After so many episodes of Jiren being the super-powerful, unstoppable opponent for so long, it's more than a little satisfying to see Goku finally gain the upper hand.
It seems like victory is in universe 7's grasp, but Jiren won't go down easy. On the contrary, losing the fight triggers memories of his childhood trauma. In true "Dragonball" fashion, this allows him to tap into even deeper power and break his own insane limits.
Odd as it may be, it gives Jiren the advantage and Goku's ultimate form is soon losing. In fact, it seems like the fight is lost.
Unfortunately for Jiren, the other Z fighters announce that their faith in Goku remains intact. This gives the saiyan a second wind that brings him back into the fight. When the pride trooper expresses confusion, we get another heartwarming moment as the spectators talk about the effect that Goku has had on them, and vice versa. It's a bit meta, but with this being the show's penultimate episode, I thought it was kind of perfect as it had nods to both "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z".
Jiren, for his part, doesn't buy into the magic of friendship and seems determined to snuff out the idea at any cost. Considering how much time he's spent dedicating himself to the whole solitary thing, it makes sense.
Jiren is so determined to disprove Goku's power source that he even makes an attempt to kill the spectators to show how fickle it is. It's a pretty jarring moment on several fronts. It's especially odd as neither the grand priest nor the omni-kings make any effort to protect them the attack, nor do they penalize him for the action. I guess the writers thought it would be a cop out, but it's strange that Goku had to be the one to deflect the blast.
While Goku admits (again) that he's no great hero of justice (the dub of this line should be interesting seeing as the dub Goku more or less declared himself as such in the fight against Frieza) he won't tolerate people threatening the lives of those he cares about.
Just as Jiren did, Goku taps into even more power and puts Jiren on the ropes. You'd think that the fight is over, but the spectators telling Goku to end it telegraphs the fact that the fight isn't quite over yet.
It's nothing Jiren does, nor is it a last second backstab by Frieza (which I thought it was at first) but it seems that, much like the kaio-ken, Ultra Instinct takes a physical toll on the body. As such, Goku finds himself depowered, on the ground, and writhing in agony. It leaves him at the mercy of Jiren, who merely has to knock him out of the ring.
While Jiren was clearly annoyed with Goku's persistence, he tries to make Goku's defeat as honorable as possible, saying that he was a proud warrior and that he will live on in Jiren's memories. He even goes so far as to lament the circumstances behind this win, admitting that it feels wrong for their confrontation to end this way. Considering what a schmuck Jiren has been as of late, it was a rather heartwarming moment in its own way.
Jiren gives Goku a point blank blast, but the saiyan is saved at the last second by Frieza, who prevents him from getting knocked out of the ring. It's not all that surprising, as most viewers knew that Frieza was still around somewhere. Still, it's a decent "big damn hero" moment for the arch villain. While that "reveal" may come off as lackluster, the writers were savvy to have one other ace up their sleeve.
You see, Frieza's not alone.
"Wait, what?" you say?
Yeah, he has back up. It comes in the form of....
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Spoilers ahead..
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Android 17. Yeah, he didn't die.
A part of me wants to call this an asspull or talk about how it negates the emotional power of his sacrifice, but it was still a damn good twist. I sure as hell didn't see it coming. It was a great note to end on too. Goku's down for the count, but Frieza and 17 are stepping up to face off against Jiren.
To be honest, I'm not sure what the two can do to him, but we'll see when we get there. If previous episodes are any indicator, they need only buy Goku a few seconds to heal and catch his breath, but I'm hoping they bring more to the table than that.
I was kind of surprised to see that the fight didn't end here. Truthfully, if it had, this would have been a very satisfying conclusion. This episode was fast, intense, and it felt like an appropriate climax to this particular arc. The animation was really good and the Goku/Jiren fight was as exciting as it's ever been. We also got some really great plot twists to keep things interesting. It even managed to provide a few strong emotional moments as well. It was a fantastic episode and gives us great momentum as we head into the finale.
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