This is made most apparent with the two saiyans literally splitting up, Goku continuing to find 17 and Gohan going to recruit Piccolo. I do appreciate the two multi-tasking in order to save time. It was unlikely that Piccolo was going to put up much of an argument, so best to get that taken care of right off the bat.
Oddly, when we do see Gohan finally arrive, the scene makes it sound like Gohan is asking Piccolo to train with him. I'm guessing they plan to use the room of spirit and time to expand on the limited window of time they have left until the tournament starts, but haven't Gohan and Piccolo been training this whole time? It really feels like these two have had this conversation more than once. Maybe it's because of all the time skips and Gohan keeps going back to studies/every day life? I don't know, it's very strange.
Goku, for his part never even makes it to 17. It sounds odd, considering that his return seemed like the main draw for this episode, but nope, aside from a close up of his face at the end, 17 does not appear.
Instead, Goku gets sidetracked by Buu, who has been training for the tournament. Apparently, the sessions with Mr. Satan have paid off as he is now sporting a new beefcake body. I have a question, Buu is a big blob of pink goo, couldn't he mold himself into that shape anytime he wanted to? It's not even like he has muscles in the traditional sense, so I don't know what the point was, oh well.
The sparring match between Goku and Buu wasn't really anything to write home about, but Buu does show that he isn't without his clever side. Granted, Buu was already plenty strong and his meat shield ability already made him an asset to the team, but I'll never fault a show that shows it's characters being smart and using tactics in combat.
One area where this episode breaks formula is by venturing to other universes. The supreme kai of universe 11 arranges a palaver with the other kais and the gods of destruction do the same. Both make a point to bar universe 7 due to resentment for setting this whole thing in motion.
I was expecting some sort of machinations or scheming to commence, but alas, the scenes fall flat. The kai of universe 11 puts forth the idea of asking Zen-oh to grant some sort of reprieve regarding erasure and the other gods quickly dismiss it before leaving. The build up was nice, but there was no real pay off there.
You'd think, at the very least, that this would allow the other kais to showcase some personality and flesh them out a little. There's a strength obsessed warrior kai and a nerd kai who don't get along and argue as to whether brute force or intellect is the greater asset, but beyond that, it still seems like we don't know these new gods all too well. There's not really any way to avoid this, this story line is throwing a lot of new characters into the mix in a very short amount of time. As more episodes come out, this problem should alleviate itself, but that's going to take a while.
It was nice to see Vados stick up for Goku. While the other gods are quick to paint him as the villain, she reminds them that Zeno was going to wipe them all out and the tournament does allow one to continue to exist. It doesn't help much, but it's good to have that reminder thrown in now and again. The fact that the gods resent Goku for other reasons shows that their disdain goes beyond just that grievance.
A good chunk of the episode takes place in universe 11, where we see Toppo in his job as universal protector. He was given much better dialogue this time around and actually got to present himself as a heroic champion. It made for a much better showing than the one he got back in the tournament.
Due to limited screen time, that whole sequence did fall a bit flat. We know nothing of the villain or why they're doing what they're doing, but the job is to show Toppo stopping it, which he does. It does give the episode another action beat, which I imagine was the bigger objective. Well, that and showing another one of the universes. It is nice to see the multiverse explored to a greater degree, but the aforementioned screen time limitations also undercut that as well.
Was it just me or did Dyspo look a lot like Beerus? The distinctions become a lot clearer as the episode progresses, but it does seem like they are of the same species when he first appears.
It was nice to see Cabba again. It was just a quick cameo, but still. The dialogue also seems like it's planting the seed for the female legendary super saiyan to make her appearance. That'll be cool to see when we get there.
All in all, this episode didn't really bring a whole lot to the table. I mean, it wasn't bad. I just don't think there was anything to really write home about. There was some plot progression, but not nearly as much as one would have hoped.
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