Cowboy Bebop (2021)
Since I took my little July sem-break, I realized that we haven't had a live-action "Cowboy Bebop" post since June 19th. Well, we are back again to talk more about the show that shouldn't really exist. I'm sure you're all excited. Let's get to it.
"Session Five: Darkside Tango"
Spike Spiegel: "There's not a drop of hot water in the pipes."
Jet Black: "Ah, shit."
Faye Valentine: "Sorry, guys. That's on me. I like my shower-bath-shower scalding hot, so..."
Jet Black & Spike Spiegel: [together] "What?"
Faye Valentine: "Shower-bath-shower. It's how you clean yourself? Seriously?"
[Spike & Jet stare blankly at her]
Faye Valentine: "Okay. Baths are great. But gross. I mean, who wants to be in a tub full of hot water stewing in their own filth? So you start by taking a shower and wash all the grime off. And then you get in the tub, at which point you shave, soap, exfoliate..."
Spike Spiegel: "How long is she going to be here?"
Jet Black: "I..."
Faye Valentine: "By the way, you two should really invest in a loofah. Now, after the deliciousness of the bath, you get back in the shower, rinse off, ergo, shower-bath-shower."
Jet Black & Spike Spiegel: [more blank stares]
Faye Valentine: [inhales sharply] "Were you two raised by wolves?"
Jet's past comes back to haunt him when the crew learns of a prison transport crash on Europa. One of the bounties, Udai Taxim, is a man that helped ruin Jet's life and career. Jet leaves Faye and Spike to pursue Taxim on his own with his old partner and finally learn who framed him. Faye and Spike try to agree on which Europa bounty they want to go after. Meanwhile, Vicious and Julia try to enlist more help in their mission to usurp the Syndicate Elders.
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| I guess she's a good singer. |
I feel like every time I watch this live-action version of "Cowboy Bebop" I find myself thinking of ways that the show could be better. Right now, it's just extremely mediocre especially when you compare it to the source material. Mediocre is almost worse than just being bad. If it was bad, there could be a camp aspect to watching, but with it being mediocre you're just left to wonder what if. Well, when I was watching this episode, I wondered if they shortened the episodes down to thirty minutes if that would make the series better. The anime's episodes were a tight 25 minutes. There wasn't enough time for them to meander. They had a focus and stuck to it. And that is something these episodes really lack. They are pulled in so many directions and tonally they are so off. The bulk of this episode should have been the stuff with Jet, but instead we get some nonsense with Faye and Spike and more of the Vicious/Julia plot line. I feel like Faye and Spike should have been more entwined with the Jet plot line like it would have been in the anime. And maybe a shorter runtime would have helped with that?
This episode is ostensibly about Jet's past and it is the most successful portion of the episode. I really enjoy the cold open with Jet and his ISSP partner, Fad, going after Udai Taxim. They are also trying to track down the dirty cop that is working with him. The cold open is extremely atmospheric. I loved how everything was drenched in sepia tones. I love how faithful this was to the anime. I think this whole subplot about Jet being shot and framed and going to jail for five years really drives home how unnecessary it was for them to give him a daughter. It's not needed at all. And when he talked about baby names I audibly groaned. Honestly, thirty minutes of this would have been great.
The ding against the Jet storyline is that it is extremely obvious that Fad is the one that was on the take and framed Jet. It is so obvious that it kind of makes Jet look like a dummy for not figuring it out until the very end of the episode. I can't imagine that anyone who watches this episode doesn't see it immediately. I feel like the only way you couldn't is if you had never watched television before ever. Chalmers showing up and almost rubbing it in Jet's face that the one guy who could have cleared Jet's name is now dead. Like, get the fuck out of here dude. You are maybe the worst character on the show.
The subplot, I guess you could call it, with Faye and Spike on the Bebop trying to decide on a bounty to tackle together feels like the very definition of tacked on and doesn't really add anything to the episode. It was clear the writers needed to find a way to keep Faye and Spike occupied and away from Jet so they have Jet explain to the audience why that is going to happen. What follows is the two of them doing everything except choosing a bounty. They compare scars and Faye finally earns Spike's respect when he learns she took down a famous and dangerous bounty. This adds literally nothing to the episode. It's cute and John Cho and Danielle Pineda have tons of chemistry, but I'd rather they just had been helping Jet.
We get our once per episode check in with Vicious and Julia and you're going to hear me say this a lot but who cares? And again, we don't need to do this every single episode. Vicious' meeting with Mao brings nothing to the episode and feels extremely out of place. It seems like the writers really just want to drive home the point that Julia doesn't really respect Vicious, which we already know, but is driven home even further when she sings for Mao against Vicious' wishes. And Julia figures out Spike alive. Again, we didn't need an entire subplot for this minor plot point.
Grade: C
"Session Six: Binary Two-Step"
Mel: "Whenever I see a good-looking piece, I just have to touch it."
Faye Valentine: "Yeah. Touch away."
The Bebop is down for repairs. While Jet leaves to retrieve a part needed, he leaves Faye to... entertain the mechanic, Mel. He sends Spike on a bounty given to him by the hacker, Radical Ed. Spike tries to take down the "guru" Cy-Baba who is now trying to ensnare people using the moniker, Dr. Londes. Spike finds there is more to Londes than meets the eye and he soon finds himself trapped in his own mind forced to confront his relationship with Julia.
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| The greatest love story in this show. |
I have to start this recap out by saying I really, really, really HATE that they keep referring to Spike as Fearless. It is so fucking stupid. I was willing to let it go up to this point but with Spike Groundhog's Day'ing his interactions with Julia over and over, I kept hearing it and the more I heard it, the more I wanted to fly into a blind rage. It's just so dumb that they call him that. It's something they only do here and I don't really get the rationale. And I certainly don't get why Julia, of all people, would continuously call him Fearless. This is someone that she purported to love. So, wouldn't she be calling him by his actual name. I get that this is kind of a dumb thing to be hyperfixated on, but if you are a reader of this blog, you're probably used to it.
This is probably the episode of the series that I have enjoyed the least so far. The reason being is that the major focus is the relationship between Spike and Julia. This relationship has always been one of the few weak links in the anime and I think the anime knew that which is why it was kind of avoided until the very end. The live-action show chooses to make it a focal point which is another of it's flaws. There's just nothing here. Even though we spend a lot of time with Julia and Spike in this episode (even if she is just a figment of his mind being manipulated by the AI) and I don't get why they are drawn to each other. What they have in common. Why Spike is still so devoted to her at the end of the episode. So, we end up with a net zero here. It doesn't help that Elena Satine and John Cho have zero chemistry.
This episode takes a part of an anime episode and uses it here. And just like the other times the show has done that it doesn't add anything or do anything new with this element. I really enjoyed the anime episode that featured Londes and the AI and the cult. It was interesting. It integrated the full cast. It kind of had a gut wrenching conclusion. But here the writers just use it to get Spike and Julia together without actually getting them together. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you aren't going to expand and enrich these characters and concepts that were introduced in the anime, don't use them here.
Faye really saves the day in this episode. I love her mini relationship with Mel. You want to talk chemistry? These two have it. The sparks were flying so hard when they first meet, I'm surprised that they Bebop didn't combust. You all know that I'm a sucker for a queer romance and that is true here. My favorite moment of the episode was Faye and Mel talking post coitus after Mel gives Faye maybe her first orgasm. One thing I'm really enjoying is the character development of Faye. I love Faye in the anime but sometimes she's a little two-dimensional. Danielle Pineda brings her fully to life. The way she talks about forgetting the firsts that she experienced as a child is really heartbreaking and she sells it.
So, that's it. Maybe we will see Mel again in the last four episodes?
Grade: C-
Next up, Faye gambles for information about her past by helping a con woman and Vicious hires a certain jester assassin to take out Spike.
What do you all think of this show? I'm really trying to find the positive, but it is real tough. Let me know in the comments.
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