[7.6/10] This one feels pretty plainly like a rip-off of Ridley Scott’s Alien. But you know what? I really like Alien. There are worse plots and atmospheres for a science-fiction story to borrow, I tell you. Which is a long walk to say that I enjoyed this one.
We’ve seen Cowboy Bebop adopt several moods and tones to this point, but I don’t think we’ve seen straight horror like this before. Some difficult-to-see goop monster, marauding through the ship and inflicting its venomous bite on the crew one at a time ratchets up the tension with each victim who falls to it. Watching it strike slowly and steadily, as we see from the creature’s perspective, until Spike realizes what’s up and starts hunting the thing, gives you that slasher movie vibe that Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic had.
The philosophical double-speak from Jet and Faye doesn’t do much for me, but the escalating number of victims of the little blob creature does. (Plus poor Ein! Saddest moment in the episode!)
Spike’s crusade to get it makes for some of the cooler sequences in the show. Again, there’s plenty of Alien homages between the flamethrower and the airlock sequence. But I’m particularly impressed at how the show manages to make the forgone conclusion of him blasting the offending source of the goop off the ship into a suspenseful race against time and will as Spike tries to complete the process before he passes out. The cuts and direction really sell the tenuousness of his position here.
Plus this may be the funniest conclusion to any Cowboy Bebop episode. The fact that this whole rigamarole started because Jet left something in the fridge for too long is low key hilarious. Hell, even Annoying Ed inadvertently saving the day with her sleep eating, by mistaking the little blog for pudding, makes for an amusing capper.
But the piece de resistance here is the closing ballet number. Something about watching the dilapidated fridge spewing sparkles as it spins through the cosmos, with cuts to the balletic grace of the goop ball’s weightless victims left in their element is one of the most striking bits of imagery we’ve seen so far. I hope it’s one of the more iconic parts of this show’s long tail.
Overall, if you’re going to steal, steal from the best and put your own spin on it. “Toys in the Attic” does that and more.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-04-12T00:15:25Z
[7.6/10] This one feels pretty plainly like a rip-off of Ridley Scott’s Alien. But you know what? I really like Alien. There are worse plots and atmospheres for a science-fiction story to borrow, I tell you. Which is a long walk to say that I enjoyed this one.
We’ve seen Cowboy Bebop adopt several moods and tones to this point, but I don’t think we’ve seen straight horror like this before. Some difficult-to-see goop monster, marauding through the ship and inflicting its venomous bite on the crew one at a time ratchets up the tension with each victim who falls to it. Watching it strike slowly and steadily, as we see from the creature’s perspective, until Spike realizes what’s up and starts hunting the thing, gives you that slasher movie vibe that Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic had.
The philosophical double-speak from Jet and Faye doesn’t do much for me, but the escalating number of victims of the little blob creature does. (Plus poor Ein! Saddest moment in the episode!)
Spike’s crusade to get it makes for some of the cooler sequences in the show. Again, there’s plenty of Alien homages between the flamethrower and the airlock sequence. But I’m particularly impressed at how the show manages to make the forgone conclusion of him blasting the offending source of the goop off the ship into a suspenseful race against time and will as Spike tries to complete the process before he passes out. The cuts and direction really sell the tenuousness of his position here.
Plus this may be the funniest conclusion to any Cowboy Bebop episode. The fact that this whole rigamarole started because Jet left something in the fridge for too long is low key hilarious. Hell, even Annoying Ed inadvertently saving the day with her sleep eating, by mistaking the little blog for pudding, makes for an amusing capper.
But the piece de resistance here is the closing ballet number. Something about watching the dilapidated fridge spewing sparkles as it spins through the cosmos, with cuts to the balletic grace of the goop ball’s weightless victims left in their element is one of the most striking bits of imagery we’ve seen so far. I hope it’s one of the more iconic parts of this show’s long tail.
Overall, if you’re going to steal, steal from the best and put your own spin on it. “Toys in the Attic” does that and more.