Instead, what we get is a rather in depth discussion on the nature of time travel. Beerus is still convinced that by killing the present Zamasu, that all is resolved, but the future Trunks isn't so sure.
While having two separate timelines manages to avoid the myriad of headaches and paradoxes that come with time travel, this episode actually invokes a few, which was interesting to see. Future Trunks notes that if his timeline had been changed for the better, he would have had no reason to come back, and thus, shouldn't still be there.
He also takes the time to explain to his younger self how different his world was, noting that android 18 settled down and formed a family where as in his world, she was always evil and ruthless. It was a nice scene to have before the two parted company.
In fact, the whole good bye scene overall was well done. I was a little perplexed that Vegeta insisted that his future son never come back. You'd think he'd just shrug it off either way, though I suppose that with the pattern so far, his coming only means bad things: Androids, Cell, Black.
He does still agree to tag along with Goku, Trunks, and Bulma (who is needed to fly the time machine back), so clearly there is still some loyalty there.
Where the good bye scene worked, the subsequent scene didn't. After arriving in the unchanged future, the group receives word that Mai was hurt, as such it's up to Trunks to rush in and save her with a senzu bean.
It doesn't really add anything in the way of tension as it's introduced and resolved far too quickly; and seems like it was only there to eat up run time. I'm also not sure why he chewed the bean, then put it in her mouth via a kiss. Maybe they were trying to present a more realistic justification for the old fairy tale trope, but it comes out of nowhere. On top of that, spitting chewed food into somebody else's mouth is kind of gross. It works for birds, but no.
It does lead to an amusing gag where Goku is perplexed by the act, noting it's weird to press your mouth against another person's. Even Vegeta is confused and reminds Goku that he's married, but that doesn't seem to help clarify things at all. It's funny, though I could swear that Goku has kissed Chichi before. If not in Z, than in Dragon Ball when they were still young and their romance was still blossoming. I could be wrong there, but it does seem weird given that their mutual love for each other has been made apparent on several occasions.
It isn't long before Black and Zamasu detect the heroes and vice versa. There's a brief skirmish, but the scene is more about Black taunting the heroes, which is always fun. I said before that this episode reveals Black's identity and it turns out that Black is not Goten..or Turles, or Radditz, or Broly..... but Goku.
Well, Goku's body anyway. I've said on more than one occasion that I suspected some dark force was reanimating Goku's corpse. Between his line about looking forward to fighting Goku in that body and seeing Black clutch at his chest during the first fight with Goku, I assumed that it was the dead Goku from future Trunks' timeline, who we are reminded died of a heart virus before the androids attacked.
As it turns out, I was half right. Goku's dead body is being reanimated, but it seems to be a Goku from yet another timeline as the entity claims to have killed Goku in order to take his body.
So, who is it that's possessing Goku?
.....
Should I tell you? There are times where I feel like I'm being too liberal and care free with sometimes heavy spoiler information. Maybe I should hold off this time as to keep the surprise. On the other hand, the reveal itself warrants some discussion too...
Alright, I'll get into it, but before we do, I'll give you an official spoiler warning, so that those who haven't seen the episode and want to go in blind can still do so.
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Ready? We good? Alright, it's Zamasu. Yeah, not joking, that's who it is. There was one video (that you can see here) I saw that posited this theory that Black is actually Zamasu either from a different time period, or maybe a different timeline altogether. Turns out that he was on the money.
It was a decent fake out, though part of me was hoping that there was some other force at play. As it is, you could argue that it's a bit anti-climactic, given that Zamasu was the likely suspect since he first appeared. On the other hand, it does explain Zamasu's line about them being kindred spirits as opposed to allies.
At the same time, the risk of doing this much build up (and this effectively) is the likelihood that no reveal would have lived up. I have a feeling mileage is going to vary on this one.
Honestly, this was not quite the episode I was expecting. It took a lot longer for the characters to go to the future than I thought it would. The scenes were still interesting and heartfelt, though, so it worked. If anything dragged the episode down, it was the detour with Mai. The reveal is also up in the air, but at least it made good on the promise this time around, so that's certainly a plus.
I have a feeling that the next episode will give us a more in depth explanation, but again, this could be a point where the writers say that the viewers have all the information that they need and any unanswered questions can be left up to speculation.
At the very least, it looks like it will be more action heavy as it seems like the Zamasu pair are about to implement their endgame.
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