Episode 37 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on February 12, 1997 and titled Old Kai's Last Stand in Funimation's dub, briefly freezes the duel: Goku and Baby trade blows until both collapse. Elder Kai uses the pause to set his plan in motion, a way to free the Saiyans from the parasite's control, and the errand falls to Kibito Kai.
Summary
Goku is down after taking the blast meant for the Earth, and the Golden Great Ape charges another Super Galick Gun to finish him. Just then the 10x Kamehameha from the previous episode reveals a delayed effect: a jolt of pain runs through Baby and he crashes to the ground. The two get back up, battered, trade their last blows and end up flat on their backs, apparently unconscious.
On the Sacred World of the Kai, meanwhile, Elder Kai explains his idea. Kami's Lookout holds the Sacred Water, the same water that once freed Earth's people from Garlic Jr.'s mist, and it can break Baby's hold on Gohan, Goten and Trunks. Kibito Kai sets off, comes back almost at once to ask where exactly it is kept, then leaves again by teleporting.
At the Lookout things get complicated. Dende and Mr. Popo, also under Baby's control, catch him in a room full of identical jars; Kibito Kai splashes them with ordinary water, thinking it is the real thing, before finally finding the right flask and pouring it over them, which brings them back to their senses. Water in hand, he heads to Planet Plant and starts with Trunks: a few drops, a restoration of his strength, and a quick explanation of everything the young man cannot remember.
On the battlefield Goku and the Great Ape are still down, and the Earthlings under Baby's control chant for their leader to get up. Kibito Kai asks Trunks to keep the enemy busy while he goes to free Gohan and Goten. But Bulma has the Blutz Wave Generator working again and fires it at Baby, who rises with his energy fully restored. Goku also stands up and acts as if he were back at full strength, but it is a bluff: he is spent, and all he can do is dodge.
Our take
This is a transition episode, and it shows: the real fight stops early and gives way to Kibito Kai's errand, complete with a gag about the wrong jar. Still, it works as a hinge. The Sacred Water is a callback to the Garlic Jr. arc of Dragon Ball Z, one of the few anime-only additions that GT chooses to remember, and it finally offers a way out of the possessed-Saiyans drama that had been running for several episodes.
The contrast between the two fronts is well built. On one side, Bulma, still Baby's prisoner, recharges the enemy with the same machine that transformed him; on the other, Goku has to fake a strength he no longer has for the first time in the saga. Super Saiyan 4 is two episodes old and already reduced to bluffing, a neat reminder that in Dragon Ball raw power is never enough on its own.
Trivia
- Written by Toshinobu Ōi and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Yūji Hakamada as animation director.
- The Japanese title announces Baby and Goku's "double KO"; Funimation's title instead points to Elder Kai, whose plan drives the episode even though he never fights.
- In Japanese the Sacred Water is called Chōseisui, literally "super sacred water."
- When Kibito Kai returns to the Lookout the second time, he raises two fingers to his forehead, the gesture Goku uses for Instant Transmission.