Of Rats and Men

Of Rats and Men is the 12th Episode of the second season and the 38th episode overall in the series. It aired on March 2nd, 2014.

Official Description
When the Rat King returns, Splinter must overcome his fears in order to defeat his enemy.

Characters

 * Leonardo
 * Donatello
 * Raphael
 * Michelangelo
 * Master Splinter
 * April O' Neil
 * Casey Jones
 * Irma
 * Ice Cream Kitty
 * The Rat King

Trivia

 * First appearance of Ice Cream Kitty
 * Last appearance of the Rat King, he fell to his death.
 * This is the 2nd time Splinter is under mind control.
 * The very title of this episode is a reference to the famous book known as Of Mice and Men.
 * The way how Irma fainted is a nod to the 1987 TMNT series where Irma fainted in almost every situation.
 * Ice Cream Kitty actually helped the Turtles defeat the Giant Rats without being ordered to do so, which hints that he/she has a surprising level of intelligence for a Mutant.


 * Mikey once again fails at trying to hide having mutated something, the first time being when he tired to hide that April's dad was mutated into WingNut, which ultimately jeopardized April's friendship with the Turtles.
 * The Rat King has tried this rat people scheme once before, back in the 1987 episode: Were-Rats from Channel 6. Instead of Irma and Vernon this time, however, he had captured Irma and Casey instead. Nevertheless, in both variations, he wanted to have Irma be the first person to get experimented on.
 * The title of the movie in the movie theater where a Giant Rat scared a man was titled, Food of the Vermin, which is a reference to the 1976 sci-fi movie The Food of the Gods.
 * The Rat King has apparently named many of his rats, and has a use for each of them.
 * Aristotle - Seeing-eye Rat (Normal)
 * Caligula - Riding Rat (Giant)
 * Claudius - Siege Rat (Giant)
 * Nero - Siege Rat (Giant)
 * Commodus - Siege Rat (Giant)