Cowboy Bebop
Before we dive in to the three episodes that we are covering in this post, a quick programming note. So, instead of doing regular episodes of "Cowboy Bebop," the next post will be covering the movie which takes place between episodes 22 and 23. I don't believe that the movie is available to stream anywhere, sadly, but I believe you can rent it on Amazon or iTunes if you haven't seen it or don't own it. Or you can just read my commentary. Anyway, let's get into it.
Mad Pierrot: "Hello, gentlemen. I have come to take your lives."
Spike Spiegel is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He leaves a pool hall and stumbles on the assassin, Mad Pierrot, doing what he does best. Mad Pierrot and Spike fight and Spike barely escapes with his life. Mad Pierrot is focused on Spike and invites him to meet at an amusement park, Space Land. While there, the two battle and only one is going to make it out of the confrontation alive.
 |
| This is why I hate all clowns. |
I don't think "Cowboy Bebop" is known specifically for the bounties that the team takes on. I think that is fine. The draw of "Cowboy Bebop" is not necessarily the villains/bounties but the side characters that the team meets and the team itself. For my money, if you remember an antagonist aside fromVicious in "Cowboy Bebop," it's probably Mad Pierrot.
It's for good reason. Mad Pierrot is terrifying. A large, bulbous man who wears a top hat and a ruff and who seemingly never blinks. The close up on his teeth and the constant grinding makes my skin crawl every time that I hear it. Even though Mad Pierrot is a larger guy he floats like a giant balloon. He seems to have some sort of force field that insulates him from Spike's barrage of bullets in the opening. He's jackets are lined with any weapon you can think of and he is proficient with all of them.
After learning that Spike has run afoul of Mad Pierrot, Ed and Jet do some investigating. Ed hacks the ISSP database and finds out that Mad Pierrot is the result of experiments done by the ISSP to create the perfect assassin. He was the seventh person to go through this but the only one survived. And Spike is the only one who has survived an encounter with him. The experiments caused him to regress to a child so he's a child with these enhanced assassination skills. Jet comments that there is nothing as pure and cruel as a child and that is an extremely accurate but also kind of chilling statement. Kids really do represent both sides of that coin and before hearing this, I hadn't really thought of that.
The plot "Pierrot Le Fou" is simply Spike confronting Mad Pierrot, getting his ass kicked, getting challenged and then confronting him again. It doesn't need more. This is an extremely action focused episode and it works extremely well. The opening is high octane. Spike is trying to navigate fighting in the close confines of the alley and it's tense. You know that Spike is going to survive this, but you're still on edge. I've said this before and I'll say it again, if an episode can make me believe that a main character is in actual mortal danger, then that is really something.
It's the final showdown between Mad Pierrot and Spike that really shines. First off, all climactic battles should be held at an amusement park. Space Land is the perfect place for this to go down, particularly when you find out about Mad Pierrot's mental acuity. The lights, the rides. It's dazzling and I think the show really pushes this into new territories by having the animatronic characters in the mix as well. That is some of the scariest shit to me. When I was a kid, I hated going to Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese but I hated those animatronic characters. They were terrifying to me and adding them in along with Mad Pierrot and it just ratchets things up to an eleven.
Spike beating the shit out of that animatronic dog is maybe my favorite part of this episode. Each hit that the thing takes deforms it more and more. It's disgusting. The interiors of the figure start to come out so it looks like guts. The final showdown takes place while a parade of giant characters walk down the main street of Space Land and one of them steps on Mad Pierrot ending his childlike tantrum after one of Spike's knives hits him.
And let's give it up for cats. A cat was in the room when Mad Pierrot was being experimented on and seeing one each time Pierrot and Spike fight saves him. Cats rule. Dogs drool.
See you, Space Cowboy
Grade: A-
Jet Black: "This peculiar story began on a blazing hot day. Out of the blue, I got an e-mail from an old acquaintance of mine. There was no explanation and the message was very terse. All it said was: Seek the holy beast of Anzan, I am where the four gods meet."
Jet Black receives an email from an old acquaintance from his ISSP days, Pao. He goes to Mars to investigate Pao before meeting with him and finds that Pao has seemingly been killed in an accident. At Pao's grave, he meets the man's daughter, Meifa. They are ambushed by Syndicate thugs who are seeking a sun stone. Meifa and Jet team up to try to find the sun stone, using her father's devotion to universal feng shui as an aid in their search.
 |
| Big Bro. Not boyfriend. Big. Bro. |
One of the things I love the most about "Cowboy Bebop" is how it is bale to jump between different genres sometimes from one episode to the next. Last episode, we got a frenzied, action packed episode with a psychotic assassin. Then, we get a complete shift with this episode which is kind of like the show's answer to a "National Treasure" type episode.
I love how "Cowboy Bebop" takes this genre and is able to twist it so it fits in their universe. They aren't following a standard treasure map, instead they are following the clues left by feng shui. The show explains that feng shui is the science of studying the three chis and how they interact with each other. Pao was one of the three greatest feng shui masters in the world. His devotion to universal feng shui seems like it was his undoing.
I will admit that I'm not super versed in what actual feng shui is and how it works. I am more familiar with the more Western iteration or interpretation of it. I remember Shannon Beador of the "The Real Housewives of Orange County" talking about putting nine lemons in a bowl for good feng shui. So, I can't say that the show is accurate to what feng shui really is, but it sounds good and like I said they are able to work it in so it makes sense within the framework of the show. It's exciting watching Jet and Meifa evade capture and use feng shui and the luo pan to try to locate the sun stone.
I love movies like "National Treasure" and the "Indiana Jones" movies and this episode definitely gives shades of that. There is Jet and Meifa jumping off the edge of a barrier onto a double decker bus and then into the water and hiding under the water. It's pulse pounding and fun. Even the confrontation between Jet and the Blue Snake syndicate lackeys fighting in the street gives me vibes of Indy shooting that guy in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
The climax of the episode is kind of where the episode falters when Jet starts to give Pao's backstory to Meifa. The way that Jet knows Pao was because he was in deep with the Syndicate and informed on them when Jet worked for ISSP to try to find a way out to no avail. That's all fine and good, but I wasn't really connecting to the family story because it just felt kind of done and it was sort of detracting from the fun of the rest of the episode.
I felt the same about the climax of the episode when they are in that vortex and Pao is there but he's running out of oxygen. It's fine, but I kind of wish they had kept things more and light fun for the enitrety of the episode.
See you, Space Cowboy
Grade: B
Spike: "What'll you do now?"
Andy: "I have no doubt I'll find some new career. See you space cowboy."
While pursuing the Teddy Bommer, Spike is confronted by Andy, a fellow bounty hunter dressed like a cowboy and riding a horse. It's dislike at first sight as Andy consistently mistakes Spike for the Teddy Bommer. Spike becomes more obsessed with Andy than he does with bringing in the bounty. Could it be that the two's similarities are what is causing Spike's distaste?
 |
| Cowboy Andy |
I love this episode. It's so freaking ridiculous. It was only a matter of time before there was an actual cowboy in the show and he is just as ridiculous as you would think.
Andy von de Onyiante is a mess. He's your typical bored, spoiled rich kid. He thinks he can just do whatever so he decides to be a cowboy bounty hunter because why not? When he first comes on to the scene, I think we all react like Spike does. Seriously? This guy is riding a horse and telling people to call him Wyatt Earp? It sounds ludicrous, which is exactly how Faye and Jet react when Spike relays the story to them back on the Bebop. They spend most of their time ribbing him and refuse to believe him even after he shows them the hoof prints on his back which made me guffaw when I saw them. It's especially funny when they tell him that they would have believed him more readily if he had told them he was attacked by a samurai.
There are so many great, funny moments in this episode. I love the masquerade ball. It's so funny that Jet is dressed like this hippie. Honestly, I would love some sort of spin off where Jet is this character. A hippie who has traded bonsai for weed plants. It would be hilarious. Some of the jokes that Jet makes while in this character are so cheesy and dad but they just add to things rather than detract.
When Faye takes off with Andy, she is not as impressed with him once she sees where he's living. He's a vain lunkhead who has his own brand of canned soup. It's during this encounter that Faye really sees the similarities between Andy and Spike. It is fantastic to watch Faye and Jet lose interest in all this the more amped up about it Spike gets. They are ready to drop this huge bounty on the Teddy Bommer just to get away from this, but Spike won't have it.
The final confrontation between Spike and Andy at the end of the episode is iconic. It takes place at sundown which is very Western and the fact that its happening at sundown takes it completely over the top. If you hadn't seen the similarities before now, they are certainly clear now. Their fighting styles, quips etc. Of course, Spike is victorious, almost on accident, which is very Spike. Maybe the biggest laugh of the episode for me is when the horse trots onto the roof from the elevator. The fact that Andy drops being a cowboy so easily just feels so in character for that guy as does the fact that he ends the episode as a samurai.
The Teddy Bommer is a sad sack and the way that the episode continuously cuts him off when he is ready to reveal the reason why he's been doing these bombings is a fantastic bit. He finally gets the chance to give his reasoning at the end due to kindhearted guard, but I almost wish that they hadn't ever given him the chance. I think that would have been a great little cherry on the top of the episode.
This episode is a lark. It's fluff. But it's so freaking funny to me and it has whimsy. You can't help but smile while watching it and we need that every now and again.
See you, Space Samurai
Grade: A-
Next up... Cowboy Bebop the movie!!!
What did you all think? It was a lot of fun watching these three episodes together because I think they really give you a great range of exactly what this anime can do. Let me know your feelings in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment