Cowboy the Bebop 24 - "Hard Luck Woman"
We begin our descent into Bebop's endgame as the cast farewells Ed and Ein and Faye revisits the past. Wendee Lee delivers a standout performance as Faye beginning to recover her memory, essentially concluding her character arc - "Belonging's the very best thing there is".
There's no real conflict arc to this episode, so it kinds of hangs near the middle and kind of just shoehorns in a big fight scene with the guys of the crew and Ed's dad just for fun. It's still a very well made episode, with some great vehicle animation, the aforementioned fight scene, and some great musical syncopation. I love the french vocals throughout, but it's not a very driven episode, and doesn't stand alone too well.
Faye's bloom-filled, high-contrast washed out memories of a still-intact Singapore are beautiful, as is the difference in visual design that still retains similarities to her current appearance. The focus on her hair is good too, but the big highlight is really the musical thing at the end to "Call Me, Call Me" as Ed and Ein leave the ship. The bit as the chorus kicks in with Spike and Jet overlooking Ed's farewell message still brings tears to my eyes, at the same time as Faye finding her sense of identity once more in the ruins of her mansion house, staring up at the sky. Jet and Spike determinedly finishing off the eggs; an amazing silent message of farewell and endings without explicit words being said; followed by the image of Ed's pinwheel gift to Spike, apparently tied to the front of the Bebop.
See you, Space Cowgirl. Sometime, Somewhere.
Cowboy the Bebop 25 - 26 - "The Real Folk Blues" -END-
"Everything has a beginning and an end. Life is just a cycle of stops and starts. There are ends that we don't desire, but they're inevitable. We have to face them. That's what being human is all about."
We begin with Adieu, and a series of rainy shots of Julia reminscent of Spike's flashbacks, but this time with audio. The past catches up to Spike as the Red Dragon Syndicate goes full ham in the wake of Vicious' attempted coup.
There's a poster of Enter the Dragon above the mob doc's place, and Jet rambles a bit about how it isn't Spike's problem anymore; but that's not true. If there's one theme to Spike's journey, it's this: you can't escape the past. You can't. It marks you, and it defines you, and sometimes it sends assassin squads of mobsters after you I guess.
I never noticed this before, but Julia's roses that the shot frames as she and Spike talk about leaving are like two fish circling a plant... the same roses, I think, that she later tears up and spreads out the window in the flashback. Freedom? Or a fishbowl? Nothing? Hard to tell.
Faye's made it to the airport and observes the Big Shot actor meeting his mother at the airport, which I think is probably representative of something but who knows what right now. Here's probably my least favourite part of this, when Julia pretty much coincidentally runs straight past Faye and the two team up. I mean, what? Oh well, whatever. When they tell one another, their names are "very common"... it's a nice glimpse into their personality.
Jet and Spike always armchair philosophise, but Jet recounts a story - from Hemmingway's the Snows of Kilimanjaro - when he tries to talk Spike out of the suicide mission - it seems even more poignant than normal. It's even more direct than usual...
Spike gearing up for war, the assault... ignoring Faye... is he avoiding the situation again/ trying to avoid dealing with it? The battle is intense, but it's not the focus of the scene, as it intercuts between Vicious' 'execution', the battle in the skies, and Spike's memories of Julia, all set to a moody saxaphone solo.
Jet sends Spike away. "Find what you lost, and get it back"... powerful words. And then the music box version of Adieu starts... and Julia appears, seemingly to finish what was once began, and stopped.
Fade to black.
(A confusing preview plays, with Jet and Spike having a rambly conversation while Faye says something in the background but gets shocked by the preview ending)
The thing that stops Spike, momentarily, is not that revelation that he will stay, but the idea that Julia will also stay - for him. Jet and Faye trade heated words, and describe Julia - "An angel from the underworld, or a devil from paradise".
When they jump out the window, crows fly - emblemic of Vicious? And then -
Doves fly. All was for naught. She falls beautifully, but crumples like a doll. Her lips move, but the only audio is the pounding of the rain.
Jet told Faye he won't look for Spike, but he goes to the Indian elder for advice, who begins to reel off his monologue from Jupiter Jazz.
Vicious recognises the running theme that Faye dealt with last episode, about finding one's place, and recognises that his men have robbed Spike of his - and that, things being what they are, there is only one possible outcome.
Spike appears to Jet, and they share a conversation reminiscent of the first few episodes. Spike returns Jet the favour of a story, but fakes out the ending.
"Is it for the girl?"
"She's dead. There's nothing I can do for her now"
And Faye begins her conversation the only way she knows how, by pointing a gun at Spike's face. The guitar... Spike's fake eye monologue... watching a dream. Faye's last episode may have been prior, but her storyline continues into this episode; the bonds she can't deal with are still here. The Bebop is the only family she has left; she says as much explicitly.
"But before I knew it, the dream was all over."
"I'm not going there to die. I'm going to find out of I'm really alive"
The voice acting is fucking astounding. Wendee Lee delivers an amazing performance, but so do Blum and Billingslee.
Astounding sense of a choreography as the ED, The Real Folk Blues, finally plays in its entirety as Spike begins his assault on the Red Dragon Syndicate.
"So, you're finally awake..."
...
"It's all... a dream..."
"Yeah... just a dream."
"...bang."
The choreography and hyperrealism is astounding throughout, but the pan to credits is also really astounding, as well as the fading out of the star in the sky.
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Cowboy the Bebop: Overall Thoughts
What a fucking series. You know, on some level, I can't really say the bluray cut added that much to the experience, since what I remember mainly about Bebop hasn't got jackshit to do with the visual quality so much as it is the writing - direction - choreography - editing - pacing - acting - music - syncing - I mean, it was nice to see it clear on a big screen, but I remember it being just as powerful when I watched it on shitty pirated DVD quality from a 10 buck shop in Malaysia on an old analogue CRT TV.
One of the really interesting things I find about Spike's past in general is that a lot of the characters in it - Julia, Annie, Vicious - are not really built up in a meaningful way prior (because Spike doesn't talk about his past) but, due to the way that they're treated in-story, still feel extremely real and vivid. Very confident decision.
On rewatch, some of the flaws - mainly to do with episodes simply not having enough time to move, and one or two clunkers that just aren't that great (Jet's stupid fung shui adventures, that dumb episode with the environmental terrorists) - stand out more, but its strengths also stand out more to me too. What a show.
