Chapter Text
In finishing TMNT 1987, I realised a few things, rewatched some episodes, realised a lot more things, and this is the product. As iztarshi mentioned, "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle" is another fabulous example of our Fearless Leader straight up scared, as is a personal favorite of mine, "Snakes Alive!“ The moral seems to be do not leave your Leonardo alone. Until I remembered in both "Take Me to Your Leader" and "Leonardo Versus Tempestra," he's on his own for a large chunk of the action and seems fine. That's odd. Let's check the timeline.
S3 E15 - Take Me to Your Leader
S4 E35 - Leonardo Versus Tempestra
S4 E41 - Unidentified Flying Leonardo
S5 E17 - Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle
S6 E13 - Snakes Alive!
Oh, snap. I know the numbers are different depending on where you look, but as far as I can tell, the order is always the same. That's unexpectedly consistent. Let's write that essay now, shall we?
In "Take Me to Your Leader," Leonardo leaves the team behind. He's having horrible nightmares about them all getting hurt because of his own failures. A combination of sleep deprivation, stress, and paranoia leaves him pretty out of sorts and clumsy, which only adds to his feelings of inadequacy, and he's caught in a feedback loop until he decides to leave the lair for good. Once he's out on his own, he's certainly dejected but truly seems to believe the team is better off without him. That is, he's not afraid for the guys or about being on his own. The reason he turns around is that the bridge he wants to take out of town collapses with the snow Shredder and Krang's latest scheme has generated, and some dude accidentally guilt trips into taking responsibility for stopping them. He returns to the team, they rally, make a plan, and save the day. Go Green Machine. When he saves Michelangelo and Raphael, he quips about knowing they'd get into trouble without him, which is not true but, okay, Leonardo, whatever you say. In the closing scene, he tells Master Splinter he learned that duty comes before his doubts. These are super important to remember as we move forward.
Again in "Leonardo Versus Tempestra," he leaves the team behind when he sneaks out to an arcade by himself. He's a little manic about beating Tempestra's Revenge, but he's not afraid. Yet. Even when Tempestra escapes the game, he's just confused. He doesn't get scared until he realises she's a threat. Cam Clarke uses this particular tone for Leonardo when he's scared, and it comes out pretty quickly in his fight with Tempestra once he realises, "Oh, I've screwed up. I'm about to die, the world is about to end, and I am alone." He frantically calls the others for help. Tempestra thwarts his efforts, and Leonardo watches as his teammates are trapped. At this point, you might expect to find him paralysed with fear, but he turns around to face her as cool as a cucumber. He calmly negotiates, taunts her, and makes jokes to the camera. You could argue that just talking to the other turtles was enough to settle him, but I'd think, given how poorly he perceives they handled themselves without him in TMtYL, he should be more freaked out now, not less. Now he's got to save them, himself, and the world! That's a lot for one turtle. But Leonardo holds Tempestra off single-handedly, makes a plan to save them all, and, with April's services as a taxi, jets off to take her down. Except for when April drives them off a cliff, his scared voice doesn't reappear. Pretty impressive for a turtle who, a handful of episodes later, will be shaking in his nonexistent boots in a cornfield.
So, clearly, something happens between LvT and UFL that exacerbates Leonardo's anxiety astronomically. What life-shattering, traumatising event occurs between these two episodes? "Splinter Vanishes." That's right, Leonardo and his team, his family, all still teenagers mind you, spend two weeks fending for themselves after their Sensei and guardian abandons them and tells them they must leave home and each other. It's significant that, once again, Leonardo leaves. He’s the one who convinces everyone to listen to Splinter's last instructions. It's not the first time he's left knowing it might be permanent, but this situation is very different from TMtYL. After being separated from his support system and thrust into adult life with no warning or help, Leonardo gets attacked by Leatherhead and sent plummeting to his death. Given the events of this episode, I'm pretty sure his cool-as-a-cucumber Hero Leader attitude is a facade specifically crafted to fill the other turtles with confidence. He is so cocky when he unexpectedly shows up alive to save the other turtles. But just like in LvT, his teammates are in serious trouble and can't help him, so not only does he feel responsible for bringing the villain(s) of the week to justice, but he probably feels like he needs to be brave for them. It's those lessons he learned in TMtYL over and over again.
Splinter returns, and the mean, green team is back together. But Leonardo continues to break my heart when he asks, sounding oh so nervous and small and young, "Are we together? Master?" Because Leonardo still trusts him so much. Is still willing to obey even when it actively hurts him, actively hurts his brothers, because Splinter will always be their Sensei, right? Even if he doesn't want them, even if he leaves, Leonardo will remain loyal to his Master's instructions.
I get Splinter’s intentions, I do, and this was all pretty typical Splinter stuff. I'm definitely getting too emotionally invested in a children's cartoon, but gosh dang it, that episode has always made me so sad. Like, Splinter, they're kids. If you want to lure the Rat King and Leatherhead out into the open, let the boys in and tell them. It's not enough to say after that it was pretend and you were watching all along, they needed that reassurance and security two weeks ago. And Raphael voices this exact concern. But no, Splinter wanted to, what, let them experience what it was like to be apart? Appreciate how vital it is that they remain together? No. No! Do you know what you did, Master Splinter? You ruined a perfectly good ninja turtle, is what you did. Look at Leonardo, he's got separation anxiety! Splinter is not allowed to teach any more lessons in togetherness.
You guys, I went into this thinking there'd be some mildly interesting connections to make. I did not think I would be adding "Splinter Vanishes" to the list of reasons why Leonardo needs professional help, and all of these turtles are massively traumatised. Oh my gosh, you guys. I was over here thinking his fight with Tempestra must have been so traumatising it screwed him up for at least the next two seasons, which is still possible, but oh my gosh, immediately after that episode is "Splinter Vanishes”???? No wonder Leonardo freaks out on his own. TWO WEEKS. I'm going to sob.
Okay, alright, let's look at the next few episodes and see if this holds.
Given Leonardo's trust for Master Splinter remains intact, it makes sense that he accepts Splinter's directive to go after April on his own in "Unidentified Flying Leonardo,“ but it's also not surprising how quickly he breaks down. He's left the team behind plenty of times now, but this is the first time he's left them since SV. Some freaky stuff happens in the aforementioned cornfield, but unlike LvT, there aren’t any actual threats before he hits his breaking point. He generally seems okay until he gets lost, and this is where Clarke breaks out the scared voice. We can look back and see that a lot of Leonardo's confidence in LvT and SV does come from being on his home turf, but that still doesn’t seem like a serious enough threat to warrant how panicked he is. Unless we consider that in his mind, getting stranded and being unable to contact his family is most certainly a threat worthy of panic after the events of SV. So yeah, when he calls for help and discovers he’s out of range, everything goes downhill. He jumps to conclusions, his flight instincts overwhelm his discipline, he's off-balance, and he makes sloppy mistakes. As he's being chased by an entire town with vehicles, he doesn't think to take April's van and drive it away, instead he hoofs it across multiple fields. Like TMtYL, he's stuck in this loop of panic and paranoia and just wearing himself out. Thankfully, snoftshell-snurtle is 100% correct. Billy Jim Bob McJames (the guy with a truck full of hay) saves Leonardo's life, feeds him some pizza, offers him information, and agrees to drive him wherever. With that, Leonardo is back to his Hero Leader cool-as-a-cucumber self. Once the other guys show up, he's even able to come up with a plan, and together they stop the bad guy.
Overall, the pattern I'm noticing is Leonardo is alone, he identifies a threat, he calls for help, and his call goes unanswered for some reason or another. Before SV, the unanswered call doesn't deter him, and he shoulders the burden himself. After SV, he falls apart until he gets the support he needs. That's not to say he does nothing. But unlike LvT, where his goal the whole time was to stop Tempestra and save the guys and all of his actions and planning were to support that goal, in UFL, he spent most of the episode just trying to survive until help arrived in the form of a compassionate stranger. Getting stuck in survival mode is very much a product of trauma he’s experienced. Yes, the stuff with Tempestra but more significantly from being abandoned by Splinter and stranded from his team.
I really liked rewatching "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle" with all this in mind. With this new robocop LEX, the turtles are getting pushed out of the crime-fighting business. This freaks Leonardo out, who, since TMtYL, really relies on having this specific purpose in his life. The other turtles, however, are thrilled, and they leave him. Every time he's been alone before, it's been an active decision on his part, even in SV, he was reluctant, but it was his choice. Clarke doesn't quite break out the scared voice yet, but it's a close thing. Some time passes before we see Leonardo again. He's just barely avoided getting stuck in survival mode since he's stayed in familiar territory and thanks to April, as iztarshi put it, playing turtle emotional support (feeding him, keeping him company). But he's clearly stressed, perhaps depressed, and certainly paranoid. He's reached the stage where he's accepted that his team is gone, and whatever happens, he'll have to handle it on his own. Leonardo's paranoia unfortunately pays off as LEX threatens him and April, and this is the point where he enters survival mode and, interestingly, restarts the pattern.
Unlike previous episodes, this particular pattern or sequence of behaviors from Leonardo is disrupted and repeated multiple times in this episode. In the first instance, Leonardo is metaphorically alone in his assessment of LEX as a threat to their work but really to his own perceived purpose and identity, and his call for help is him trying to get the others to agree, but they are dismissive and then leave. Compare this to LvT, where they initially dismiss his concerns but quickly come around, and Leonardo is reassured they’re safe and would help him if they could. Compare also to UFL, where he thinks the others don't know where he is and that he’s in danger. April provides as much support as she can, but the cycle is only ever complete once the team reunites and removes the threat together, and this doesn't happen. So, like the stages of grief, Leonardo bounces between them until he can reach a resolution. Now Leonardo is physically alone, LEX is a physical threat to his well-being, and when he calls for help, their comm system is down. He does get a hold of Raphael and Michelangelo, but again they're dismissive of his concerns, and he accidentally breaks the connection in his distress. Firmly in the survival stage, Leonardo is off-balance, clumsy, and unable to think straight. Now would be a really good time to get some support, but even that blows up in his face. So he calls for help again, but all he gets is Donatello's jarringly cheery voicemail greeting. Finally, Clarke breaks out the scared voice. Despite everything he's gone through, it took this long, which makes sense, given we’re in season 5 now. He's likely gained some coping mechanisms, but not enough to avoid the panic completely.
Leonardo's continued efforts to get help and protect himself are impeded, and his scared voice keeps getting worse as he descends further and further into panic, but he keeps going because he can't do anything else. At this point, the other turtles finally realise something is wrong and come back just in time to find . . . that Leonardo has actually resolved the threat on his own. This diverges entirely from previous episodes! It's so remarkable Donatello literally remarks on it. April has been his cheerleader all episode, but even she's surprised and impressed. We don't go completely off script, in the closing scene, Splinter and the guys reaffirm to Leonardo that he is skilled and capable beyond the niche he's created for himself in the team. His initial concerns and the perceived threat to his identity and usefulness and all that good stuff are resolved, as they always are, together. Still, this marks a turning point for Leonardo and segues nicely into the last episode I want to look at.
Unlike previous episodes, in "Snakes Alive!" the primary threat isn't the villain but Leonardo's snake phobia and his loneliness is a product of hiding his fear from the team. He's still hanging on to that lesson from TMtYL that the guys depend on him to lead, so he's not honest with them about his fear and instead tries to distract them and spends most of their time together dragging his feet. But it’s hard to hide that you're terrified when your scared voice creeps out every time someone mentions snakes, and you can't even say the word without a voice crack. The others aren't used to seeing Leonardo in survival mode like this and are understandably confused. He passes out, gets separated from the team, flings himself out a window, and rams into April's van in a panicked haze. When he comes across another threat with April and Vernon unrelated to snakes, we see the progress he made in LtRT, and he confidently handles it on his own. Checking back in with the guys, we find Michelangelo a little hopeful they'll be saved, but Donatello convinced Leonardo won't be able to. Interesting that here and in LtRT, Donatello seems to have the least faith in Leonardo's ability to resolve things on his own. But neither does Leonardo, who, even after speaking to Master Splinter, is despondent. The plot is thankfully saved by a bunch of kids who call him a chicken and later by the villain who claims snakes are superior to turtles in every way, which snaps him out of paralysis both times. Much like LtRT, he's too panicked to really come up with a plan, so he just brute forces his way to save the guys. Donatello is again quite shocked Leonardo did it by himself. The minute he's reunited with them, all is balanced and well with the universe, and he thinks up a plan to save the day. He doesn't seem to be afraid of the snakes anymore, but the closing scene makes it clear the fear is not totally gone, just assuaged when he's with his team. Leonardo is always going to do his best to be their Fearless Leader, even if he's not a fearless turtle.
tl;dr In the episodes examined above, Leonardo exhibits similar behavioral patterns whenever he is alone and threatened. This pattern is disrupted and reshaped by various traumatic experiences and thus makes an excellent marker for how he changes as a character throughout the series.