	Todd Casey
Director	Sebastian Montes
Prev. and Next
Prev. The Insecta Trifecta	Next Bat in the Belfry

Mutant Gangland is the 18th episode of Season 4 and the 96th episode overall.

Official Description

Don Vizioso's gang tracks the Turtles with a slew of Anti-Mutant weapons!

Plot

The Fulci Twins of Don Vizioso's gang are trying to escape the Mighty Mutanimals, but are soon surrounded, allowing Dr. Rockwell to analyze their minds and discover a secret plan targeting mutants like themselves. However, Vizioso's muscle, the Hammer, arrives with a nerve gas that incapacitates the Mutanimals long enough for the Hammer and the Fulci Twims to escape. Leatherhead realizes they need to warn the Turtles about this.

In the lair, Raphael and Leonardo are sparing before Raph decides to ditch the weapons and move on to hand-to-hand combat. Splinter intervenes after some time to confront Raph, only for Raph to chastises Splinter for always standing up for Leo. When Raph gets dissed on one time too many regarding his behavior as of late, especially when Donnie unnecessarily mocks him, he once again decides he's had it with his brothers and quits if they don't want to take things as seriously as he does, storming out of the lair in seething rage. Splinter stands up for Raph by reprimanding Donnie for making matters worse, before explaining how one day, he won't be there to guide them, and they have to learn on their own. Shortly after, the Mutanimals arrive to reveal the situation regarding Don Vizioso and his Mafia's attempts to wipe out mutants in NYC. When the Turtles inquire as to where Pigeon Pete is now that Mondo Gecko is part of the group, Slash and Leatherhead refuse to say much about it. Leo instructed Donnie to go find Raph, Donnie agrees and says that he owes Raph an apology at the same time.

Back at Vizioso's restaurant, the Don makes plans to have at least one mutant captured before wiping out the rest of them, mostly for dissective purposes at the hands of Dr. Feral to see how mutants work.

Mondo Gecko and Donnie go searching for Raph, though Mondo's curiosity with trying to turn on the Party Wagon's radio results in him discharging a bomb that wrecks a hot dog cart, much to Donnie's annoyance.

As for Raph, he's busy blowing off steam on a rooftop, talking about how he's sick of his brothers making him the bad guy and he's better off living by his own rules and not having to go soft on them when he spots the Don's Mafiosi robbing a bank. When he gets a call from Leo, he hangs up, still upset over what happened in the lair. He's able to easily overpower the Mafiosi, including their Thompson sub-machine guns designed for hunting mutants, before being found by Donnie and Mondo. However, as it is clear Raph is acting much differently from the last several times he quit the team after saying that he's through with them for good, before Donnie can ponder it over much more, it's revealed that the bank robbery was a trap. Raph spots several more Mafiosi on a rooftop when he sees a glint from one of their sniper rifles' scopes, before one of them fires a missile at the Party Wagon, overturning it and setting it on fire. Realizing he's been had, Raph finds himself the target of three more missiles, only for them to be taken down by Donnie, before another catches Raph by surprise while he's distracted. More Mafiosi move in with Thompsons, but Raph drops a smoke bomb to disorient them so he can fight back, but soon takes the fight to the rooftops, where he is soon outnumbered, smacked by the rifle butt of one Mafiosi's Thompson, and left to be stomped on by the rest. Mondo's attempts to help leave him dazed on their getaway van, while Donnie is ambushed by another Mafiosi sniper and knocked out. The last thing he sees is Raph still being stomped on by the Don's men.

When they finally stop beating up Raph, they leave him for dead while they take Donnie and Mondo and make their escape. Raph, realizing this is all his fault because he once again let his anger get the best of him, knows he has to make this right.

Meanwhile, at Vizioso's restaurant, Leo, Mikey, Rockwell, Slash, and Leatherhead arrive to confront the Don, offering a truce if he's willing to take his Mafiosi and leave NYC peacefully, but the Don makes it very clear both his intentions to wipe NYC clean of mutants like them and that he believes that the mutants don't belong in the city. Vizioso soon gets a call regarding the capture of Donnie and Mondo, and leaves the mutants with the next move. When the Hammer enrages Leatherhead, Vizioso flips over his table to use as protection as the Hammer and Fulci Twins open fire, before revealing his seat to be a hover chair, allowing Vizioso to escape with the Hammer taking point, and the Fulci Twins covering their rear.

With Vizioso having escaped, Slash reveals the Don's got another hideout in an old hotel elsewhere in the city, before Raph arrives and reveals the extent of his injuries, and reveals it's his fault Donnie and Mondo were captured.

At the hotel, Vizioso is impatient waiting for Dr. Feral to show up for the dissection, and has the Fulci Twins do it instead, much to Donnie and Mondo's fear, even when Donnie offers to explain it himself so as to spare being vivisected.

Outside, the Mutanimals ambush the Mafiosi guards, but the noise soon gets the attention of Vizioso and the Fulci Twins. Luckily, Vizioso has a secret weapon: The Hammer, armed with a mechanized power suit to deal with the Mutanimals personally. However, the Mutanimals are merely the decoy to allow the Turtles to infiltrate the hotel and save Donnie and Mondo. Vizioso thinks he's got one over the Turtles by revealing the Hammer is taking down their friends, but when they retort that with the Hammer busy with the Mutanimals, he can't protect the Don, infuriated, Vizioso has the Fulci Twins deal with the Turtles instead. However, they are able to free Donnie and Mondo, and while Raph goes to help the Mutanimals, the other Turtles and Mondo deal with the Fulci Twins.

Raph is able to keep the Hammer busy long enough for the Mutanimals to launch a combined attack to catch the Hammer by surprise, before they are then able to knock him over the edge onto the street below, disabling his suit and dazing him.

Meanwhile, the Fulci Twins are bested, leaving the Don to face Raph's brothers and Mondo. As he backs away nervously, warning them not to come any closer, Donnie manages to get behind Vizioso and, deploying the blade in the tip of his bo staff, skewers Vizioso from behind, also damaging his hover chair so that is rockets out of the room, bounces around the hallway, then bursts through a wall, sending Vizioso flying into the distance.

Back at the lair, as the Mutanimals are allowed a chance to relax and enjoy some quality time with the Turtles. Raph apologizes to Leo for getting worked up during sparring and Donnie apologizes to Raph for pushing his buttons. Splinter arrives to reiterate his earlier advice about enjoying things in the here and now since they won't be there forever, before having the moment ruined as Mikey arrives with pizza. As he offers one loaded with marshmallows to Leatherhead, Leatherhead leaps for it with a shout of "BOOYAKASHA" as Mondo makes a move as well, ending with both getting a bite on the pizza together.

Debuts

The Hammer

Splinter's Wisdom

"It goes to show that you can never let anger separate you, for our time in this world is limited, and how terrible it would be to have unresolved anger for one another. Life is short and precious."

Transcript

Mutant Gangland/Transcript

Trivia

In this episode, the Mutanimals replace Pigeon Pete with Mondo Gecko.
The unseen character Doctor Feral is a reference to Dr. Victor Oban Feral, a character from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness. In that setting, he is a scientist who captures and vivisects (dissects alive) mutant specimens to further his studies.
The Hammer is modelled after action movie actor Sylvester Stallone.
This is the only time where Raph calls Splinter for his constant favoritism over Leo.
This is first time when Splinter stands up for Raph after Donnie needlessly mocks him.
Donnie points out that this is the 27th time Raph quit the team, as it shows that he previously quit 26 times.

Errors

When Leo unsheathed one of his Katanas when confronting Vizioso and the Fulci twins in the Hignight Hotel, both of his blades are both seen in their holsters, despite Leo having one blade drawn out.
Slash is seen wearing Donatello's and Michelangelo's masks on his right arm.