As promised, here's my look at the first episode (or "session", as they're called), "Asteroid Blues".
Spike Spiegel and Jet Black are bounty hunters who drift the Solar System in their converted trawler, the Bebop. Their current target is Asimov Solensan, who has stolen a large consignment of a combat drug known as "Bloody Eye" and has fled to the asteroid colony of Tijuana with his pregnant girlfriend Katerina.
The episode opens with a dialogue-free, sepia-toned montage of Spike getting involved in a shoot-out in a church. This is one of many hints of Spike's mysterious past, along with him telling one of his informants that he once died because of a woman, and telling Katerina that he was originally from Mars. We also get an insight into how Spike operates as a bounty hunter, when Jet cooks him bell peppers and beef. Spike points out the lack of beef in said dish, to which Jet explains he couldn't afford beef because most of their last bounty went into paying damages incurred by Spike during the job.
The Tijuana asteroid colony is painted as a bleak place where poverty is rife, like some small town in a more modern day American West setting (despite it being sci-fi). Spike seems to grow closer to Katerina, who dreams of a more comfortable life on Mars.
Of course, there's plenty of action. One sequence involves Asimov and Katerina going to a bar, where Asimov attempts to sell the Bloody Eye. As he's giving a demonstration, the bar is raided by members of the syndicate he'd stolen from, who kill his buyer before being killed by Asimov while under the drug's influence. The use of Asimov's POV makes the event kinda blurry, but we later see the aftermath when Jet investigates the bar and interrogates more hitmen.
In the second act, Spike poses as a buyer to confront Asimov and engages him in a fight, which is interrupted by another syndicate hit squad. Asimov and Katerina steal a ship and try to escape, pursued by syndicate gunships and by Spike in his modified racer, the Swordfish. Again, it's a thrilling chase, but ends on a low note. It also shows how little Asimov cares for Katerina.
All-in-all, I'm looking forward to the next episode.
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