This episode also features the most of Beerus and Whis yet, which is great. The first half of the episode is basically handed over to the two of them. While Beerus is getting the heavy focus, it’s nice to get some telling lines of dialogue such as how Whis is “The fastest person in this universe.” Getting an example of Whis’ true powers at some point would be satisfying, but it seems like the show wants him to be taking a backseat for now. Beerus and Whis being off in space also leads to the series’ introduction of the Oracle Fish, which basically seems to be some prescient alien friend of theirs that they sometimes use to look into the future? The character doesn’t really get developed much (he seems to like food as much as these guys do) and feels like an excuse to just have fun with more alien visuals (Beerus’ drink looked wonderful, as did that cobra bath setup, for instance). Regardless of the Oracle Fish’s role in the greater scheme of the series, he does help move things along, confirming that this Super Saiyan God is indeed going to be his ultimate adversary. While it’s being nitpicky, I’m a little over people being so overwhelmed of the knowledge that Frieza has been defeated when there are much more powerful adversaries out there. Beerus inquiring about Frieza isn’t out of the ordinary, but throwing in some details about Buu as well wouldn’t hurt.

Back on Earth, everyone is abuzz for Bulma’s birthday party and the episode decidedly takes a much more relaxed feel. None of this material feels essential, but it’s nice to see characters like Krillin, Android 18, and Master Roshi get to be in the spotlight for a minute and share some screen time. There’s a lot of padding with this birthday (and it’s one of the more stretched out moments of this Battles of Gods “adaptation”), but it does at least function well as this opportunity for a lesser tier characters to be featured. Scenes like the one where Gohan and Videl share their wedding photo with Piccolo are sort of beautiful in how to down to Earth they are. They almost make you forget that a God is about to literally come down to Earth and put things in jeopardy.

For those that don’t think the gentle party banter that the episode offers up is entertaining enough, there’s still a scene of Vegeta training while he ignores that his wife’s birthday is going on. Someone’s got to get stronger than Goku, after all. Even the absent-minded Goku manages to remember. But that’s really it for the excitement in this episode. The decision to have Battle of Gods spread across fourteen episodes is certainly a bold one (even ten epsiodes would be plenty) and this is definitely an episode that’s not left with a lot of material to work with accordingly. Getting reacquainted with some smaller characters is the highlight this week as the wheels stay in motion for bigger events to come.

Next week we might actually get to see what those Bingo prizes are…and maybe Beerus and Whis will arrive on Earth, too.