The twenty-third episode of Dragon Ball Super, broadcast in Japan on December 13, 2015, is the homecoming. While Gohan mourns Piccolo on Earth, on Beerus' planet a strawberry sundae succeeds where no alarm could. Goku and Vegeta arrive just in time, and the reckoning with Frieza can finally begin.
Summary
Piccolo is down and Trunks can no longer sense his energy. Frieza savors Gohan's grief, Jaco swears he will have Earth removed from his jurisdiction and Bulma wonders where Goku and Vegeta have gone. On Beerus' planet the two are still training inside Whis' staff while the god devours pizza. When he runs out he demands more, but the rest is inside the staff; Whis has to let the two Saiyans out, and the boxes come out empty: to avoid starving, Goku and Vegeta ate everything.
While Beerus chases them in a rage, Whis finds Bulma's message. He and the god are mesmerized by the strawberry sundae, and Bulma, angry at the delay, explains the situation: Frieza is back, far stronger than before, and Piccolo died protecting Gohan. Unfortunately, it will take Whis thirty-five minutes to bring them to Earth, and Goku's Instant Transmission does not work over such a distance.
Frieza realizes Goku is on his way, and Ginyu offers to finish off the others. A shattered Gohan blames himself for giving up training: if he had kept at it, Piccolo would be alive. Krillin consoles him, since putting family first is only natural; hearing that Gohan is a father, Frieza promises to wipe out his family too. Gohan gets up and transforms again, but his body cannot take it and he collapses. That burst of energy was enough, though: Goku senses it and teleports in with Vegeta, just in time to save him from one of Frieza's blasts.
That was Gohan's plan all along, and Goku praises him for it. Sorbet can hardly believe this is the Saiyan who defeated Frieza; the tyrant has no doubt. Goku reassures his son that Piccolo can be brought back with the Namekian Dragon Balls, takes the body to the Lookout and sends Goten and Trunks to explain everything to Dende. Frieza recognizes the technique from planet Yardrat; Jaco, held back once again by Bulma, thinks she is scarier than the tyrant.
Ginyu complains about his years as a frog, and Vegeta remarks that if he had stayed a frog, at least he would be alive. Then he disintegrates him with a single blast, over Goku's protests. Frieza explains that he trained harder than ever before and gained power beyond imagination, then goes straight to his final form. The wave of energy wipes out every remaining soldier except Sorbet and gouges a crater down to the sea. Goku declares that he will fight first, and he does not need to transform.
Our take
Goku and Vegeta's return happens thanks to the one person who could not save the day by force: Gohan, who uses his energy as a signal. It is a neat solution that makes the son a protagonist even in defeat. The handling of Ginyu is more debatable, dispatched by Vegeta in a second after a whole episode of build-up, but it is consistent with the ruthless prince we know.
Trivia
- Written by Makoto Koyama and directed by Yukihiko Nakao, with Osamu Ishikawa and Yui Kinoshita as animation directors. Its 4.7% rating makes it one of the least-watched episodes of the saga.
- A few episodes earlier, Vegeta's kitchen table featured the dairy products behind the Ginyu Force's names: here the prince finishes off their captain too.
- The story of the film Resurrection 'F' takes center stage again here, after the almost entirely new episode 22.