Episode 183 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on April 28, 1993 and titled Android Explosion in Funimation's dub, is where Goku's plan starts to crack. Piccolo asks him what nobody else dared to ask, Android 16 throws himself into a suicide attack that never goes off, and Cell, tired of beating a boy who will not fight back, decides to hurt the people Gohan loves.
Summary
Cell peppers Gohan with Frieza's Death Beam, the same attack the tyrant used to kill Vegeta on Namek, then sneaks in close and crushes him in a bear hug. Gohan screams while Goku silently urges him to get angry. Piccolo has had enough: he asks Goku whether he ever discussed this strategy with his son. Gohan does not love fighting the way he does, and right now he may not be angry at Cell at all, but wondering why his father will not come and save him. Goku is left speechless and asks for a senzu bean. Cell drops Gohan's limp body to the ground.
The monster has realized that physical pain is not enough: to enrage the boy, he has to make his friends suffer. He flies over to the group and snatches the bag of senzu beans from Krillin, so nobody can heal. Gohan begs him to leave them alone, admitting he cannot control his power; Cell just laughs.
At that moment Android 16, who has no energy signature and goes unnoticed, grabs Cell from behind in the same bear hug and announces that he will self-destruct. Everyone braces for the blast, and Mr. Satan hides behind his students, but nothing happens. Krillin explains why: Bulma and Dr. Brief removed the bomb while repairing him, judging it too dangerous. At Kame House Bulma tells Master Roshi the story, and a flashback shows the Red Ribbon-marked device found inside the android's chest.
While Android 16 is still reeling, Cell shatters him with an energy blast. The pieces fly everywhere; his head lands near Mr. Satan, who vainly orders Caroni to get rid of it. Cell counts Gohan's friends, seven of them, and from his tail expels seven little blue creatures: the Cell Juniors. He sends them off laughing, as Goku warns that each one is terribly strong and Trunks and Vegeta transform into Super Saiyans.
Our take
The key scene is not the failed explosion but Piccolo's outburst. For the first time someone tells Goku to his face that his love of fighting has blinded him to his son, and it matters that the one saying it is Piccolo, the mentor who raised Gohan while his father was dead. Goku's silence says more than any reply.
Android 16 is the emotional heart of the episode. He is a machine built to kill Goku, yet here he offers to die to protect the Earth he has learned to love. His gesture fails because of an almost cruel technicality: the people who repaired him out of kindness unknowingly disarmed him. Toriyama's twist turns a heroic sacrifice into a moment of helplessness, and sets up what happens in the next episode.
As for the Cell Juniors, they are a simple but effective idea: they drag everyone into the fight and turn a one-on-one duel into a collective threat, which is exactly what it takes to push Gohan over the edge.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 405 from page five and chapter 406. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Hiroki Shibata, with Yukio Ebisawa as animation director, it drew a 20.6% share.
- Bulma and Dr. Brief's flashback discovering the bomb is an anime addition, as is Piccolo's failed swing at Cell when he steals the senzu beans.
- Canada's YTV began airing the Ocean dub with this episode; until then it had only aired in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
- In the Ocean dub, Bulma calls her father "Dr. Brief" instead of "Dad" in the bomb flashback, the only time she does so.