'Dragon Ball Super' episode 73: 'Gohan's Misfortune! An Unexpected Great Saiyaman Movie!?'

As one might surmise from the title, this episode centers on the production of a "Great Saiyaman" movie.  From a meta-perspective, this plot hook makes sense.  Superhero adaptations are legion, so you can understand why the writers may want to make a nod to that and poke some fun at the industry in the process.  In universe, the logic isn't quite as sound.  It does allow for some self-deprecating humor, though, as characters note that "Great Saiyaman" was a little known hero who wasn't particularly popular.

You might expect there to be some degree of "wackiness ensues", but really, the episode is fairly light on that.  There's humor, and the whole affair is quite light hearted, but despite the title, things go quite well for Gohan.

He gets a new gig as a stuntman after the main actor, an ego driven celebrity named Barry Kahn, endangers his stunt double with a proposition for a high risk stunt; his relationship with Videl is affirmed when she rebuffs Kahn's advances (an advance even Pan clearly doesn't care for,) and his superhero alter-ego even gets to make a legitimate return.  Heck, while everyone else pokes fun, Videl offers reassurance and tells Gohan that she likes said alter-ego.

Now, you could be naive and say that the heart pounding that she says she feels is a result of pride, buuut I don't think that's what it means.  Well, maybe a little, but I'm pretty sure it's meant to be something of a more...adult nature.

It was nice to see the show tie back to Z, with the robbers that Krillin and Gohan deal with being the same ones that Saiyaman apprehended in his first outing.  Heck, from what MasakoX said in his video recap, Barry Kahn himself was a call back, having made a cameo in the Buu saga.  It turns out that he was the up and coming celebrity that Buu idolized and tried to mimic at one point.  Totally missed that, but it does make for a nice Easter egg, even after the fact.

While I would have liked to see Krillin follow through on his potential heroic highlight moment in dealing with the criminals, having Gohan barge in and unintentionally knock him out was, admittedly, pretty funny, so I can't fault the writers too much on that one.

Bulma also gets a nice moment when she bails Gohan out with a cover story after it becomes apparent that he is, indeed, the Great Saiyaman.  Her timing was a bit too perfect, but it was still nice to see that she had her friend's back.  She's good people.

Being such a light episode, it doesn't really have much of an antagonist.  Even Barry, being the smug diva that he is, isn't really a villain. He's unlikable, sure, and the fact that he goes out of his way to endanger others suggests a callous persona, but he doesn't hit 80's teen movie bully levels of antagonist.  Heck, even the jock/nerd rivalry that could have been sparked with Gohan isn't really played up as much as you might think.

There is, however, an extra-terrestrial threat; an apparently symbiotic (or perhaps parasitic, it's hard to tell at this point) criminal named Watagash that escaped from Jaco's custody.  I was expecting the writers to play the long game and leave that plot thread hanging for a while, but he promptly arrives on Earth.  We're not sure what his motives are, but he can "possess" people and give them a great power increase.  It even allows one of the aforementioned criminals to hold his own against Gohan, albeit briefly.

It also leads to the episode's big "cliffhanger" as Jaco confronts the Great Saiyaman.  I was expecting this to be something of a team up, where he enlists the superhero's help in apprehending the criminal, but Jaco is convinced that Saiyaman has been taken over by Watagash and promptly shoots Gohan (as well as the young woman with whom Gohan was flying around) with a giant laser.

I'm not sure how he jumps to that conclusion, but maybe his logic will be elaborated on later.  Even Saiyaman's strength and flight aren't particularly good indicators, considering Jaco knows that there are saiyans on Earth.  It'll be interesting to see his thought process on that one.

Then again, following on the "team up" element, it is something of a tradition for two heroes to fight each other before putting aside their differences and joining forces against the true villain, so maybe that was an intentional nod to comic book tropes.

This episode, overall, was light and fun.  The moments between Gohan and Videl were adorable, and it's nice to see the prior get a chance to shine.  I don't know if Watagash will pose such a threat as to give us a chance to see how far Gohan has come in his training, but it does look like Gohan's going to be the one to save the day, so that'll be nice to see at the very least.

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