By Erika Suarez

The tables turn when the Saiyans incredibly new power pushes back Jiren and is almost at his breaking point to release his full strength. The elevating fight is set back for this episode, and Super solely focuses on the rest of the warriors with the battle including Dyspo, Frieza, And Gohan. We see true leadership from Gohan when he takes the shots against Universe 11’s fastest warrior while he works as a team with Frieza. Sadly, the respected warrior is let down by an unsatisfying elimination.

Frieza’s continuous battle against Dyspo felt never-ending, but Frieza’s chatty and cocky personality is inevitable. Frieza struggles to fight against his opponent’s overwhelming speed and transforms into his flashy golden form that slightly helped, but it only made Dyspo much faster and nearly pushing him out of bounds. “Circle Flash” was a fancy technique that Dyspo used to lock Frieza in a ring that ignited an explosion. It made for an interesting brawl and showed us the full capabilities of the fast warrior. A few alternatives could have been used, for instance, Dyspo accepting Frieza’s deceiving plan but he knew better not to deal with a villainous foe. I’m curious how things will turn out for Frieza and where he’ll stand once the tournament is over. Maybe join with the rest of the Dragon Ball fighters? All I’m saying is, if Vegeta can put his villainous ways behind him then Frieza can too.

 Hitting the books all these years wasn’t a complete waste of time for Gohan when his brilliant strategy was placed into action when narrowing his opponents space by having Frieza form a cage with his beams. His plan was almost successful up until Frieza’s stamina completely drained, and Gohan was left with a risky sacrifice by bringing Dyspo out of bounds along with him. Although it was the only way to take down the opponent, it was an uninteresting elimination and let-down for the well-respected leader of Universe 7. The fighters of Earth have a history of sacrificing for the greater good like Android 18 taking the fall for Android 17 in episode 121 and Master Roshi costing his life when using the Containment Wave in episode 105. Sadly, Gohan’s sacrificial victory doesn’t add up to these two memorable events.

Vegeta and Goku make a small appearance, adding a glimpse of their battle was a tease and creates a misleading belief that the entire episode was going to be focused on them. We see that Jiren exasperated expression towards the Saiyans new and improved power is bringing out the hidden strength he’s been containing. I’m eager to see Jiren take actual damage instead of being grazed by all of the attacks because his strength is becoming a bit exaggerated.

Focusing on the rest of the warriors in this episode made a pleasing break from the primary warriors in the show. Gohan and Frieza make an interesting team when working together to take down their opponent and using different ideas rather than confronting head-on. It was unfortunate to see Gohan eliminated so soon in the tournament and in a not so honorable and interesting way. The episode leaves us off with six warriors remaining with only a few episodes left until the series finishes up this March. 

Score: 3/5

Dragon Ball Super E.124- “The Fiercely Overwhelming Assault! Gohan’s Last Stand!!”
Writer: Akira Toriyama
Studio: Toei Animation