A satellite network orbiting what remains of Earth has been using laser to re-create the Nazca Lines in what was once South America, prompting the government to post a hefty bounty on a suspected hacker. Not believing the reward to be challenging enough, Spike opts out while Jet and Faye investigate. They soon learn that the prime suspect is a notorious yet mysterious hacker known only as "Radical Edward". Meanwhile, the actual Radical Edward - a quirky androgynous teenager - is doing her own investigation of the satellite and discovers that it's controlled by an artificial intelligence. She soon relays this information to the Bebop crew in exchange for a favour.
This is one of the more comedic episodes, and sees the introduction of Edward, who provides most of the show's comic relief from this point onwards. In one funny moment, she's playing with a remote-controlled aircraft which looks like it was cobbled together. When the police knock on her door, she hacks into their craft and begins remotely flying (and crashing) it. This joke later returns at the end of the episode. I've heard that Edward's peculiar mannerisms were inspired the series composer, Yoko Kanno.
There's still some great action, with Spike showing off his ace piloting skills in order to reach the satellite. Speaking of which, I also kind of like the artificial intelligence, which Edward dubs "MPU". The interactions between them are actually kind of sweet.
One strange thing is that there's no real "villain of the week". The AI is not malicious at all, and its laser satellites are merely a defence mechanism (and artist's toolkit). It's motivations seem lacklustre, but I guess that's the joke, and gives it some depth. After all, even an artificial intelligence can get lonely.
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