Episode 95 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on June 18, 2017 and titled Most Heinous! Most Evil! Frieza's Wild Rampage! in Funimation's dub, is a showcase for the new Frieza. The tyrant tears apart the assassins sent by Universe 9, shows he has fixed his old weakness and, at the first opportunity, stabs Goku in the back to offer himself to the enemy team. Only Beerus's arrival sets things right.
Summary
Surrounded by assassins who boast of coming from a tough, ruthless universe, Goku wonders whether Frieza's Golden form will burn too much stamina so close to the tournament. The tyrant explains that the "tortures" of his Hell have sharpened his concentration: he now controls his energy so delicately that he would not even ripple the surface of water. Then he starts killing his attackers without mercy. Goku begs him to stop and protects Fortuneteller Baba, whom the assassins try to take hostage.
Their leader, a dog-like fighter, has received from Sidra a ball of destruction energy capable of erasing anyone, without even leaving them an afterlife. The first ball is a decoy; Frieza blasts the second one out of his hand, but the dog steers it remotely and brings it up out of the water right beneath him. The energy engulfs Frieza, who, with enormous effort, compresses it into a small orb and holds it in his palm. Then he shoots the leader down.
An admiring Goku swears to the remaining assassins that Universe 7 will face them fair and square at the tournament, and at that very moment Frieza hits him from behind with the destruction ball, trapping him. In the Null Realm, meanwhile, the Grand Minister finishes the arena to the applause of both Zenos. Frieza tortures one of the surviving assassins to reach the god who sent them, then contacts Roh and Sidra: with Goku out of action, Universe 7 has no hope, so he may as well fight for Universe 9 in exchange for resurrection. Roh, horrified by such evil, does not trust him, and the two gods argue.
The argument buys time: Beerus and Whis arrive, and Frieza destroys the communicator. Beerus frees Goku by detonating the ball; Frieza stays vague about what happened, but privately thinks the tournament is the perfect chance to manipulate even the gods. Goku asks Whis for one minute for a final duel: if Goku wins, Frieza will play fair; if Frieza wins, he does as he pleases. They punch each other in the face at the same instant and drop into the water. A draw. Then everyone joins the team at Capsule Corporation.
Our take
The episode is a little treatise on Frieza's evil, and it pulls no punches: he kills for fun, betrays the moment it suits him and offers himself to the highest bidder. The series is clever enough to show him as brilliant too: the scene where he tames the destruction energy is one of his finest moments, and the explanation of his new energy control answers a criticism fans had leveled at Resurrection 'F'.
The closing draw sums up the pair's relationship: nobody wins, nobody trusts the other, and that is exactly why the alliance will be fun to watch. Roh's refusal, scandalized by a tyrant "too evil" even for him, adds a touch of dark humor.
Trivia
- Written by King Ryū and directed by Akio Yamaguchi and Tatsuya Nagamine, with Chihiro Tanaka and Naoki Tate as animation directors. It drew a 6.1% TV rating in Japan.
- Starting with this episode, Frieza replaces Majin Buu in the ending sequence.
- The entire episode is an anime original: in the manga, Goku and Frieza reach Capsule Corporation in the morning, brought by Baba.
- Some English sources, including BBC iPlayer, list the dub title without "Wild": Frieza's Rampage!
Did you know? Frieza claims he spent his time in Hell fighting endless simulated battles against Goku in his mind.