Guys... Slash and Destroy...

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Okay, you've been warned...

I MISS SPIKE!!!!

Sorry to rant, but I mean, c'mon: the cutest freakin' character on the whole show and they have to go and mutate him!! In my opinion it was one of the best episodes- not just in this series, but of all the series in the franchise- that I've ever seen. I mean, what with the view from Raphael's room, a maskless Donnie and Mikey, the hilarious scene between Leonardo (aka "Mr. Turtle") and the little girl, and, of course, a gripping plot line, I'd give it a solid 9.9 on a 10 scale... BUT THE SADNESS!!!!!!!! 

That was Raph's little friend, his number one confidant: the one living being Raphael could go to when he couldn't go to anybody else. This got me to thinking... maybe this is why Spike-- *ahem*, 'scuse me, SLASH became so evil. Whenever Raphael would vent to Spike, the little turtle only heard the negative things about Raph's brothers, never the positive! So, undoubtedly, he would turn into an angry, vengeful turtle to defend his master. Just imagine if somebody only told YOU negative things about somebody: YOU'D probably hate them, too! You might not go on a wild rampage like Slash did, but I digress...

Either way, it seems that this situation has no culprit: Raph didn't mean to make Spike evil- he just thought he was venting to his friend; and Spike didn't mean to turn evil- he just thought that once he mutated, he was finally strong enough to avenge his master. Regardless, this episode was FANTASTIC, and I certainly hope that Donnie comes up with a retromutagen to save Spike... once his sprained arm heals, of course! And the ending just made you feel so warm and fuzzy inside! Splinter's little bit at the end really tied up the episode nicely. I feel like this episode also taught Raphael a lot about controlling his anger: maybe he'll consider what could've happened if he didn't say only negative things about his brothers to Spike; and examine what might've been if he didn't overreact to Don's little hiccup with the experiment at the beginning of the episode and take the canister that mutated Spike.

Still, I can't help at feeling we lost a character...even though we gained one. Oh, the irony! Here's to our cute, little buddy- the fifth turtle... Spike.