Spike and Jet have picked up three new crewmates: the
sexy but deceitful Faye, the seemingly boundless energetic hacker Ed and the
lovable data dog Ein. This crew if five
couldn’t be a more mismatched bunch. But
the bounties are getting tougher and rewards even bigger. If Spike and Jet still want to make a buck
out there, they’ll have to rely on their new allies…if they don’t kill each
other first.
After a successful first set of episodes, including the
above and beyond stellar Ballad of Fallen Angels, can Bebop keep up the forward
momentum? Well as with any continuing
series, the answer is both yes and no.
There are some great episodes and great scenes amongst this batch, with
some being better than others.
Sympathy for the Devil is a solid episode that shows
Spike up against a child turned powerful immortal by a gate accident on the
moon (as seen in a heart wrenching flashback).
The Kid, Wen, has a tragic backstory and it’s easy to feel sorry for him
even in the final showdown. And man what
an old school showdown it is. As Wen
takes pot shots at a standing still Spike, only managing to graze him, he has
no idea that Spike’s single special shot will be his downfall…then again Spike
didn’t know what would happen either, to quote him, “Kind of makes it
interesting doesn’t it?” Cudos to Yoko
Kanno again with the sorrowful blues harmonica that plays throughout the
episode, adding to the sorrow and innocence lost feel of Wen’s tale.
Episode 9 is definitely the stand out episode of this
bunch though for it finally brings the wacky Edward onto the scene. Part brilliant child prodigy, part
unpredictable wild child, all around energetic enigma, Edward’s personality is
as random as her (yes HER) stories told to Jet as he investigate this legendary
hacker on Earth. Ed’s a great bit of
comic relief but also very helpful in helping the Bebop crew track down bounty
heads. Oh and speaking of Earth, we
finally get to see it lol. As with most
scifi depictions of the future, Earth is pretty much a ball of rock and dust
and water, everyone seems to think we will ruin it one day. Interestingly enough, we do learn that
Earth’s current state under a suffrage of unpredictable Rock Showers, is due to
the gate accident that gave Wen his ageless, regenerative capabilities a long
time ago. It’s already devastated the
planet, how much more damage did this Gate Accident cause? Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough.
The other episodes are ok but not as a whole in most
bits. Episode 7 stands out for it’s
heavy metal score and Spike’s downright psychotic stunt to escape from his ship
to a space truck without a space suit (not to mention a bounty head who looks a
lot like Woody Allen). Episode 8 shows
us a nice bit into Spike’s philosophy and an elaboration on his Jeet Kun Doe
fighting style and has Faye playing serious yet sexy investigator proving she’s
more than a pretty face. Episode 10 is
the weakest so far, with Jet’s back story and tragic love past not quite as
interesting as it could be. Some nice
character moments but otherwise, it’s just ok.
I should also note that Episode 6 and 8 were two of the
episodes not featured in Adult Swim’s first run of Cowboy Bebop back in late
2001 following the September 11 attacks.
Episode 8 is pretty obvious, it opens with a passenger shuttle hijacking
that the Bebop crew is able to prevent and claim a nice bounty (their first
real success as a team?). As for Episode
6 I think it had more to do with a child terrorist being the antagonist as
Cartoon Network was trying to limit youth in war related stories for a little
while (hence anything Gundam related also being pulled from Toonami for a short
while). When Bebop began it’s second
round airing however, the episodes were returned to the line up and have been
with the series in every airing.
The Bebop flies on.
And to quote Spike once again, “Jet do you know that there are three
things I really hate? Kids, Animals and
Women with attitudes. So tell me Jet…WHY
DO WE HAVE ALL THREE OF THEM NEATLY BUNDLED IN OUR SHIP??!!!” The answer is because they’re great additions
to the series and making it a helluva lot of fun. From one end of the galaxy to the next, this
is the ship and crew of the future everyone wants to be part of.
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