After some Spike backstory, the Bebop are back at it again with their bounty-of-the-week. There’s a mysterious kid blues musician, a bunch of disappearing men, and more hints about why people don’t really live on Earth any longer. You might have “Sympathy for the Devil,” but the question is: does the show share said sentiment?
1. A Classic Bait-and-Switch
“Sympathy for the Devil” plays a bit with the Cowboy Bebop structure. It starts with Spike and Jet pursuing another bounty, only to find their original target wasn’t who they were actually looking for. Turns out, their mark is this ageless kid running around murdering people.
At the same time, the session uses its numerous twists and maguffins to introduce and expand on its world. Why they’re dealing with this kid isn’t so important as what happened and the impact it had on said kid’s life. Also, there’s the ongoing motif that the Bebop crew sort of just drift into this narrative, entering and effecting another life purely by circumstance.
I think it’s also important to note that for Spike, it doesn’t become about capturing the kid, but trying to understand where he’s coming from and what he’s about.
2. When are We Meeting Wen?
Of course, the central conceit of the episode doesn’t really make much sense? Especially when it comes to how Cowboy Bebop likes to generally present itself as a realistic bit of sci-fi. Like, there’s a believable physics and worldview in place. Yeah, there’s spaceships every which way, but there aren’t laser guns or blasters; these characters are still using live rounds of ammunition.
Therefore, having character like Wen, who was a victim of the gate explosion that rendered Earth almost entirely uninhabitable and now never ages and has the ability to heal himself, seems like it’s coming out of another show. This is especially evident if you’re starting a conversation about him. So how does Watanabe and crew have the character work? By making all the other characters believe he works, that he fits in nicely and comfortably in this universe. When given the information about Wen, they sort of go, “Hh, that’s interesting,” and move on to dealing with him. The session doesn’t linger too much on him or his abilities; it’s far more important for us to see how well he plays that harmonica and the history he carries on his shoulders.
Also I think this may be setting up some leeway and freedom for Sunrise to use in future episodes of Cowboy Bebop.
3. Goodbye from All That
There’s an important bit of backstory here, too. We talked about the gate explosion earlier, and it’s been hinted at throughout earlier sessions, but we also see its full impact. Watanabe wisely frames it through Wen’s perspective, so while we’re getting the narrative told to us by Jet, we see the full impact in Wen’s flashback.
Even though these characters come from Ganymede or Mars or Satori VII or whatever, Earth is still the humans’ home. To have that taken away, and to have that taken away so violently, makes everyone come off as sort of adrift and weightless. There’s nothing tying them down and they’ve gone off in search of something.
4. Peacock
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the brief exchange between Jet Black and the other bounty hunter, Fatty? They’re trying to posture and peacock and boast about their love of the blues. And distract each other from getting the target.
JET: I started wailing the blues when the doctor whacked my bottom on the day I was born.
(Okay, technically Jet says that to Spike, but it starts off the exchange for us, so I’m counting it.
JET: I had no idea you were a fan of the blues, Fatty.
FATTY: You kidding me? I listened to the blues when I was still in my father’s sack if you know what I mean!
I’m especially about the framing here, where the crowd has given Jet Black and Fatty a wide breadth, staring at them in confusion and discomfort while they whack each other on the shoulders and laugh loudly. I also like how Watanabe and crew use it to introduce other bounty hunters working in the star system. I mean we get that little sting in Hot Shots, but it’s always better to see the actual person.
Continued below
5. BANG.
The last shot of “Sympathy for the Devil” finds Spike taking Wen’s harmonica and tossing it into the air. We get a bit of Kubrickian intercutting before Spike points his finger at the instrument. Watanabe holds for a beat, cuts to black, and then over the title card we hear Spike simply say, “Bang.”
I don’t know, could this be foreshadowing something? Especially when it comes in a session that’s about a person both running from his past while embracing other elements of it?
What do you think? How do you feel about the mystical elements in this session: do they work or are they out of place in the Cowboy Bebop universe? Let me know in the comments and see you next time, space cowboys as we go to meet the “Heavy Metal Queen.”
