Episode 8 of the new Cowboy Bebop: Just an appalling experience. And I think the point where I've really begun to understand this adaptation.
The entirety of this show is just fan fiction. The kind of earnest and loving, yet short sighted, shallow, fan fiction that often misses the point and is less about designing a plausible story and more about wish fulfillment. The kind that birthed the 'Mary Sue' critique in the first place. Looking at the show in that guise, it's a lot easier to stomach and accept what's going on. And even find it endearing at times. But it's still a shallow imitator that can't really hope to even be a companion piece for the original, never mind a sufficient replacement.
Episode 8 adapts the "Pierrot Le Fou" storyline from Episode 20, with some Vicious/Julia shenanigans running parallel as always. The episode itself was mostly entertaining and fully embraced the weirdness and horror of Pierrot. But this was the moment where it really clicked with me that the writers of this show really don't understand the entire point or main themes of Cowboy Bebop, and are really just looking at the property from a surface level.
The first time we see the Bebop crew in this episode, they're playing bowling together. Already a striking departure from the original TV show. We never really see the Bebop crew spend their leisure time together, ever. Spike and Faye comically complain about being suckered into this boring/bad activity, but Jet is nothing but wide smiles as he happily explains to them that this is "family time" and that this is all about building teamwork and enjoying the company of friends. And despite their protestations, Spike and Faye smile and enjoy themselves thoroughly.
At which point, I was like holup.
This is not Cowboy Bebop anymore. The entire central premise of Cowboy Bebop is that these people don't like each other. They're not friends. They're barely even partners. They're wayward, starcrossed souls who only very briefly cross through in and out of each other's lives, and only through mutual convenience. Each of them might secretly *want* to be friends with each other, but there's always something standing in the way of it. Be it Jet's stubborn pride, or Faye's defensiveness, or Spike's inability to let go of the past and live in the present. Any time we might see the characters actually do something nice and altruistic to one another, they have to immediately sabotage any good will by throwing out an insult or reflexively, metaphorically curling up like a hedgehog. It is the entire point of the show. It is why it ended the way it did, and why the ending is so iconic. We, as viewers, might want these people to become real friends and to continue their escapades through the solar system indefinitely, but they have their own agency as characters that won't allow for it.
And that's when it clicked with me, this is all just wish fulfillment. This is a show made by someone who liked Cowboy Bebop, but never really thought that hard about the themes of the show. And instead of embracing the bitter ending and the core themes of the show, they're out to remake the show in their own image, where Spike and Faye and Jet are all true friends and have a merry ole time. Who say nice things about one another and share hearty laughs and go bowling together, versus being total assholes.
There's a really important scene at the end of Episode 5 where Spike hallucinates that Julia is nursing him back to health, when it's really Faye. Spike came an inch from death, while saving Faye's life. She helps return the favor by looking over him and tending to his wounds while he's passed out. Faye seems genuinely curious/concerned about Spike's health/fate, and is obviously drawn to him and seeking to pay him back in her own way. And the only thing Spike can do in that situation? He musters all of his remaining strength just to insult her and cause her to storm out of the room. It's a scene that's mirrored again in the beginning of the original "Pierrot Le Fou" - only Faye has her guard up, refuses to pamper Spike, and taunts him back. Jet and Faye both attempt to help Spike in their own ways as he runs off to his death, because both ostensibly care, but neither can muster up enough courage to actually just tell Spike how they feel and demonstrate that affection in any direct and unambiguous manner. The best Faye can do is throw sly insults his way in a very defensive and detached manner as she watches someone she might care about attempt to throw his life away.
And on Netflix? Spike and Jet are drinking booze together, having heart-to-hearts, and both Spike and Faye intervene and attempt to save Spike from himself to show how much they care about him. And in return, he goes off to face the clown alone because he doesn't want to put them in harms way. It's so incredibly sentimental. It would be sweet and endearing if it weren't also completely missing the point.
I don't begrudge this show for its sins. At one point in my life long ago, I might have been tempted to write fan fiction of Cowboy Bebop that's in spirit not too different from this either. Where everyone gets to be friends and we can end up with a less sad ending for these characters I'd grown to love. But the hubris and lack of insight/understanding of the source material really wounds this show and keeps it from coming close to achieving anywhere near its full potential.
Also, Ein
is a robot-dog now so