Recap / Dragon Ball Z Abridged E 52

"Listen, I like [Vegeta], but his default emotion is 'angry'."
"It's more than anger, it's pride! It would shatter him!"
"AND BECAUSE OF THAT, 18 HAD TO DIE?!"

—Krillin and Trunks, after Krillin found out Trunks was holding back so he wouldn't upset Vegeta

Original Airdate: February 18, 2016

After acquiring his Perfect form, Cell proceeds to completely demolish Vegeta, while Trunks and Krillin argue about the former holding back for the sake of Vegeta's pride. Meanwhile, Goku has finally managed to turn Gohan into a Super Saiyan through what originally seems like an attempt of Goku's to teach Gohan how to dodge.

Damn you, Tropes...

• Angrish: Gohan's first Super Saiyan transformation leaves him snarling and gibbering as he tries to control himself. Goku just cheerfully asks Gohan if he wants a haircut.
• Anguished Outburst: Krillin, while chewing Trunks out for holding back just to avoid injuring Vegeta's pride, lets loose with one of these:
  "AND BECAUSE OF THAT, 18 HAD TO DIE?!"
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Trunks realizes that asking an injured Krillin if he needs a Senzu Bean is just unnecessary.
• Badass Boast: Cell and Vegeta trade them back and forth, particularly when the Final Flash is being charged up.
  Cell: Ohoho! That's much better. I can actually feel that.
  Vegeta: In mere moments, all you'll be feeling... Is OBLIVION!
  Cell: That, or disappointment. Go ahead... flip that coin.
• Batman Gambit: Goku tells Gohan that they're going to work on his dodging skills before firing a blast at him. He knows that Gohan's response to this will be to instinctually freeze up, forcing him to unlock the Super Saiyan form if he hopes to survive the attack.
• Beam Spam: Vegeta's response to seeing Cell regenerate all the damage that he sustained from the former's Final Flash (roughly half his body) in mere seconds is to desperately launch a barrage of energy blasts while shouting "Why Won't You Die?!". It works about as well as you'd expect.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Vegeta allowed Cell to achieve his Perfect form so he can get a better challenge than his Semi-Perfect self. Unfortunately for the prince, Cell easily trounces him after surviving his most powerful attack to date.
• Book Ends: The battle between Vegeta and Cell began in Episode 49 with Cell pressing Vegeta's Goku Button leading into a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown by Vegeta on Cell. It ends here with Cell pressing Vegeta's Goku Button at the conclusion of delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Vegeta.
• Break the Haughty: In the last two episodes, Vegeta was self-assured and had Cell practically cowering. By allowing Cell to reach his Perfect form, the shoe ends up on the other foot, as Cell shoots down every attempt at trash talk and utterly humiliates him, completely regaining his confidence and then some.
• Call-Back:
  • "Damn you, Pavlov" makes a return for the first time since Season 1, regarding Gohan's difficulty with dodging.
  • As mentioned below in Ironic Echo, the "You're either perfect or you're not me" statement that Vegeta stated last episode is now repeated by Cell.
  • Cell's Mood Whiplash right before getting hit with the Final Flash is similar to the one he had right before Tien blasted him with the Shin Kikoho in Episode 48.
  • Just like in Episode 49, Cell presses Vegeta's Goku Button, only this time, Vegeta is too beat up to give his usual response to such a comment.
  • Cell gives a "KO! I win! Perfect!" exclamation upon knocking Vegeta unconscious, mirroring what happened when Freeza killed King Vegeta.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Cell pays Vegeta back gleefully for all of the trouble he's caused the last few episodes by taking him out in the most humiliating way he can.
• Darker and Edgier: Continues this trend from the previous episode, mainly as everyone is reeling from the aftermath of said episode.
• Delayed Reaction: When Gohan overcooks the meat Goku has him light up with his energy shots, Goku is set on fire. During the outro, he finally reacts to this.
• Dramatic Spine Injury: After Cell No Sells Vegeta's rapid-fire ki blasts, he launches Vegeta into the air with a kick, then teleports above Vegeta and slams his elbow into Vegeta's spine. Unlike in the original series, there's an audible crack of breaking bones, and Vegeta drops unconscious to the ground.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Of a musical variety: The TFS-style remixes of Kenji Yamamoto's Trunks theme and Bruce Faulconer's Perfect Cell theme that play a good portion of the next two episodes respectively can be heard at the end of this episode as Trunks begins powering up to save his father from Cell.
• Explain, Explain—-OH, SHIT!!!: Cell notes to himself how amusing it is that Vegeta named his technique "Final Flash", before sensing too late how strong it is.
  Cell: Aw, how cute! He named it—OH, SHIT!!!
• Foreshadowing: Cell telling Android 16 not to lose his head is partially a comment on his damaged cortex and partially a note to what will happen to him at the Cell Games.
• Hope Spot: Vegeta gathers all the energy he has to use an attack which we've never seen before. Cell has an Oh, Crap! just before it hits him, and the reveal shows that the attack blew a huge chunk out of Cell, including his arm and part of his torso. Vegeta rejoices... and then Cell regrows all the damage without any sign that it has truly hurt him at all.
  Cell: (pissed) You think this is funny?
  Vegeta: (laughing triumphantly)
  Cell: (really pissed) YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!!
  Vegeta: (still laughing triumphantly)
  Cell: It's not... as funny... (smiling) as your face~!
  Vegeta: (stops laughing) Huh?
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: As Gohan struggles to block Goku's ki blast, he comes to the awful realization that nobody's coming to save him this time and that he can't rely on others to protect him anymore, not to mention Goku's attack is pretty tough to avoid. This ends up triggering his Super Saiyan transformation.
• Ironic Echo: Cell throws Vegeta's "You're either perfect, or you're not me" bit of gloating from last episode right back into his face, before kicking him through a set of mountains (or plateaus).
• Kick the Dog: Goku's plan to get Gohan to finally go Super Saiyan seems like this at first, as he seems like he's risking the life of his own son, but Goku quickly reveals that he was severely holding back so his attack doesn't actually kill Gohan if something went wrong.
• Late to the Realization: It's only now that Trunks realizes that Krillin's plan was to keep 18 alive the entire time, as he previously assumed that destroying 18 was the whole point of the plan, and he'd thought it impossible to view the Androids as anything more than killing machines.
  Trunks: It's more than anger, it's Pride! It would shatter him!
  Krillin: And because of that, 18 had to die!?
  Trunks: What does it matter?! That was your plan the entire—(sees Krillin on the verge of tears) Oh. ...Shit.
• Little "No": Gohan automatically screams for help as he tries to block Goku's ki blast... then lets out one of these as the awful realization of how alone he is kicks in.
• Manly Tears: Krillin is still shown with tears in his eyes after 18's absorption. It takes Trunks seeing it happen the second time during their argument that he realizes that Krillin had fallen for 18.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Cell's "Oh, shit!" reaction to Vegeta's Final Flash is based on him saying that in the German dub of the original show.
  • The Stinger has Goku humming a song about food to the tune of "Dragon Soul," the Dragon Ball Z Kai theme.
• No-Sell: Pretty much every attack on Cell this episode is fruitless. Krillin's Destructo Disc just evaporates on contact, and most of Vegeta's kicks or blasts are useless. The Final Flash gets Cell to react with fear a split-second before it hits, but he quickly recovers from that by re-growing his arm.
• Oh, Crap!: Gohan is horrified when Goku says he was going to help him master the one thing he is still struggling: how to dodge.
• "Oh, Crap!" Fakeout: Much like the source material, Cell gives Vegeta a Hope Spot just to see the look on Vegeta's face when he regenerates.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: The fauxchestral remix of Bruce Faulconer's Super Vegeta theme features this as Vegeta prepares to unleash the Final Flash.
• One Free Hit: Calling back to Episode 50 when Vegeta offered Semi-Perfect Cell a free shot, here Perfect Cell makes the offer to Vegeta, knowing he is now incomprehensibly stronger than Vegeta. He actually does it twice, mocking and punishing Vegeta for wasting the first attempt. Vegeta uses the second free shot to hit Cell with the Final Flash, which might have actually been strong enough to kill Cell if it hadn't hit him with only a glancing blow.
• Precision F-Strike: When Trunks finally realizes that Krillin actually loved Android 18 and had no actual intention of killing her when he sees his tears, he is left almost speechless, except for a regretful "oh... Shit."
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Cell gives a rather cruel one to Vegeta.
• Running Gagged: Krillin never thinks about using his Kienzan until after things get bad, or he does use it and it never hits anyone. This time it does hit someone, namely Cell, and does absolutely nothing. He doesn't use it for the remainder of the series.
• Shout-Out:
  • The "I want you to hit me as hard as you can" bit that Cell asks from Vegeta is a reference to Fight Club, done in the style of a joke from Parks and Recreation. Though in their Creator Commentary, they say it was actually coincidental because Kaiser Neko, who wrote the line had never seen Parks And Recreation at the time.
  • Following his victory over Vegeta, Cell takes a cue from Freeza and celebrates by quoting Street Fighter.
  • The title of episode 52 is "Flashpoint".
• Squee: Goku is positively delighted when Gohan finally reaches his Super Saiyan form.
• Tempting Fate: Trunks states that there is literally nothing that Vegeta could do to make the situation worse, save for blowing up the planet. Cue Vegeta powering up an intense Final Flash, which could potentially blow up the planet.
  • Cell dares Vegeta to deliver his best shot. While he does survive the Final Flash, he was genuinely shocked of its power.
• Tranquil Fury: When Cell asks whether or not he and Android 16 are still adversaries, 16 simply replies that Cell ate his family. Later on, when Cell casually asks him another question, 16 bluntly states that he hates Cell.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Trunks' reluctance about powering up is due completely to not wanting to anger his father more. Additionally, Cell provokes Vegeta into attacking him by noting that "his father (King Vegeta) was right about him."
• What the Hell, Hero?: Following Trunks yelling at Krillin for destroying the remote in the previous episode, Krillin now angrily chews Trunks out for holding back in the fight against Semi-Perfect Cell, as Trunks’ reluctance to reveal his new power in front of his father led to Android 18 getting absorbed and Cell reaching his Perfect form.
• Wilfully Weak: Viciously deconstructed. Trunks trying to hide his newfound power from his father causes him to hold back when the situation demands that he go all out. Even after this contributed to Cell absorbing 18, Trunks still makes excuses to avoid powering up, even as his father gets tossed about like a rag doll. It takes Cell being on the brink of killing Vegeta, as well as Krillin's harsh reminder that the Dragon Balls are inert, for Trunks to change his mind.
• Worf Barrage: The uselessness of Beam Spam attacks is lampshaded by Cell:
  Vegeta: (rapidly firing ki blasts at Cell) Why Won't You Die?!
  Cell: Prince. (walks through blasts unharmed) Has this ever worked? (punches Vegeta)

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"Some advice, Prince, for the future... Next time, why don't you remember your place like the rest of them, and wait for Goku."