No. Just like Gozer, Zamasu's total protonic reversal doesn't quite stick and the breath of relief is short lived. As was the case with the Sumerian destructor god, the sky soon turns black and the heroes are taunted by a voice from the sky. It's mostly mad cackling, but it certainly gets the job done.
The image of multiple demonic Zamasu faces filling the sky certainly rank among the show's most nightmarish images. It only gets worse when he starts raining down death on what little is left of humanity.
The whole scenario seems utterly hopeless. Not only is the mass death an emotional gut punch in and of itself (a scene made all the more heart wrenching by Mai's response.) but it prevents Trunks from using the spirit sword again. Meanwhile, Goku and Vegeta expended all their energy with the final kamehameha during the Vegito fight, leaving them unable to go into super saiyan blue.
God bless em, the three do try to fight back, launching a galick gun, kamehameha, and a final flash that combine into one large attack, but it does nothing to the incorporeal entity.
While Goku is out of senzu beans, he does have the button to summon Zen'o. That's right, it's deus ex machina time! I joke, but I really can't fault them for it. They are literally out of options and have no other way out. Calling him in like this also avoids the "why didn't Zen'o do anything productive when so much was at stake?" question I brought up before.
It isn't like it's just Future Trunks' timeline at stake. We see Zamasu's malevolence start to spread back into the past (though alas, all the present day characters do is gawk.) It likely would have eventually infected and destroyed every timeline in every universe if it wasn't put in check.
Seeing as he is the most powerful being who rules over all of existence, you'd think that there would be only one Zen'o that is omnipresent and omniscient. That doesn't turn out to be the case. Instead, Goku summons the Zen'o from this time period specifically. That means that he has no idea who Goku is, though he doesn't seem too fazed by the bear hug that the saiyan gives him upon his arrival.
To his credit, Zen'o is willing to deal with Zamasu, but he does so by destroying the entire timeline. I'm not sure whether this was an instance of overkill (with Zen'o deeming a universe where Zamasu exists to be undeserving) or a legitimate countermeasure. It is explicitly stated that Zamasu is becoming the universe itself, so maybe it was the only way to deal with him once and for all. Still, I don't think that's what Goku had in mind.
Fortunately, the two kais are able to teleport away while the others escape using the time machine. Why the kais didn't take everybody with them when they teleported is beyond me, but it's moot. I'm also surprised that there was no repercussion to Vegeta and Goku hanging on the outside of the time machine while it ventured back.
It's here where the characters are finally able to legitimately celebrate the defeat of the evil foe and the saving of existence.
You'd think it would lead to mood whiplash, but it works rather well. Having the celebration in the brigher, more colorful present day also seems more fitting and adds to the sense of optimism.
Still, there are some loose ends that need tying up, thus Goku and Trunks return to the future to find nothing but future Zen'o. You'd think that Zen'o would have just gone back to whatever realm he was in prior, but he seems confused as to what he's supposed to do. Fortunately, Goku brings him back to the present and introduces future Zen'o to present day Zen'o so that they can become friends, fulfilling Goku's promise.
You have to hand it to the guy, that was pretty clever thinking on Goku's part. I'm not sure what the ramifications are to having two omni-kings, but at least the two get along swimmingly. Even another angel, who is revealed to be Whis' father, admits that it was smart. Whis gives credit where it's due and acknowledges that it was entirely Goku's idea.
With that matter taken care of, there's just the question of what to do with Future Trunks and Future Mai. I'd think that just having them live in the present and start a new life together would be plenty, but it is decided that they have to go back to the future....Well, a different future.
In keeping with one of the running themes of this arc, the timey-wimey ball comes into play, and Whis explains that they can go to a time before Zamasu began his campaign and warn future Beerus about it. It wouldn't be the exact future that Trunks and Mai lived in, but it would be a new, brighter future for the two of them. The only downside seems to be that there will be two Trunks' and two Mais. I'm calling it now, the second future Trunks will have the original purple hair and that's going to be how we tell them apart.
If they're going to do that, though, why not go one better and go back to before the androids? They could save the future's Goku from his heart virus as they did for the present one and the other Z-fighters (not to mention countless other lives) would be saved to boot.
When Goku rightly calls them out on not bringing this up earlier, Beerus chides them for being too reliant on the gods. I'm not sure how true that is, and to be fair, this crew has been reliant on Goku for decades. He's tried to pass the burden to others, first Gohan, and then Goten and Trunks; but he can't seem to shake it.
As the title suggests, it is here where we say goodbye to Future Trunks. It is a heartwarming and poignant scene, especially when Gohan arrives to see his friend off. On the plus side, Future Trunks does depart with the words "until we meet again" leaving the door open for another possible appearance sometime down the line, though hopefully under better circumstances.
I have mixed feelings on this episode. There's a lot to like here, no doubt. As mentioned, there's a lot of creepy imagery and a foreboding sense of hopelessness in the early parts. The lighter moments also work well and make for a nice happy ending. I did get a kick out of the Trunks/Mai shipping as kid Trunks starts crushing on Future Mai (just as Mai did for Future Trunks.) The idea that the two kids could get together is even brought up, though Mai seems...reluctant?
I said before that the last episode was as satisfying a conclusion as one could hope for in regards to this storyline. I stand by that, and alas, this episode undercuts that to a certain extent. I thought having Future Trunks, as well as the support of humanity being what took Zamasu down had a lot more kick than just having Zen'o be the one to do it. The follow up is logical, given that there was still an immortal half of the god that needed to be dealt with, but while it's a good ending, it wasn't the great ending that we had before.
While this episode's preview gave off the impression that it would be lighter, the next episode seems like it will follow through on being the needed breather. I'm assuming the super dragon balls are back in working order now, though that has yet to be determined. Maybe that's one of the wishes that will be used next episode when the standard dragon balls are collected, but we'll have to wait to see and find out.
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