Donnie and Shelldon: Like Father, Like Son + Generational Trauma Analysis
I haven't seen anyone else talk about this and if I didn't see anything like this I think I was gonna explode. ANYWAY. Donnie and Shelldon are so alike, it hurts. On top of that, it also shows on how Donnie early on stopped repeating generational trauma that Splinter (not on purpose) passed down onto his sons. Let's establish one thing. Donnie and Shelldon are very much alike, and actually do get along as father and son.
We can see this in Mind Meld. They work very well together as a duo and are also on the same wave length, in terms of thinking.
(Bro gave his baby his own code name. Adorable). This is implying every time Leo, Raph, and Mikey goof off it's that Shelldon and Donnie have to come and enact on their plan. Meaning, that these two can get the job done, as father and son. And even then, Shelldon is actually pretty excited to do stuff with Donnie, actually.
Also, when Donnie is confiding his problems to Shelldon, he just straight up says this.
Shelldon just plainly states the facts of the situation, no sugar coating. Much as to what Donnie does, via his low empathy. And even then? Donnie does not even get mad at Shelldon for it, even agreeing with him.
And then when Donnie proposes what he must do, Shelldon literally just goes full obliterate mode, and Donnie, being his chaotic self loves the thinking his son just proposed.
I know many people do portray Shelldon as an angsty teen droid, which he can be, but side note: this dude is as fucking chaotic as much as his dad is. Donnie doesn't even dismiss his idea, but he does indeed actually like the idea. Seeing that Donnie and Shelldon are much on the same wavelength and even have the same train of thought. Like father, like son.
Later into the episode, when Donnie thinks he lost his brothers for good making them, uh, too much like him, Donnie is fully missing them already. And Shelldon, I suppose he was trying to comfort him, just said it was Donnie's fault, which, yeah it was. Idk if it's just me, but I take this as Shelldon trying to comfort his dad but on accident being rude and if that isn't the most autistic thing ever. (Before anyone gets at me, I'm also autistic.)
With this baseline being established, let's establish this: the brothers obviously suffered from Splinter's unintentional neglect. Splinter has been active figure in their lives, yes, but at the same time, the Rise boys before the season 2 finale and character development was seeking father figures from different men that a lot of them were not good in the long run. We see Donnie rightfully be in tears after Splinter lied about the event, and saying "if you don't turn this car around right now-" before Donnie gets misty eyed about Splinter lying to him and thus making up.
However, Donnie desperately wants Splinter to be proud of him. He wants his dad to give him reassurance that he does see him, and that he does appreciate what he does for this family. Like, seriously. When we meet Big Mama, Donnie says that he hasn't get parental reassurance from his own fucking dad. Or at least Donnie feels like that. That's just heartbreaking.
Splinter is obviously depressed of being turned into a mutated rat, his glory days are over, and is left alone to raise 4 teenage boys. Which is something he doesn't know how to do half of the time, but he still clearly loves them, despite not starting off as a good parent throughout the series. Which leads me to Shelldon and Donnie. Shelldon and Donnie are constantly bickering and arguing. Mikey rightfully points out Donnie needs to healthy communicate his frustration; less he repeats the generational trauma. We quite literally see this with the flickering of Donnie looking disgruntled at Splinter, and then we see a Shelldon looking disgruntled at Donnie.
And y'know what? I will give Donnie props here. Once it clicks that he is treating Shelldon poorly, he wants to fix it.
Like, yes. He's still pissed at his kid for wrecking his things, and he doesn't really know how to healthily communicate because in the series Donnie is a 14-year-old autistic boy who feels neglected by his dad so he ties his self worth to only being good as "the science guy" and having a "bad boy persona". But he still wants to be better for Shelldon, even though he learns that lesson wayyyy letter into the episode.
Also another bonus round of Shelldon is a lot like his dad: he literally says "eye roll," i.e. Donnie says an action instead of just doing the action.
And after Shelldon gets grounded by him? What does he do? He runs away and then finds a new "family" that actually meant him harm. Maybe this was unintentional commentary from the writers, but I'm getting a big theme of if you don't give your children the proper attention and love they need, they'll seek it else where. Which could attract all types of bad actors. The Purple Dragons, for Shelldon's case.
Donnie, in Turtle-dega: The Ballad of the Rat Man, thinks that his dad doesn't care about him and Mikey, and is just using him and Mikey in this moment.
Shelldon, during the drone race, when Donnie is trying to get Shelldon to come back home, thinks that Donnie is only there to use him and just use for what he wants him to do.