Episode 111 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on October 9, 1991 and titled Fight with Piccolo in Funimation's dub, puts Gohan front and center. On Kami's Lookout, with Kami and Mr. Popo held hostage, the boy has to deal with two of the Spice Boys. Both titles promise a showdown with Piccolo, which only comes in the final moments.
Summary
Garlic Jr. steps out of the palace and demands to know where Goku is. Gohan refuses to answer and attacks; he is about to fire a Masenko when the demon holds up the bottle with Kami inside, forcing him to stop. Salt seizes the moment to knock him down, while Mustard blocks Krillin's path. Garlic Jr. conjures a throne for himself inside the palace and lets his henchmen toy with their opponents until Goku arrives, keeping the finishing blow for himself. Gohan and Krillin are clearly outmatched, until Krillin throws himself in front of his friend and takes one of Salt's blasts head-on.
At Korin's Tower, meanwhile, Maron does an aerobics routine and then sweet-talks Korin and Yajirobe into cooking for her; in the kitchen, the two grumble about how that girl makes fools of them. Out in space, Vegeta trains without managing to become a Super Saiyan and flies into a rage. Suddenly he senses a Super Saiyan's energy on a nearby planet and rushes there, sure he will find Goku. An asteroid blocks his way, and by the time he destroys it, only traces of his rival remain. Vegeta swears he will grow stronger.
Back on the Lookout, the sight of Krillin on the ground makes Gohan's anger explode. Mustard and Salt attack him together, but the boy comes out unscathed and erases them both with a Masenko. He turns to face Garlic Jr., but Spice releases Piccolo, who lunges at his stunned student.
Our take
The theme is Gohan's usual one: anger as the switch for his hidden power. It is the same mechanism that let him defeat Garlic Jr. in the movie, and the same one that, much later, will decide the Cell Saga. In an arc without Goku, the anime tries to show a Gohan who can win on his own, and taking out two Spice Boys at once is the heroes' first real victory. The cost is some predictability: Krillin sacrificing himself to trigger the boy's fury is a pattern the series will lean on often.
The counterpoint works better. While the fight rages up top, Korin's Tower turns into a small sitcom in which Maron wraps two seasoned characters around her finger with a couple of smiles. And Vegeta's interlude, for once, has an idea behind it: the prince comes close to Goku without ever reaching him. Many fans link the disappearance to the Instant Transmission Goku is learning on Yardrat, something we only find out when he returns; the episode never says so, but the theory holds up.
Finally, the title is almost misleading: Piccolo only enters the fray at the end, and the real master-versus-student clash is saved for the next episode.
Trivia
- Filler episode with no manga chapters. Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with animation supervision by Mitsuo Shindō, it drew an 18.1% share.
- Its flashbacks once again reuse footage from Dead Zone.
- In Japanese, Korin and Yajirobe complain in the kitchen about the effect Maron has on them; in the English dub they argue over which of them she likes more.
- Maron shows up in regular clothes here, even though she reached Korin's Tower with nothing but her swimsuit.
- Funimation's original broadcast numbered it episode 96 and aired it on April 29, 2000.