01PLOT

The episode begins with Shredder expressing his disappointment with Chris Bradford and Xever Montes (primarily Bradford) due to their failure of their mission to locate Splinter and eliminate the Turtles once and for all. Bradford then laments that his foes are unusual, man-sized terrapins that have been taught ninjutsu. Chris believes that there is more than enough room for some redemption and begs Shredder to give him one more chance and says that he will not fail him once more, as he _desperately_ does not want to disgrace his own master at all or to be disgraced by him either. Shredder is prompted to put Xever in charge this time around due to his punctilious attention to detail and Bradford is forced to reluctantly accept this Xever reveals that he has already taken the precaution of putting the word out on the streets to keep a very sharp eye out for the Turtles (hinting towards his connection with the Purple Dragons) Xever then ensures that, when he finds the creatures, he will peel all of them out of their shells and drop them at Shredder's feet.

Meanwhile, April and the Turtles are out of the sewer on their way to a noodle restaurant that April recently found. When she asks them to speed it up a little, Donatello asks "Are you saying that Turtles are SLOW?" revealing that the Turtles not only kept up with her just fine but also already passed her by. Mikey is personally offended by the comment that April makes and taking her sentence as an utterly hurtful stereotype. April then says that the brothers will be fine in the shop because the chef who works there, Murakami, won't care or know what they even look like because he is blind. But when they soon arrive at Murakami's shop, they discover that the Purple Dragons, a group of random street thugs temporarily allied with/recently employed by Xever, are wrecking the restaurant and hurting the defenseless chef. The Turtles are forced to engage the Dragons in a fight so that April can get Murakami momentarily out of harm's way. Leonardo is about to deliver a final blow on Fong, but he chooses not to do so, as an act of mercy. Raph is then outraged at Leo for showing mercy to a nefarious criminal who was responsible for beating up a blind man. Murakami shows his debt of gratitude to the Turtles by making a dish called "Pizza gyōza" that is a dumpling with pizza ingredients in it. He then reveals that the reason the Dragons rough him up is because that they demand protection money from him, but he always refuses to pay.

Later, at the lair, Raph proceeds to intentionally tease Leo for his act of mercy. Splinter enters the room and corrects that, to show mercy is actually both a sign of true strength and compassion, not being "soft". The intelligent ninja master ultimately uses Raph as quite a good example by hitting Raph in the shoulder with his cane, leaving Raph flabbergasted and regretful. The group then vows to try and send the Purple Dragons a message, because the chances are that they will persist in their highly violent ways. However, this prompts Donnie to briefly wonder how they're gonna' track someone down without revealing themselves and being able to communicate with anyone that they don't truly know.

So, they order April to ask a local in Chinatown where the Dragons are. At first, the man hesitantly responds with a "No", to which April replies that she is an "undercover cop" and that she can protect him if the situation calls. She is then asked to show a badge, but she denies, stating that that would blow her "cover". So, the man shows her where the Dragons hang out sometimes - The Tattoo Company building, where, as expected, a Purple Dragon (Fong) exits out of. The Turtles manage to follow Fong to a place called the Fortune Cookie Factory, where the hoodlum tells Xever and Bradford where they saw the Turtles previously, just as, coincidentally, our heroes burst in through one of the windows and engage in a brief fight, which they soon are forced to back out of, due to the unforeseeable arrival of dozens and dozens of Foot Soldiers.

Afterward, Xever is seen punishing Fong for leading the Turtles straight to their hideout, and then asks where he and his gang managed to see them much earlier. Fong replies that it was a noodle shop owned by a man named Murakami. Xever then devises a plan. Bradford is then prompted to ask how they make sure that the Turtles don't manage to make a quick escape once again. Xever replies that the task ahead of them is very simple; he will give them a good reason to stay.

Later, April goes to the noodle shop yet again and notices that Murakami was taken and that a note was left behind, stating that Murakami is currently being held hostage at the very top of the Fortune Cookie Factory. Leo then decides that it's "No more Mr. Nice Turtle" time. Thus, they then find, trap, and lock Bradford inside of a handy garbage can and take him to the apparent location where both Xever and the Purple Dragons are holding Murakami hostage by hanging him off the building from a rope. The Turtles tell Xever to let the poor man go or else Bradford will get tossed off of the building. However, Xever unexpectedly says that he does not care about his friend's well-being, Xever then slowly begins cutting the rope holding Murukami up. Raph seems like he's about to toss Bradford but he cannot bring himself to do so. Then, after Xever successfully exploits the circumstances, a TON of Foot Soldiers show up out of nowhere (on command) and are ordered to attack. Our heroes are engaged in yet another battle this time, quite a lengthy fight and at the end, when the Turtles seem to be practically defeated by sheer numbers, Fong mercifully throws down one of Leonardo's Katana blades to the Turtle. Leo seizes the opportunity to slice a water tower, washing all of the bad guys off the building, just in time to rescue Murakami, and they soon return with him to the restaurant. The thankful chef then gives to them a huge supply of Pizza gyōza. He then reveals that he knows who saved him (turtles), due to his sense of smell because it is implied that Mikey's armpits smelled pretty bad. When Leo asks if they are not huge and scary to Murakami, but the latter assures them that they saved his life two times and he shouldn't complain about them. Michelangelo hugs him, making Murakami smile.

Back in the sewer, April takes a liking to the Pizza gyōza after Donnie offers some to her, while, Raph finally comes to and admits that Leo was right about the whole 'mercy thing' after all.

Meanwhile, in Shredder's lair, Shredder finds the two's failure completely unacceptable, and he now makes a personal vow to deal with the four Turtles by himself.

02OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

OBJECTS & VEHICLESBōKatanaNunchakuPizza gyōzaSai

LOCATIONSNew York CityChinatownFoot New York City HeadquartersFortune Cookie FactoryLairMurakami's Noodle Shop

SPECIESHumanMutant ratMutant turtle

03SCREEN GRABS

4 frames. Auto-matched screencaps via Fancaps.net.

04MEMORABLE QUOTES

Raphael: _(While lifting up Bradford in a trash can with Mikey)_ "Dang, this sucker's heavy!" _(He and Mikey drop the trash can)_ Michelangelo: "Sorry!" Raphael: "Don't apologize to him." Michelangelo: "I mean... Sorry I didn't drop you harder!" Raphael: "There you go!"

05TRIVIA

When Mikey says he wants a tattoo of himself so he can wear it as a mask, his face from the 1987 TV series appears.
The episode's title is a pun on the phrase, "Never say Never".
The sign above the door of Murakami's restaurant contains Japanese kanji, 村上, which translates to Murakami's name.
Amongst the weapons that appear in this episode is the jitte, a Japanese martial arts truncheon, as seen imbedded in the punching bag Leo's seen using after sparing Fong.
Donatello mentions in passing that he suspects he and his brothers were mutated from either diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) or common box turtles (Terrapene carolina), the two most common pet turtle species in North America. Although, it is commonly assumed they are of the widely available red-eared slider species throughout their various incarnations.
Splinter mentions about a Daimyo in 16th century.
2012 TV series Season 1 episodes
Leonardo-focused episodes
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