Sure enough, Goku does win with a little help from the kaio-ken (Zamasu's reaction isn't quite "kaio-what?" but it was close enough that I still found it amusing,) but it doesn't put the mad god down for good.
Make no mistake, Zamasu is straight up psychotic by this point. While both the original Zamasu and Black thrived on being creepy in a calm and soft spoken way, this new being is beyond rabid. Even his motive rants are much more manic and he's quicker to fly into blind rages. Between this and the deformity that comes as a result of the new form's inability to heal as well as we originally thought, it really shows that he is a legitimate monster. Considering Zamasu started off as a prodigy who wanted to stop violence, it was quite a fall.
The reveal that half of Zamasu's body is immortal and the other isn't was an odd development. I did kind of wonder if they would cancel each other out, but it seemed like the new form took the best of both. The heroes needed something at this point, so I can understand why the writers threw that vulnerability in there.
Mortal or not, this form is still insanely powerful, so much so that the combined might of Goku and Vegeta aren't up to the task, thus the supreme kai suggests using his potarra earrings to fuse.
The preview kind of spoiled this, but I figured that the two saiyans would perform the fusion dance, as the fusion that came from the earrings was said to be permanent. To address that, there's a bit of a retcon. We were led to believe that it was being in Majin Buu that broke the two apart when they fused before. However, Supreme Kai explains that with mortals, the fusion only lasts an hour. It kind of makes sense, if you think about it. I mean, Gotenks didn't break up in that fashion when he was absorbed.
While it would have been cool to see Gogeta become canon, we do get the return of Vegito; not to mention the fact that the heroes also have the benefit of a longer fusion time to better their chances of victory. This was a being who was already absurdly powerful, but add the fact that both saiyans are now god-tier in their base form and the fact that he can go super saiyan blue and you don't even want to think about what sort of power level they've hit at this point.
Credit to Zamasu, he puts up a hell of a fight. You get the best of both worlds, as he doesn't go out like a complete punk, but you still get the satisfaction of seeing Vegito smack him around quite a bit while Zamasu tries to boast about how superior he is.
For those who still hold a grudge against the series for the animation seen in episode 5, this episode should more than make up for it. Special credit goes to the editors too. The episode was full of multiple rapid cuts, but it never got hard to follow and made the fight much more exciting and engaging. Whoever they are, they deserve a raise because they hit it out of the park here.
Oddly, Vegito is not the one to put Zamasu down. Admittedly, Vegito kind of threw the fight against Super Buu in order to rescue those absorbed, but it's fascinating to think that this insanely powerful being is, for all intents and purposes, still winless. Still, seeing him perform the "final kamehameha" was a treat.
No, the honor of stopping this apocalyptic threat goes to Future Trunks. I actually liked the plot going this way. This saga has really played him up as the champion for this timeline, so having him step up and abolish the threat helps carry that to its logical conclusion. Having the humans of the Earth all give him their energy may feel repetitive, as it's been done before, but given how heavily humanity played a role here, I think it makes perfect sense and makes Zamasu's ultimate defeat that much more resonant and satisfying. Having somebody else put down the big bad also helps address the criticism that this is the "Goku and Vegeta" show.
Endings are tricky, especially when everything that came before it was so enjoyable. So often, you see people try to write off bad resolutions by pointing out that the journey is more important. Thankfully, this didn't do that. This followed through and delivered as satisfying an ending as you could hope for.
Next episode, not surprisingly, is going to be a breather, as the storyline reaches its denouement. After all this, I think the characters, and maybe even the viewers, could use it. Apparently, the omni-king is going to show up, likely to help bring about the second tournament he talked about. I'm not going to lie, a part of me wants to see somebody chew him out for not doing anything while an omnicidal kai waged war on mortals and gods alike. The fact that he only shows up just as the ultimate villain is defeated makes it that much more galling. Given how the omni-king has been characterized thus far, it's not the best idea and would most certainly end badly, but it would still be nice to see.
Long story short, loved the episode, loved this storyline.
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