The first act of the episode is all about getting lost in the past and even though there’s a slow start to “Trunks and Mai,” it’s hard to be angry with these thoughtful scenes. Besides, so much of this current story arc is about the gang’s need to get to the future, so the fact that this entry spends some time in the past acts as a healthy balance to the series’ increasingly complicated timeline.

While Bulma works away, Beerus and Whis take a break from their lounging and libations—albeit a brief one—to also intensify their efforts to find Goku Black. The two begin to try and locate the familiar-faced megalomaniac by an attempt to put a trace on his specific energy signature, but they strangely come up empty. Judging from the “Next week on Dragon Ball Super…” sequence, it looks like the next episode is when some real answers in response to Goku Black’s identity will arrive. This installment is interested in continuing to contribute to the villain’s mystique and let the audience have fun with the journey. For instance, the episode doesn’t miss any opportunities to provide close-ups on Goku Black’s Ring of Time and Potara Earing so theories can continue to mount.

Goku can’t stand to just sit around while Bulma tries to fix the time machine and Beerus and Whis do reconnaissance work, so the Saiyan flees to King Kai’s planet to cram in some impromptu training. Vegeta follows suit and immediately heads to his gravity room to try to increase his skills. Honestly, Vegeta spends so much time in there that I’m surprised he doesn’t just perpetually float off the ground. As eager as Goku is to get stronger, Vegeta’s even more driven than Goku in this case because of Goku Black’s treatment of his “son” in the future.

The best part of “Trunks and Mai” is that there’s a really wholesome core at the heart of this episode where Future Trunks opens up to Mai and tells her what a beautiful, inspiring person her Future counterpart is in his timeline. While Future Trunks and Future Mai might have had some sort of romantic nature to their relationship, this innocent friendship between Future Trunks and Mai is just meant to be sweet. Future Trunks makes Mai want to become a better person and Trunks undergoes the same sort of realization as he watches his older, future self impart life lessons to Mai.

I’ve mentioned before how satisfying it is to not just have Future Trunks back in Dragon Ball, but to have him back alongside young Trunks. Their unusual relationship continues to blossom in incredible ways and it’s a dynamic in the show that allows for a surprising amount of insight. These moments are even more powerful when the episode plays them in juxtaposition to Future Trunks’ bond with Future Mai before everything went to Hell. Some people may not be excited to get an episode where a lot of the time is simply Future Trunks and Mai having a conversation about pride and honor, but the fact that the show can still make something like that interesting is why Dragon Ball is a series that has such versatile appeal.