It’s helpful here that at least the final leg of Goku and Beerus’ fight is a beautiful sight to behold. Watching them go back and forth while tearing up the ocean floor makes for a great juxtaposition to all of the fighting that’s taken place in outer space lately. It also doesn’t hurt to see Goku so woefully outclassed during this fight as well as the grander reveal that Beerus was still likely “playing” through most of this fight. Make no mistake, in this Battle of Gods Goku is undeniably the loser (which takes some guts on the show’s part), it just tries to reverse this decision as soon as it makes it.

When push comes to shove here, Goku manages to focus all of his energy into one final Kamehameha to counter Beerus’ Earth destruction attack. He succeeds in his efforts (because of course), but completely drains what’s left of his energy in the process. The Earth might be saved, but Goku is surely in danger of now being killed by the God of Destruction. Moments of his life and glimpses of his family and friends even flash before the Saiyan’s eyes as he plummets to his doom.

Or not.

The episode pulls an incredibly lame trick over on its audience as its resolution. There have been plenty of battles in the Dragon Ball canon that have gone out with disappointing conclusions, but this one is borderline insulting and reeks of cowardice. It’s initially deeply disappointing to learn that this fight ends by Beerus simply falling asleep after expending too much energy (it’s revealed that Beerus is basically one big child whose habits consist of sleeping, eating, and watching anime). Well, at least when Beerus wakes up and Goku has his energy restored this battle will be able to continue, right? Not so much.

Whis informs everyone that Beerus’ nap will be so restorative that he’ll actually forget all about his trip to Earth and his plans to destroy it. All of this is pretty ridiculous until the episode tips its hat to the fact that Beerus is actually faking his sleep. He’s acting this way in order to preserve Earth’s divine cuisine, but it’s a pretty sad out for a villain that was depicted as being more ruthless than Frieza and Majin Buu combined.