Dragon Ball Super: Goku's Family Flashback Creates a Curious Plothole
Dragon Ball Super surprised fans with a flashback exploring more of Bardock's past with the newest chapter, and surprisingly created a curious plot hole about Goku's father as a result. The Granolah the Survivor arc kicked off with the promise that fans would get to learn more about the Saiyans and the damage they caused under Frieza by looking through the lens of Granolah, the final survivor of a race that had been wiped out as part of Frieza's planet conquering business. Surprisingly, this also ked to a new look at Bardock's past as well.
After re-introducing the character to the series canon in a whole new kind of way through a flashback in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the newest chapter of the series revealed that it was actually Bardock who ended up saving Granolah's life in the first place. But as the chapter explores this part of Bardock's past and introduces Goku to his father's actions, it also creates a curious bit of storytelling as Vegeta has been aware of Goku's father this entire time and never once thought to tell Goku about it until now.
Chapter 77 of the series sees Monaito reveal that the Saiyan who once saved he and Granolah in the past was named Bardock, and then mentions how Goku looked like the spitting image of this Saiyan warrior. Vegeta then explains that Bardock was indeed Goku's father, and even mentions how Goku's soft hearted nature must run in the family. Not only does the fact that Vegeta knows Goku's father well enough to know his name (which does make sense), but this other line implies that he could have known Bardock well enough to know the fighter's personality.
It does raise some questions about why Vegeta never felt like he needed to spell this out for Goku before, but it also kind of makes sense for their kind of relationship. The two of them don't really talk to each other in such deep ways, nor do they really talk about their shared Saiyan heritage all that much. It wasn't even until the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly that Goku felt a deeper connection to his Saiyan roots in the first place when meeting a new Saiyan fighter. So while this does stick out, it also kind of makes sense.
But what do you think? Do you think it's strange for Vegeta to have known about Goku's father but never mentioned it before now? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!