Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Wrap Up

 

Well, that was a fun experience, and got some use out of my Channel 4 membership. Now I wait another two years before they decide to close my account.

Cowboy Bebop still stands as one of my favourite animes, and one of my favourite shows of all time. The action is great, the characters are memorable, and the music kicks ass.

I love writing about characters who are misfits in their societies, and this show has these in spades. I feel for all the Bebop crew: Spike presents himself as a happy-go-lucky thrill-seeker, which hides a death wish over a shady past he's never been able to fully walk away from; Jet tries to present himself as a wise mentor, but his sense of morality isn't compatible with a society that's rife with corruption and isolates him from his few friends; Faye is a fish out water due to being in a cryogenic sleep for 54 years, and has been swindled by everyone she's known; Ed was abandoned by her absent-minded father, and her eccentric nature possibly conceals a state of denial over this.

What are my favourite episodes? Hmm...I'm trying to figure out whether I want to do a standard top ten, or my favourite comedic and dramatic episodes.

I'll do both.

My top five comedic episodes:

1. Cowboy Funk
2. Mushroom Samba
3. Toys in the Attic
4. Stray Dog Strut
5. Speak Like a Child

My top five dramatic episodes:

1. The Real Folk Blues Part 2
2. Jupiter Jazz Part 2
3. Black Dog Serenade
4. Ballad of Fallen Angels
5. Pierrot Le Fou

That's about it. Now I need to prep a project for Camp NaNoWriMo.

Until then, happy writing.

I mean, "See You, Space Cowboy".

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Sessions 25 & 26: The Real Folk Blues (Part 1 & 2)

 

Well, it's the grand finale, and what a finale.

While Spike and Jet are sitting in a bar, they're attacked in force by hitmen. Although Jet is wounded in the leg, they escape with the help of Shin, a disgruntled member of the Red Dragon Syndicate. Shin explains that Vicious attempted to usurp power from the leaders of the syndicate, and they're now purging all of his former associates. Meanwhile, Faye encounters Julia, Spike's old flame who is also being targeted by the syndicate. She asks Faye to relay a message to Spike, saying that she'll be waiting. As Spike and Julia reunite, Vicious escapes his execution and assassinates the Red Dragon's leaders, taking over the syndicate. After Julia is killed, Spike heads to the Red Dragon's headquarters for the final confrontation.

This episode finally reveals this mysterious part of Spike's backstory through flashbacks: Spike and Vicious were both enforcers for the Red Dragons. When Spike had an affair with Julia, who was in a relationship with Vicious, he wanted to elope with her and leave the syndicate. As the syndicates don't allow their members to leave, Spike got into a shootout at an old church, in which he faked his own death and planned to rendezvous with Julia afterwards. However, Julia never showed, as Vicious had learned of her plan and told her to kill Spike or else he'd kill them both, after which she went into hiding.

There's a lot of action in both parts. The first part has the aforementioned shootout in the bar, along with a car chase as Faye helps Julia elude her assassins, and a space battle pitting the Swordfish and Red Tail against syndicate gunships. The second act features Spike and Julia having a running gun battle across rooftops, before loading himself up with guns and explosives and storming the syndicate's headquarters.

In addition to the action, we also get a fair bit of drama, and not just through the flashbacks. My favourite scene takes place just before the final confrontation; Spike returns to the Bebop and re-unites with Jet, who cooks him a meal. Spike tells a fable, and claims he hates it because it features cats, and he and Jet share a laugh. It's one of the few times I've seen them do this, and there's the underlying fact that Spike's upcoming battle is his fight and he's doing it alone. It may be the last time they see each other again.

This is probably one of the strongest episodes in terms of drama, and a great ending.

Bang.

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 24: Hard Luck Woman

 

We're almost at the end. Two more episodes to go, but they're a two-parter so I'm gonna review them both together.

Faye studies the home video obtained in "Speak Like a Child", eager to find out who she is and where she's originally from. When Ed claims to know the location of the video, they change the Bebop's course and head to Earth. They travel to an orphanage where Ed once resided, and learn that Ed's father previously visited in search of her. Faye later encounters one of her school friends, who has now aged when she hasn't. Meanwhile, Spike and Jet pursue a lucrative bounty on Ed's father, Siniz Hesap Luften Appledehi.

This episode is largely focussed on Ed and Faye. It's largely comedic, showing that Ed's father is just as eccentric and quirky as she is. It turns out that he's a cartographer looking to create new maps of Earth (which is impossible due to the constant meteor showers). There's an action scene as Spike and Jet try to bring him in, but he easily subdues them. Then Ed appears and re-unites with him, revealing that she'd posted the bounty and it isn't as much as they originally thought.

As silly as this episode is, it's also downright depressing. Faye arrives at her childhood home, only to find it in ruins. Meanwhile, Ed's father offers her the chance to travel with him, but runs off to pursue another meteorite impact before she can answer. She ultimately decides to leave the Bebop and go after him, and Ein goes with her.

Well, I guess it's just a breather for the finale.

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 23: Brain Scratch

 

"Cleansing the soul" always sounded rather ominous to me.

A mysterious figure known as "Dr Londes" has established a cult known as "Brain Scratch", which offers immortality through the upload of spirit to the internet. After a number of suspicious deaths and disappearances, a bounty is placed on Londes. When Spike notices Faye being interviewed as a member of Scratch, he and Jet conduct their own investigation. Spike takes the direct approach by asking Scratch members, while Jet tries to find those believed to have worked with Londes. Unfortunately, neither of them are able to yield results.

After the laughs of "Cowboy Funk", the way is being paved for some of the more dramatic episodes. This episode is kinda philosophical and depressing. One big thing that occurs is the cancellation of Big Shot, which provided a comedic tone while discussing the bounty of the week. There's not much in the way action, but I love the mystery. It's also interesting to see Ein get involved in the story; Jet uses a special headset to try and join Scratch, but it emits a high frequency which almost puts him into a coma until Ein senses something's amiss and bites him.

I must admit that there are times when I feel like it's re-treading the same ground as "Jamming With Edward" with a manhunt involving cyberspace, but that gives Ed something to do.

Londes provides an interesting philosophy on how television is the greatest and worst invention of all time, and how it's become a religion in and of itself. But the reveal of who Londes really is ends up being quite poignant. I'm not going to share the details on here.

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 22: Cowboy Funk

This is my favourite episode, since I'm a big fan of westerns and because it's also one of the funniest episodes in the series.

Spike is going after a bounty known as "The Teddy Bomber", a serial bomber who targets high-rise buildings using explosives concealed in teddy bears. Unfortunately, his hunt puts him in competition with rival bounty hunter named Andy Von De Oniyate. At first, Jet and Faye are incredulous of Spike's story, but then encounter "Cowboy Andy" and find his destructive nature too similar to that of Spike's.

Being the egotistical prick that he is, Cowboy Andy steals the show in this episode. Hailing from a rich family, he takes up bounty hunting for the thrill of it and fashions himself as a Hollywood gunslinger: he uses a six shooter and a lasso, dresses like a cowboy, and even travels everywhere on a horse. He's accompanied by his leitmotif, "Go Go Cactus Man" which other characters can somehow hear (to the point where Spike thinks he's approaching when he hears someone whistling). Even when Faye spends the evening with him, he toasts his reflection in her eyes.

The other main "focus" character is the Teddy Bomber, although some audiences may be uncomfortable with his methods (this episode was pulled from broadcasts around the time 9/11 happened). There's a running joke in which he gives a monologue about his motive, but he's cut off or ignored every time he gives it. He actually gets angry when Spike and Andy are too busy bickering with each other to listen to him. He even sends a letter to Big Shot, dropping hints about his next target to lure the bounty hunters out, and includes his speech...which gets cut off because they ran out of time.

It all boils down to a final showdown between the two rivals, with a comedic payoff.

See you, space samurai.

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 21: Boogie Woogie Feng Shui

 

Feng Shui is something I know little about, but it nonetheless intrigues me.

Jet receives a cryptic email from an old acquaintance, Pao Pu-Zi, whom he knows as one of the most prominent Feng Shui masters on Mars. His initial search takes him to a cemetery, where he finds Pao's tombstone. He meets Pao's teenage daughter Meifa, and they escape an ambush by a pair of assassins who bear a close resemblance to the Blues Brothers. As the rest of the crew speculate over Jet's relationship with Meifa, he learns that Pao was apparently killed in a hyperspace fluctuation while travelling to Jupiter. Having more questions, Jet accompanies Meifa as she searches for an item known as "the Sunstone". He later ambushes the Blues Brothers and learns they're from the Blue Snake crime syndicate, and were following Meifa in the hopes that she'd lead them to her father. Jet later reveals to Meifa that Pao was a consultant for the syndicate but wanted out, and had given information to Jet when he was a detective for the ISSP.

This is another episode which largely centres on Jet as he solves the mystery. It's interesting to see the plot unravel, and there's still some humour over the rest of the crew's speculation.

There's some great action, with Jet subduing the Blues Brothers, showing that he uses a less refined fighting style compared to Spike's martial arts techniques. We later get a cool dogfight as a Blue Snake ship pursues the Bebop into hyperspace while they're following a path the sunstone is leading them on. It provides a truly poignant ending as they use it to locate Pao.

That's about it. I'm hyped for tomorrow's session, which is one of my favourite episodes.

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 20: Pierrot Le Fou

 

Damn, this one's creepy. It's also one of my favourite episodes.

While leaving a pool hall, Spike witnesses a shooting by a mysterious assassin. When the assassin turns on Spike, he displays an ability to fly through the air and can even stop bullets with a forcefield. After Spike narrowly escapes with his life, Jet learns that the assassin is known as "Mad Pierrot", and he's killed several high-ranking ISSP members. Spike later gets a message from Pierrot inviting him to the "Space Land" amusement park. While Spike goes off to confront him, Jet tasks Ed with finding more info on Mad Pierrot, who turns to be the test subject in a cancelled project to create a super-soldier.

Pierrot carries this episode. He's essentially a mash-up of several Batman villains; he resembles The Penguin in both appearance and attire, has a laugh and personality reminiscent of The Joker, and an origin story similar to that of Bane. He's also one of Spike's toughest opponents and almost like a slasher movie bogeyman; he can't be reasoned with, he can't be hurt with bullets, he can fly, he's carrying a massive arsenal of weapons, and he wants nothing more than to kill. His only apparent weakness is that he's afraid of cats.

The first act utilises shadowy visuals that create an eerie and haunting atmosphere. This gives way to a more glitzy style during the confrontation in Space Land, which looks incredibly tacky. However, this sequence also contains some more explosive action as Spike and Pierrot duke it out in the amusement park. The setting allows for a lot of creative action as the pair fight on different rides. And the end result definitely brings new meaning to "Kids can be so cruel" while also providing a comedic edge when Jet shares what he and Ed have learned.

One of the best. And I agree with Spike; I hate theme parks.

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 19: Wild Horses

 

Which Blue Sox is Miles rooting for? I've found at least four currently active teams with that name.

As Jet and Faye go after some pirates, Spike takes the Swordfish to his old friend Doohan to get it overhauled. He meets Doohan's assistant, Miles, a talkative baseball enthusiast and avid supporter of the "Blue Sox". Meanwhile, Jet and Faye's sting operation fails when the pirate gang infects the Red Tail's systems with a computer virus, prompting it to go haywire and shoot at the Hammerhead. After the pirates insult the Bebop, Jet is eager to bring them in, and Spike reluctantly agrees after receiving Doohan's invoice.

This is one of the more light-hearted episodes, but there isn't really much to it. However, it does delve into the origins of the Swordfish without being a flashback episode. It turns out that Spike originally obtained his craft from Doohan, and that it was originally a mono-racer. We don't get much more than that, but it's interesting to get some insight into Spike's past that doesn't involve Julia or Vicious.

There are still some great moments. One funny part involves Spike and Faye planning to ambush the pirates, going on information that they're travelling in a cargo hauler with a purple penguin on the side. When they see two identical haulers leaving the truck stop, Faye suggests they shoot at both and see which one runs (which Spike claims is the first time he agrees with Faye on something). Naturally, Jet is aghast at this plan, but they carry it out anyway only to find that both haulers leave. Faye pursues one of them, but it turns out to be a real hauler and the pilots think they're being accosted for an unpaid parking ticket.

The main action scene happens shortly afterwards, when Spike is forced to disable his systems after being hit by the pirates, and finds himself facing a potentially fatal re-entry in the Earth's atmosphere. Miles picks up the incident on his radio while listening to a baseball game, and he and Doohan try and pick Spike up using an old space shuttle. The whole thing has a Gerry Anderson vibe, albeit with second-hand technology. It's also kinda sad to see how unperturbed Spike is about the whole thing.

All in all, this episode has its moments, but isn't one of my favourites. And hot damn, that teaser for the next episode is creepy.

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.

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 17: Mushroom Samba

 

After yesterday's dramatic episode, we've got a funny one. Specifically one which is essentially a 70s-era drug comedy and Blaxploitation parody.

The Bebop crew is at rock bottom, with no food, no money, and no fuel. After a hit-an-run collision with another ship, the Bebop crash lands on Io. As the crew make repairs, Ed is sent to find food with Ein. Their quest brings them into contact with Domino Walker, a wanted drug dealer who has been selling hallucinogenic mushrooms. The pair also come into conflict with Shaft, one of Domino's dissatisfied customers, and a Pam Grier-esque bounty hunter also on Domino's trail.

This episode largely focusses on Ed finding food, ultimately getting her hands on some mushrooms which Domino had dropped while running away from Shaft. When Ein one of the mushrooms and starts hopping, Ed believes they're not food. This is later proven when she leaves the other mushrooms out back at the Bebop. Spike, Jet, and Faye all eat one and begin hallucinating. We see the hallucinations through Spike and Faye's eyes, and are then treated to what Ed actually sees them doing. Ed later recognises Domino when his face is shown on Big Shot and goes after him, culminating in all parties chasing each other on a moving train.

While I'm not the biggest fan of drug comedy, I still get plenty of laughs out of this episode. My favourite joke has to be Shaft's introduction, where he's seen dragging a coffin through town like Django (the Franco Nero one, not the Jamie Foxx one). He later confronts Domino and announces his intent to put him that coffin. As soon as he's said that, the coffin is hit by a truck and smashed.

All in all, it's a good episode, and shows what the doldrums of life are like at their worst for our protagonists.

Cowboy Bebop Marathon - Session 16: Black Dog Serenade

 

Looks like Jet is getting another day in the limelight.

A prison ship had faced mechanical difficulties while transporting convicts to Pluto, causing the inmates to riot and take it over. Jet is contacted by Fad, his old partner in the ISSP, who reveals that one of the inmates was Udai Taxim, a former assassin for a syndicate in Europa who has a history with Jet; during his time in the ISSP, Jet and Fad attempted to arrest Udai in a sting operation, but were led into a trap in which Jet lost his arm. After replacing it with a mechanical arm, he left the ISSP to become a bounty hunter. Jet is initially reluctant to go back to working with Fad and the ISSP, but soon relents when he feels the need to settle the score.

I realise I made a slight mistake in an earlier post, saying that Jet's last ISSP posting was Ganymede. In actual fact, he left Ganymede when Alisa left him, but was still in the ISSP at that point. I've amended that now. Anyway, like the "Ganymede Elegy" session, this one is purely focussed on Jet and delves into his past.

Udai has a menacing presence, and is not somebody you'd want to meet on a dark night. Jet mentions he's old-fashioned, determining that he'll travel to Europa and attempt to contact his old syndicate. In a way, both Jet and Udai are similar in that they're both relics of a bygone age.

There's a great flying sequence as Jet and Fad attempt to infiltrate the prison ship, and it's great to see Jet confronting Udai. But the real twist adds a lot of depth to Fad, who carries the episode.

Plus, I love the song "Farewell Blues". The tune previously appeared as a music box tune in "Waltz for Venus", but now we get a sax version.