Instead, she's ventured out, having discovered Black's hideout, with a plan to take him down via sniper's bullet. It seems like a long shot (pun intended) but Mai says that this is a special bullet that Bulma designed.
While it doesn't work, exactly, it does do a lot more than I was expecting. I figured Black would hear the click of the trigger or the sound of the bullet coming and just nonchalantly catch it, as he had with so many other bullets before. This one, though, actually manages to catch him off guard and knock him backwards out of his chair.
That's about all it does, there doesn't appear to be any real lasting damage, but still, it was a better result than I figured and there was some solid tension build up as Mai set their nemesis in her sights.
Suffice it to say, Black doesn't take this affront well, but luckily, Trunks arrives before he can blow Mai up for good this time.
It's here where we get a better look at what Trunks' new form can do. He fares pretty well, though a part of that is due to effective tactical thinking on his part. His use of the galick gun was a nice touch. It seems he knows everybody's moves. I wonder if he'll whip out the special beam cannon/makankosappo at some point.
While you figure that Black wouldn't be taken out that anti-climactically, the episode does try to fake you out, including the sort of "fade away" animation that comes when other villains had been destroyed by powerful attacks in the past.
It does, at the very least, give Trunks a chance to face off against Zamasu one on one. I'm not sure where Trunks got the idea that there is a limit to his invincibility. I'm pretty sure the point is that there is no limit, but I guess he needs some way to keep hope alive and some reason to keep fighting.
Alas, his belief that Black is down for the count allows for a severe sneak attack, as Trunks is stabbed, just like his father was a few episodes back. It's oddly poetic in a way. Trunks went in planning on getting Zamasu to drop his guard so that he could focus on Black and he ended up falling victim to the same tactic.
Fortunately, just as Trunks arrived in the nick of time to save Mai, so too do Goku, Vegeta, and Bulma arrive when Trunks falls. It does lead to an infuriatingly bizarre scene where Bulma needs to have it spelled out for her repeatedly that the future incarnation of her son is maimed and on the brink of death. It doesn't occur to anybody to, I don't know, tend to him and maybe give him a senzu bean. Mai eventually does, but that wasn't Bulma's strongest showing, I have to say.
Did Vegeta bring more senzu beans? He was training in the hyperbolic time chamber, even going so far as to destroy it, so he was in the area. Stopping off at Korin's would have been right on the way. You'd think he'd know that they would need more, but there's nothing to indicate that they brought another batch.
It's probably moot, as they would have likely forgotten them on the time machine, as they did the urn in which they intended to imprison the two gods. This wouldn't be that much of a problem, except that Black destroys the time machine immediately upon their arrival, trapping them in this timeline.
It does lead to one of the episode's highlights, as the following scene utterly deconstructs the villain monologue; with the two saiyans becoming distracted by their bickering and not listening to Zamasu's boasts, while Zamasu later admits that he's doing it more for himself when Black points out the fact.
While the episode is largely on the more serious side, it's nice that they're still able to inject some humor in from time to time. It doesn't feel out of place or jarring either, which is not easy to do in a more intense and dramatic episode like this.
It even manages to have a nice, heartwarming moment, as Bulma is overjoyed to find that her son is OK after Mai treats him.
Bulma does manage to save some face, though, as she reveals that she came prepared. Not with senzu beans, but with a garage full of equipment that will allow her to rebuild the time machine. She even brought super glue so that Trunks can put the urn back together. It's a funny gag, I'll grant you, but I don't think that's going to work. Not that they have much in the way of options, but we'll see.
The arrival of Gowasu and Supreme Kai gives the episode a chance for some banter, as the prior chides his former protege. It manages to make things more confusing as it's strongly implied that he is the Gowasu of universe 7. I could be wrong, but I didn't think the universes worked that way. Having him be a Gowasu from an alternate timeline of universe 10 makes more sense, but who knows? This multiverse is all sorts of weird.
We do learn that Whis is not only an angel ( it really makes sense if you think about it) but that he would die if Beerus did. Man, no wonder Black was able to kill all the gods so easily. It's like dominoes. Supreme Kai dies, Beerus dies; Beerus dies, Whis dies. Considering the drastic difference in strength, I'm surprised they let Supreme Kai go anywhere.
Eventually, the fight does resume, with Goku squaring off against Zamasu while Vegeta takes on Black. While both do much better than they had in previous confrontations, it's Vegeta's gaining of the upper hand that really steals the show.
It stands in stark contrast to his previous outing. It also allows Vegeta to dish out some payback for Future Bulma and finally score a win against his longtime rival (admittedly by proxy, which Vegeta even notes.) Even Black is perplexed as to how Vegeta got so much more powerful in such a short amount of time. It was nice to see. While Vegeta's first trip into the chamber yielded significant results, his subsequent trips didn't seem to have any effect. Apparently, Vegeta really stepped up his game this time around.
You'd think that this might be another fake out, where Black takes a few hits, surges, and then turns the tides; but even his attempt to do that doesn't change the course of the fight. Vegeta just keeps wailing on him while delivering a boasting speech that ranks among his best.
When Funimation eventually dubs this (I'm honestly surprised they haven't arranged to do that already, but I think it's safe to say it's going to happen at some point) I am quite certain that the whole scene is going to be set to this.
As great as the scene is already, I'm pretty sure that it will become even more glorious when it's accompanied by this track.
This was another "highlight reel" episode. Every character got a chance to shine in some capacity. Granted, Bulma's was somewhat negated by her earlier idiot ball moment, but hey, getting the chance to redeem herself doesn't count for nothing.
Action takes a central focus, and it delivers that in spades, but there was also enough humor and character moments to give it more staying power.
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