Last week's episode ended with a hole in the sky being torn open and a hostile, quasi-alien enemy coming through. This episode picks up from there, as everyone stares in awe at the arrival of the mysterious "Black".
Not surprisingly, Beerus and Whis sit this out and act as spectators, yet it is their reaction that carries the most weight. Both immediately notice Black's ring of time and also make cryptic statements about Black's power, saying that it feels strange to them.
Of course, it's ultimately Goku who goes to face his doppelganger. It seems like all of the team members present are about to get into it, but he beats them to the punch. The showdown manages to successfully showcase the differences between the two, but also the similarities. More often than not, Goku's traits are presented in a completely different light, making for a great "dark mirror" character.
Take for example, Goku's love of a good fight. With him, it's more about sportsmanship and skill, where Black's love of it stems from the violence itself. Even getting hit seems to give Black some amount of pleasure, and in fact, characters note that his power level spikes after Goku lands attacks. Whether it's a clue as to Black's true identity has yet to be determined, but it is quite possible.
While it is a fairly good fight, neither one really gets to hit their height. Goku goes super saiyan 2, and does manage to fare better than Trunks, but the battle is interrupted as Black is pulled back into the time portal. In true villain fashion, Black does destroy Trunks' time machine just before he vanishes, ensuring that the time traveling hero won't be able to return.
It is here where Beerus and Whis drop some major exposition points. They explain that Black's ring is only used by kais. This actually makes some bit of sense given the earring that Black wears. Not to mention that it also hints at that kai-like character that appears in the opening credits. More than that, the ring is used to travel temporarily to the future. As noted, going backward in time is strictly forbidden, even by the gods. It seems that Black was only able to do it this time due to Trunks' time travel. As such, it isn't possible for Black to return to continue the fight.
I knocked on the ring before, but it is nice to see that it helps establish the character and also has very specific applications and limits. The way it just appeared when Black needed it was suspicious, to say the least, but at least the writers are going somewhere with it.
The downside, however, is that the episode hits a point where it seems like things have wrapped themselves up. Black is in the future, unable to return; and there's no way for the heroes to go there. Even Beerus and Whis note that they don't have the capability to bring Trunks back. Beerus has no ring and Whis' abilities at time manipulation are limited to what we saw back during the Frieza fight.
Trunks is distraught, but being stuck in this timeline wouldn't necessarily be so bad. His family's alive, and he can keep fighting to protect this Earth from whatever threats may arise. It also works from the viewer's standpoint as he was a popular character and we wouldn't be averse to having him stick around.
It does lead to a heartwarming moment where Vegeta assures his son not to give up and that they'll figure something out.
Sure enough, Bulma does. It seems that she still had the time machine that Cell used tucked away in a capsule. The thing is in clear need of repair, but it's certainly in much better condition than the one that Trunks used.
I said before that the writers missed an opportunity to have the heroes visit Trunks' time and it looks like that's where the arc will be going after all. It was a decent fake-out, but seeing this should be interesting.
I still have no idea how everyone is going to fit in there. The time machine is clearly built for one person. Unless people can be put into those capsules, there's no way they're all going to fit. I'm pretty sure that people can't go in, but if they can, that seems somewhat horrifying. It could make for another weird, horrifying, alien setting, but we'll see.
All in all, the real strength of this episode was the new information about Black. They didn't reveal everything, which is a plus. It did, however, give you enough to start putting together more likely theories, as opposed to things like saying that it's Goten or Turles. I still think it would be hilarious and awesome if it was the latter, but I don't see that being the case.
Having it be Goten would have been an interesting angle, in all honesty. Given that Goku died long before, it obviously couldn't work, but had this been a different iteration of Trunks than the one who came back to warn the team about the androids, there could have been some weight there given Trunks and Goten being such close friends.
The episode's end suggests that the future iteration of Mai survived. Well, she either survived or she was reanimated. The way Black was clutching his chest, it's quite possible that Goku's corpse is possessed, meaning other deceased characters could succumb to the same thing. We'll have to wait until next week to find out, though, as all we get from Mai is a twitching hand.
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