This episode’s preview is narrated by Spike. Spike waxes poetic on the fragility of life and the choice to live outside society’s expectations. While technically this monologue fits the subject matter of the coming episode, its tone is more reflective of “Jupiter Jazz.” I’m starting to see a pattern where the previews usually reflect the subject matter of the coming episode but keep the tone of the preceding episode.
Session #14: Bohemian Rhapsody
Original Airdate: January 23, 1999
Written by: Dai Satō
Title Card Song: “Doggy Dog” – This song has already had some play in the series. It was released on the Cowboy Bebop Vitaminless album.
This episode takes its name from the Queen song. The primary setting for this episode is the Bohemian Junkheap, a mass of parts from ships and astral gates that have converged into a sort of pseudo-planet.
This is Dai Satō’s second episode as writer. His first was “Jamming with Edward.” As writers begin to stack up multiple credits on the show, I’m beginning to see the outlines of their styles and interests. Satō has one more episode after this, but generally, his episodes are more focused in on the cyberpunk elements of Bebop, with sentient satellites and tech-centric plots.
The episode starts with Jet, Spike and Faye helping round up 20 criminals who were involved with attacks on astral gates. The crew doesn’t get the bounty because they didn’t find the mastermind behind the plot. All they come away with are chess pieces. Big Shot shows profiles for the criminals they caught. They’re all detailed and unique screens, and as Jet points out later, there’s nothing uniform about them.
This is one of those simple episodes that just works. Hex is a 98-year-old genius who helped design the astral gates that make the world of Bebop work. He left when the company building the gates decided to go ahead with the build despite design flaws, and he planned a decades-long scheme to expose the company.
Now, though, Hex has been taken by senility and lives to play games. The three old men seem to be taking care of him when Faye and Spike find him.
The online shop selling or at least hosting his instructions for how to hack the gates seems like a given now, but back in 1999, Bebop’s anonymous criminal groups and totally digital storefronts show foresight.
Hex, if he were real, would be 46-years-old, 16 years into his work on the gate project. I think the implication is that the Astral Gate Incident that savaged Earth’s surface was caused by the vulnerabilities in the gates that Hex wanted to fix.
The two chess games seen in the show are based on real games played by Paul Morphy. Morphy lived in the 1800s and was widely considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. Morphy retired from the game at 23, and after that he lived a fairly idle life on his family fortune, though he tried and failed to start a legal practice. He died at 47.
At the end of the episode, Hex beats Ed and closes his eyes, implying that he’s died.
SEE YOU SPACE COWBOY.
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