Sunday 20 June 2021

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 18: Speak Like a Child

 

This episode is kinda pointless. Even the teaser acknowledged this fact. And that's what makes it funny.

The Bebop is visited by a courier drone with a package for Faye, which Jet reluctantly accepts. When he asks Faye to reimburse him for the shipping and handling charges, Faye leaves for a day at the races. Meanwhile, Spike impulsively opens the package to find it contains an antique Betamax cassette. They attempt to sell it to a local expert on 20th Century technology, but the tape gets caught in his player and Spike promptly breaks it. Ed later discovers that there may be a working Betamax player in an abandoned underground museum on Earth. Spike and Jet venture into the derelict underground and recover the technology. Unfortunately, upon their return they discover that they've picked up a VCR.

This is essentially a filler episode, and what TV Tropes refers to as a "shaggy dog story"; a quest which is rendered moot when it ends. But it's still a funny episode. Jet discusses how he should carry out tests on the package to ensure it doesn't contain explosives or biological agents, while Spike just opens it. Later on, their visit to the expert concludes with Spike trying to perform percussive maintenance on the Betamax player, with him later claiming "my ship works when I kick it". The second act consists of the precarious journey through the underground museum, with the aforementioned punchline.

However, there is some dramatic moment at the end; the crew receives a working Betamax player and are finally able to watch the cassette, which turns out to be a home video made by a teenage Faye. As she watches, she's unable to recall who she really is.

Despite not amounting to much, it's still a funny episode.

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