Not surprisingly, Tien initially declines the offer to join. It would be a great way for him to continue his training, but he isn't willing to abandon his students. Unlike with 17, Goku doesn't have anyone he can offer to have fill in. Tien isn't interested in money, so it seems like Goku's in a pickle.
That matter has to get tabled, though, as the dojo is besieged by a young girl who carries a grudge against Tien. She poses as a potential student, who Tien intially rejects due to her superficial motivation, but it isn't long before she drops her cover altogether.
I was convinced that she went the episode nameless, but according to the Wiki, it's Yurin. It was likely mentioned once, but no one actually seems to refer to her by name, so it isn't that important in the grand scheme of things.
As to what her grudge is, it is eventually revealed that she challenged Tien to a fight years ago and he essentially snubbed her. Since then, she's been carrying a grudge, even going so far as to learn witchcraft so that she can brainwash his students into wreaking havoc in order to discredit him.
What I'd like to know is whether this actually transpired over the course of the original "Dragon Ball"series. I really hope it did. I think it makes the episode a lot stronger having that actual tie to continuity. Even if she were just a one-off character who appeared in a brief scene, it makes the plot stronger to have actually seen it. Otherwise, she's essentially just some random person who just showed up.
Her motives are lampshaded, but I could see it as part of the warrior/honor mindset. While Yurin has some menacing moments, she also carries herself like a child throwing a tantrum at many points as well. It's a good way to balance out a legitimate threat (albeit one of smaller scale) and some humorous elements.
You'd think that this would be an episode to showcase Tien's abilities, but oddly enough, it's Roshi who steals the show. Not only does he bring a lot of the humor by unintentionally thwarting Yurin's efforts by being the dirty old horndog that he is, but he also gets to shine in the action department. He no sells Yurin's physical attacks, bests Tien and holds his own against a base-form Goku when Yurin uses her abilities to brainwash him and turn him against his allies.
Goku does eventually put the old man down with a kamehameha, but he does note that Roshi has been training and seems eager for a rematch later on down the line. It was nice to see Goku not resort to going into his blue form. Having Roshi hold his own against Goku really was testament enough to show that he's still in the game.
Yurin swears to keep training so that she can ultimately settle the score, but Tien manages to assuage her (for now anyway) by offering to train her. It seems holding a grudge is a worthy enough reason to join his elite institution. To be fair, Tien does point out that her intentions are less than noble, but at least her desire to become better is legitimate.
With the town in ruins, Tien does ultimately agree to join the team so that he can pay for the damages his brainwashed students caused. Upon hearing about the money, Roshi quickly agrees as well.
Granted, we knew they would, but I'm glad that they kept it to a single "one and done" adventure. I was figuring this would have been another 2 part episode, and I'm not sure there was enough meat to carry this out for another 23 minutes.
The episode also gives us a brief detour to universe 6, where Cabba continues his efforts to persuade Caulifla to join. She's initially reluctant, but she too joins after seeing Cabba's super saiyan form and being told that she can become even stronger.
That on it's own is all well and good, I suppose, but the scene is more important in that it confirms my theory that this girl is not the legendary super saiyan. We do clearly see the girl shown in promotional materials in the crowd. It's quite possible that Caulifla will become a super saiyan in her own right, but she won't be the first female to hit that particular landmark.
All in all, this was a solid episode. It moved things along quite quickly and gave us a nice one off villain. It balanced humor and tension rather nicely and didn't string things along unnecessarily. It's good to finally have the team assembled. Now we can focus on continued training and more planning sessions before the tournament finally kicks off.
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