WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 57 of Digimon Adventure 2020, "Contact from the Catastrophe," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
As the Chosen Ones continue their solo journeys to find the true meaning of their Crests, Tai and Agumon's has so far been something of a wild goose chase in Digimon Adventure 2020. While their friends, both human and Digimon, unlock ever more powerful forms and strengthen their respective relationships, the goggle-headed boy and his dino pal have been mere cameos in each of their side quests as Tai's compass-like DigiVice leads the pair in aimless circles.
It's sort of akin to Captain Jack Sparrow's ever-changing desires in The Pirates of the Caribbean films causing his own desire-following compass to wildly spin off course. Episode 57 of the anime, however, finally gives the pair some proper direction... right into the jaws of the reboot's latest villain, and likely series archvillain, the mysterious "Creator."
Save for a large, ambiguous eye blinking open at the episode's end, the Creator has yet to appear properly in Digimon Adventure 2020. Instead, they send Argomon (also known as Algomon) to do their bidding in "Contact from the Catastrophe," Argomon being the "Contact" and the Creator being the "Catastrophe," or, at least, the cause of it. Tai and Agumon correctly recognize the Digimon's green and purple form from the series' start, where they fought off a bunch of Rookie, and eventually, Ultimate, versions in The Network -- the in-between dimension of the real and Digital Worlds -- preventing Japan from being bombed. More recently, Izzy and Co. prevented another cluster of them from sending a ship crashing into a dock from the same location.
Other than rampant chaos, the meaning behind these attacks has been so far indiscernible, and, to be honest, it still is -- though we at least know now that Argomon isn't working alone. Argomon also isn't working randomly, either. In Episode 57, another huge herd of them use their humanoid Ultimate form as a mouthpiece, and, collectively, like Star Trek's Borg, reveal to a kidnapped Tai and Agumon that they've been instructed to put the pair's bond to the test, knowing that the DigiDestined's partners level-up via this relationship.
The test is a damsel in distress situation for Tai, while Argomon uses its cloning powers to create multiple versions of him, making it hard for Agumon to figure out which Tai is the one he needs to rescue. To make matters worse, freeing the wrong one triggers an explosion right in the distressed Digimon's face. Each Tai variant reacts differently to their imprisonment and therein lies the clue: Agumon eventually finds the real Tai by piecing together his memories of the boy and correctly guessing how he'd act in his current predicament. The answer, of course, is that Tai would put on a brave face, considering that his Crest is the Crest of Courage.
While Episode 57 of Digimon Adventure 2020 doesn't give viewers another new evolution, it does deepen Tai and Agumon's ties of friendship, cementing them as the franchise's core dynamic duo and the yellow dinosaur as Digimon's ultimate Good Boy. The most tantalizing takeaway, meanwhile, is the identity of the Creator Argomon is working for. They could well be another familiar face, such as Myotismon, or they could be a human enemy like the Digimon Emperor, given that they've lashed out so often at the real world. (Though the giant eye that closes the episode out doesn't look very human.) A brand new enemy, however, that's tailor-made for the anticipated new Omnimon form could be better than a rehash.
