When the name Julia hits Spike’s ears, he bolts from the
Bebop to a nearby frozen moon. Who is
this woman and how important is she to make Spike run off without a word? And when Faye splits as well with all of
Jet’s money, will the Bebop’s captain seek her out to bring her home or get his
money back? The moon of Callisto becomes
the stage for a series of revealing events as Spike and the crew of the Bebop
face the might of the Red Dragons…and their greatest adversary, Vicious.
Bebop rolls out another great set of episodes this week
with a space thriller, a chess match of strange circumstances and the return of
an old enemy.
On the whole, the two part Jupiter Jazz epic is well done
but still doesn’t come quite close to matching the still number one Ballad of
Fallen Angels. Sure it has some bad fake
outs nearly splitting up the crew for good and apparently killing off Spike in
the Part 1 cliffhanger but there still plenty to enjoy. Spike and Jet getting
into it when it comes to women and their way of life is great and for once we
get to see them truly at odds over priorities: Spike in search of who we can
assume to be his lost love and Jet wanting to find Faye if only to get back his
stolen money. What sucks is that if
Spike were a bit more open, Jet you definitely help out. But we also get a look at how self centered they
can be sometimes, Spike and Jet both looking to do things for themselves and
nothing else. It’s selfish but in the
end they do remember they’re a team and work out their issues. It does give Spike an excuse to beat the
living crap out of a legion of would be bandits who try to attack him when they
think he’s Vicious. And MAN are they
glad they got off with just an ass kicking.
If they did run into Vicious, they’d be dead or worse. Still one negative about this two parter that
I think the twenty on one Spike battle tries to make up for is the lack of a
proper hand to hand rematch. I mean yeah
we get to see them match dogfighting skills in the skies over Calisto but it’s
still not as entertaining as gun v sword…ugh major denial when Spike and Vicious
get ready to go at it at the end of Part 1 only for Spike to be shot with a
tranq gun.
Jupiter Jazz also offers up some complex and insightful
moments for Faye and episode guest star Gren.
Faye’s confession of her views on trust and comrades is pretty deep and
Shinichiro Watanabe plays up her fan service appeal with each moment. Her words seem as confused as she is but the
camera is not confused with long panning shots of her outfit. As for Gren man what a surprise he was: a sax
player with a jaded past and a woman’s chest…did not see that coming. He does offer us some great insight into the
mysterious Julia who haunts Spike and it will be fun to meet such an inspiring
enigma of a woman if she ever shows up in this series. All of the talk of comrades and someone to
believe in rings deep with me and my views on friendship, especially here on
DA.
Oh and another Yoko Kanno shoutout, this time on the
haunting and memorable melody of Space Lion that closes out Part 2 of Jupiter
Jazz rather than The Real Folk Blues.
Much like the end of Gren’s tale and some of Spike tragic yet still not
totally revealed past, the song rings of sadness and remembrance of those lost
and is one of the shows best tracks thus far.
But Jupiter Jazz is not where all the fun lies. We also get a nice nod to the scifi horror
classic Alien with a creature of unknown origin loose on the Bebop. Something lurks, crew members go down or
missing and it’s up to Ripley (er Spike), geared up and ready for war, to do
something about it. Toys in the Attic is
pretty creepy and for a moment makes you wonder if this really is the end for
the Bebop crew, alone in space at the mercy of a mysterious space creature
Spike accidentally created. However,
since Jupiter Jazz follows and Ed finds a tasty treat at the end…the answer to
their supposed fate is pretty obvious.
Lastly there’s Episode 14, Bohemian Rhapsody, which is a
fun mystery that gives us a well edited and fast paced lead up to the
surprising satisfying finale. Besides
the episode long chess match that Ed takes center stage in, we also get some
more insight into that infamous gate incident lurking throughout the series
history and hints that it could have been prevented. The area in which the Bebop crew finds
supposed mastermind Chess Master Hex is a fun environment that is more like the
cluster cuss you’d think some cities on Earth might be in the future: lots of
people from all over the galaxy gathered and scrunched together, but enjoying
their freedom and company of their neighbors.
The finale is pretty touching, showing us once again that sometimes the
money is something the Bebop crew wont accept from time to time IF the
circumstances are right. They may not be out to be the “good guys” but it just
ends up being that way and they can live with that. Sometimes all that work can lead to
unexpected rewards.
And the journey continues next week as we hit the halfway
mark. Hope you’re all enjoying the ride
thus far with the crew of the Bebop as I am and see you next week Space Cowboys
and Comrades.
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