The 'Garlic Jr.' Saga IS Canon

 When it comes to "Dragon Ball Z", the fans can be sticklers for what is "canon" and what isn't.  Certain sequences, even an entire mini-arc, can and have been dismissed as non-canon.  The test is largely based on whether or not it happened in the manga.  If it happened in the manga, it's canon; if it didn't, it's filler.

The big problem with this is the fact that this isn't how canon works.  The anime and manga are two independent things.  Liberties are taken with adaptations all the time.  Changes are made for various reasons, but the canon of the adaptation remains its own thing.  This holds true for the anime just as much as it would an adaptation of any other movie, comic, or book.  These changes may not be canon for the manga, but why wouldn't it be canon for the anime timeline?   For that matter, why is this franchise the only one burdened with this condition?  You don't see other franchises endure this particular method of scrutiny to determine canon validity.

Furthermore, this really doesn't make any sense.  What about instances where story arcs play out differently?  You see this in "Super", where both the Goku Black arc and the Tournament of Power arcs play out in wildly different fashions.  The events as depicted in one really have no effect on the other and it would be weird to ask fans to view or read it that way.   

By this logic, you could dismiss just about any adaptation.  A good chunk of the MCU or "Game of Thrones" would be thrown out because that's not how it played out in the source material.  Admittedly, from what I've heard, a lot of people have "non-canoned" the last season of the latter, but that's more a criticism of quality than anything else.

This is another angle that can fuel plot point erasure.  This one is a bit more understandable, if there's a thing that you really don't like, you choose to ignore it.  Going back to the MCU, this happened with "The Inhumans".  It was very poorly received to the point where neither the fans, or even the creators, really acknowledge it all that much.

Even here, though, the events will usually still have an impact on the story.  You may or may not like it, but it's still there.  You can say that it isn't part of your personal "head-canon", but its canon status still remains intact.  For example, a lot of people don't like how the Goku Black arc ended and choose to go with Trunks being the one to score the final win against the omnicidal adversary, but the Zeno/deus ex machina ending is still the ending.  If everybody picked and chose what counted and what didn't in terms of storytelling or story adaptation, the whole process would be rendered moot.  The whole concept of "canon" would be thrown out the window with this approach.

It would be one thing if the anime and manga were more synchronized.  "Star Wars" for example has a single canon that spreads across multiple mediums.  Well, two canons now, what with the erasure of the original "expanded universe", but you see my point.  If the anime and manga were meant to be part of one cohesive universe, then arguing canon or non-canon makes more sense.  That's not really the case, though.

Between the multi-verse and alternate timelines, you could easily have your cake and eat it too by saying that it happened, just in an alternate timeline.  That seems to be the case with "GT".  Sure, it wasn't very well received, but you could still easily view it as an alternate timeline where Beerus didn't wake up.  

So, in summation, unless directly stated, canon is self-contained to its respective medium.  As such, we can conclude that the title of this post holds true, despite the ardent assertion to the contrary.

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'Iron Fist' Season 2, Episode 6: 'The Dragon Dies at Dawn'

 

With both Joy and Walker in "custody", our heroes begin trying to get some need-to-know information.  It's always interesting watching Misty interrogate people and this is no different.  It's a quick scene, but it still works pretty well.  

You really have to wonder why Misty thought that intimidating Walker was going to work.  It would probably work in most instances, but it was destined for failure here.  Luckily, Walker views her job on Davos' payroll as complete, thus has no qualms about helping them out.  Joy is also cooperative, so the group is able to figure out who performed the ritual that robbed Danny of his fist.

With that, Misty and Colleen go off to see if they can undo what they did.  Meanwhile, Danny decides to track down Davos himself to see if he can talk his brother out of his current operation.  Much like Misty's attempt to intimidate Walker, you have to wonder what made Danny think this was going to work.  It's well intentioned, and it is in character, but if Davos was in a place to be talked down, you'd think that Danny would have convinced him well before all of this.  I mean, he had reached out before to no avail.

For his part, Davos' grudge against Danny seems done.  Now that he has the power of the fist, Davos goes back to viewing Danny as his brother and even offers to have Danny fight alongside him.  Given the nature of Davos' methods, Danny refuses, but it was still something of an olive branch.  Even given everything that had happened, the bond was still there, just buried.

On a similar note, Ward finally gets his chance to sit down and talk with Joy to figure out if their relationship is salvageable.  Joy still has a lot of resentment towards her brother.  Even his admission that he did what he could to protect her from their dad's violent outbursts by taking the hits himself wasn't enough to completely sway her.  Judging by the look on her face, though, the needle did move, even if only for a moment.

Much like Davos, Joy does show some willingness to mend fences with her sibling.  She says that she's not ready to forgive him yet, but she wants to be and, in time, thinks that she can be.  It's a decent win in the grand scheme of things.

Misty and Colleen get a win of their own, tracking down the women who put that tattoo on Davos.  They needed some convincing via a fight, but they eventually decide to help.

The fight was OK.  It had its highlights, but at the same time, it felt like it was there largely to give the episode an action beat.  It's a 2 on 1, and those are always fun.  Colleen herself seems to be enjoying it, as she smiles several times over the course of it.  The tattoo artists themselves are no slouches, though it does remind me of Jessica Jones' confusion over the fact that everyone they came across knew some form of martial arts back in "The Defenders"

We also get a much briefer 2 on 1 when Danny and Walker try to take down Davos.  It goes better than it could have, Walker manages to inject the drug that she used on Danny into him, but Davos still comes out the victor. He even breaks Danny's leg before the drugs force him into unconsciousness.

The episode ends as Danny is taken away in an ambulance.  You'd think that this is a good thing, but the episode makes it seem intense due to the fact that Walker has changed back to Mary and seems unwilling to help Danny take Davos in.  

It was actually nice to see Mary again.  Sure, Walker the creepy badass mercenary was a blast to watch, but Alice Eve is equally as effective selling that friendly girl next door persona.  I was wondering if she was ever going to change back.  The episode toys with it earlier when Walker seemingly calls to her "alter".  Nothing comes there, though I suppose you could call it foreshadowing.  The fact that Walker tells Danny what triggers her shifts between the two personas also helps lay the groundwork for the switch back.

All in all, this was a solid episode.  There are some great character moments peppered throughout, the episode is well paced, and it leaves you wondering where things are going to go from here.  I was operating on the assumption that this was a 13 episode season like everything else, but apparently, it's only 10, so we're closer to the end than I thought.  Should still be interesting regardless.

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