Episode 112 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on October 16, 1991 and titled Call for Restoration in Funimation's dub, closes the first half of the Garlic Jr. Saga with a twist: the infected Piccolo tormenting Gohan was only acting. The Japanese title looks ahead to the Sacred Water, the "Ultra Holy Water" resting inside Kami's palace, which will be the key to the rest of the arc.
Summary
Piccolo lays into Gohan with a ferocity that outdoes even Spice and Vinegar, and the boy cannot bring himself to fight back against his mentor. Krillin tries to free Kami and Mr. Popo from their bottles, then throws himself between the two to protect his friend and gets bitten: now he too seems to have joined Garlic Jr. The fight moves inside the palace. Piccolo splits into three copies and, helped by the infected Krillin, corners Gohan while Garlic Jr. enjoys the show.
At Korin's Tower, meanwhile, Maron is playing poker with Yajirobe and Korin and winning hand after hand, to the point that the old cat puts up Goku's old Power Pole as a stake. Fortuneteller Baba's face even pops up on one of the cards.
When Gohan is down and Garlic Jr. lowers his guard to finish him, Piccolo snatches the two bottles holding Kami and Popo. The Black Water Mist never had any effect on him: the infection was an act, agreed with Krillin and kept from Gohan precisely so it would look real. Garlic Jr. is livid. The prisoners are freed, but the battle has only just begun.
Our take
This is the best episode of the saga's first half, because the story finally plays smart. Piccolo has always been the group's tactician, and a feint like this suits him perfectly. Keeping Gohan out of the plan is cruel, but it makes the boy's despair genuine and the trap believable: Gohan cannot fake anything, and Piccolo knows that better than anyone.
There is one hole the series never fills: why Piccolo is immune to the mist is never explained, in Japanese or in the English dub. His Namekian nature is a possible answer, but that is a fan deduction. Krillin, for his part, simply pretended to be bitten.
Beyond that, it is pure entertainment. The poker game is one of the funniest scenes of the filler run, and the mentor-versus-student duel has an energy the fights with the Spice Boys lacked. With Kami free, the saga's goal comes back into focus: release the Sacred Water before it is too late.
Trivia
- Filler episode with no manga chapters. Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa and directed by Jun'ichi Fujise, with animation supervision by Minoru Maeda, it drew a 21.9% share, the highest of the saga's first five episodes.
- It is the last time Piccolo uses his Multi-Form technique.
- The English dub calls the Power Pole a "mystical magic wand" and never identifies it as Goku's old weapon.
- In the English dub Garlic Jr. calls Piccolo a Namek, an origin the demon would have no way of knowing; the Japanese version never uses the word.
- Funimation's original broadcast numbered it episode 97 and aired it on May 6, 2000.
Characters
- Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo
- Garlic Jr. and the surviving Spice Boys, Spice and Vinegar
- Kami and Mr. Popo
- Maron, Korin and Yajirobe
- Fortuneteller Baba, on a playing card