Shinhirō Watanabe has frequently put his cast through the ringer. Not only do they tend to drift in and out of other peoples’ lives, encountering them only at this apex moment, but they tend to face this plethora of ideas. Questions of spirituality, individuality, honor, duty, self, soul, devotion, and history constantly confront our characters. While they never seem to come upon an answer, the show offers plenty for us to think about. As always, there are spoilers for this session, as well as potentially any previous sessions.
1. A Familiar Structure
In many ways, this session is like an early Cowboy Bebop adventure. The crew finds a bounty worth a lot of money and set off to find him. Of course, he’s involved in all sort of weird shit. Faye’s attempting to infiltrate their ranks while Spike and Jet dive in headfirst. I like how Watanabe and crew take the time to show the crew pounding the pavement, searching out for clues. There’s a cute little montage with Spike and Jet searching for leads while Ed attempts to hack cyberspace. They end up finding Dr. Londes, but, as always, nothing ever ends up like it looks. Turns out he’s this hacker kid whose mind got sucked into the network and the final confrontation takes place simultaneously in a hospice room with some lingering thoughts about dreams while Spike’s shooting up a bunch of TVs.
2. A Missed Opportunity
The first six minutes of this session are told through someone flipping the channels on TV, cutting through numerous shows and programs, introducing us to the Scratch cult but burying it within a slew of infomercials and daytime TV specials. For a while, I thought Watanabe and his crew were going to sustain this device across the whole session. Cowboy Bebop has consistently been presented with an incredibly cinematic ambition, so I don’t think a device like that would have been too much of a surprise. After a few minutes, however, it cuts back into the normal compositions. You know, if any show could have been able to pull this off, it would have been Bebop. I mean, it’s fine to go back to the older structure, but here, so close to the end, it also feels like something so basic isn’t worthy of Bebop‘s time.
The session also ends with an indictment against television.
3. Separate the Physical
There’s been a constant search for the spiritual throughout Cowboy Bebop. And for a show some call nihilistic and pessimistic, fate seems to intervene on a fairly frequent basis. On numerous occasions we’ve had soothsayers talking about lost souls, streets magicians predicting futures, and now we’re given a cult. The Scratch cult believes in uploading brainwaves, which they interpret as souls, into a digital environment, freeing their members of their physical bodies. They use it because it helps them understand the world, all the horrible stuff everyone’s experienced throughout it. It’s about facing the unknown and what’s next, if anything.
“It’s not easy living in such a corrupt world. There’s no certainty, nothing to hope for. People are lost so they reach out,” Londes says, a manifestation of a comatose child’s imagination. “God didn’t create humans. No, it’s humans who created God.”
Spike calls bullshit.
4. Let’s Hear it for Ein
Of course, the real hero of the session is Ein. Not only does he stop Jet from getting sucked into the Spark network, but he also somehow hacks the system to pinpoint Londes. There’s a great shot of him with his little VR helmet, jerking his head slightly and navigating everything that just makes me happy.
5. Exit Big Shots
Thrown in the middle of the session is a brief clip of Punch telling Judy that Big Shots has been cancelled. The constant source for bounty hunters everywhere about the latest grabs and escapees. But apparently, Londes is the first big name grab in a long long time, and their ratings are super in the toilet. Big Shots wasn’t in every Cowboy Bebop session, but its existence was one of those things that truly filled out the universe.
Only a couple more sessions left. Tune in next week, space cowboys, for a date with a “Hard Luck Woman.”
