Episode 104 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on August 21, 1991 and titled Frieza Defeated!! in Funimation's dub, holds one of the most ironic images of the whole saga: Frieza, emperor of the universe, cut in two by his own weapon. Moments later the tyrant begs Goku for mercy, and against all logic Goku grants it. Meanwhile, on Earth, Vegeta looks back on his years in Frieza's service.
Summary
Goku lures Frieza's disc toward himself and slips aside at the last instant; the tyrant steers it back and seems to slice his opponent in half, but it is only an afterimage. Frieza sneers at the "clever trick for a monkey," and Goku replies that people who insult like that are afraid. Irritated, the tyrant creates a second disc and sends both after the Saiyan, who takes to the air again. Then Goku fires a blast near Frieza and engulfs him in a dust cloud: the tyrant barely jumps clear of his own disc, but Goku is waiting and hits him with an elbow to the skull, a knee and a string of slaps, to King Kai's delight.
On Earth, Vegeta gloats: with Goku and Frieza dead, no one will stand between him and the title of strongest. And he remembers. He relives a mission with Nappa and Raditz, a conquered planet and the mockery of Frieza, Zarbon and Dodoria, who found the job too slow; then Nappa, outside the base, revealing that Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta. The prince answered that the past meant nothing to him: he only wanted to grow strong enough to overthrow Frieza. Now, he says, that day has come. In tears, Gohan insists he is wrong: his father will come back.
On Namek, Goku flies at Frieza again, and this time he fires at the tyrant's feet, losing the discs for good. He pounds Frieza; when the tyrant tries to strike back, one of the discs catches him from behind and cuts him in two, taking his legs and left arm, even though Goku tried to warn him. The Saiyan declares the fight over and prepares to leave, but Frieza, on the ground, swallows his pride and begs for help. Goku is angry: why should he save someone who never showed mercy to anyone? In the end, though, he cannot leave him to die like that and transfers some of his energy, while King Kai shouts at him not to.
Our take
The Japanese title reads almost like a verdict: "Goku's declaration of victory! When Frieza destroys himself." It is the character's symbolic end: the weapon that chases its target anywhere ends up striking the one who threw it, like the arrogance that made him ignore every warning. And Goku's gesture, giving energy to his worst enemy, sums up his nature: he cannot kill someone who has surrendered, even when he should.
This is the penultimate act of a duel that began in episode 87: nineteen episodes in all, over four months of airtime. The anime keeps stretching, with confirmed additions to the manga: Vegeta's flashback is invented, as are Goku's slaps and King Kai's cheering, while in the manga a single elbow was enough to drop Frieza. The flashback also has a consistency problem: Vegeta claims he knew about his planet's destruction long ago, yet when Dodoria revealed it to him many episodes earlier he seemed shaken.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 326. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, it drew a 16.9% share, the lowest of episodes 84 to 107.
- A well-known animation error: while Frieza begs for mercy, his left arm is still attached, with the severed arm lying next to it.
- In the flashback Raditz also hears the truth about Planet Vegeta from Nappa, yet on Earth he told Goku the asteroid story.
- In the dub, Frieza paraphrases the Doublemint gum slogan when he creates the second disc.
Did you know? Frieza survives even this: he will return with a rebuilt body, and in Resurrection 'F' he is still after revenge on Goku.