[7.1/10] I still don’t get it. I gotta be honest. There’s a lot of beauty to this show, and I can appreciate the emotions at play. But so much of it just flat doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like we’re missing a lot of key information, so while I can often sort of appreciate Cowboy Bebop as a sort of tone poem, it’s increasingly difficult for me to connect with it on the level of story or character, both of which the show seems more interested in obscuring rather than revealing.
That said, I’m impressed at how the show dealt with Gren. I was fearing the worst for a transgender character. But they treat him with a great deal of dignity, which I appreciate. We learn that he was part of a great and senseless war on Titan, that he was betrayed by Vicious as part of it, and that he holds a grudge to this day.
The episode’s best moments come from the bitter melancholy of that. He wants revenge at any cost. The ensuing three way dogfight between him, Vicious, and Spike is wonderfully directed. And there is great pathos in Spike sending him off to Titan, even knowing he won’t make it, vindicating the bookend of the indigenous grandfather and child remarking on a warrior returning home.
I just don’t care much about Spike’s hunt for the mysterious Julia. I don’t care much about the cryptic hints we get about his life and presumable betrayal from her and Vicious before hand. The stray clips stitched together doesn't really compel me. And Jet rescuing Faye and bringing her back to the ship doesn’t add much either. This all feels like a five minute break-up for the team, so the crew coming back together in the end doesn’t move me. It feels like they just left. It’s all too quick to really matter.
That said, maybe it's just the music, but it’s hard not to feel something with the image of Gren drifting home, as shots of the stars play out, as he returns to the grand cosmic march from which he came. I think that's the mode I like Cowboy Bebop best in -- one-off stories focused on the feeling of the moment, rather than plots or mysteries or larger characters journeys that don’t seem to really make sense.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-04-20T02:59:29Z
[7.1/10] I still don’t get it. I gotta be honest. There’s a lot of beauty to this show, and I can appreciate the emotions at play. But so much of it just flat doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like we’re missing a lot of key information, so while I can often sort of appreciate Cowboy Bebop as a sort of tone poem, it’s increasingly difficult for me to connect with it on the level of story or character, both of which the show seems more interested in obscuring rather than revealing.
That said, I’m impressed at how the show dealt with Gren. I was fearing the worst for a transgender character. But they treat him with a great deal of dignity, which I appreciate. We learn that he was part of a great and senseless war on Titan, that he was betrayed by Vicious as part of it, and that he holds a grudge to this day.
The episode’s best moments come from the bitter melancholy of that. He wants revenge at any cost. The ensuing three way dogfight between him, Vicious, and Spike is wonderfully directed. And there is great pathos in Spike sending him off to Titan, even knowing he won’t make it, vindicating the bookend of the indigenous grandfather and child remarking on a warrior returning home.
I just don’t care much about Spike’s hunt for the mysterious Julia. I don’t care much about the cryptic hints we get about his life and presumable betrayal from her and Vicious before hand. The stray clips stitched together doesn't really compel me. And Jet rescuing Faye and bringing her back to the ship doesn’t add much either. This all feels like a five minute break-up for the team, so the crew coming back together in the end doesn’t move me. It feels like they just left. It’s all too quick to really matter.
That said, maybe it's just the music, but it’s hard not to feel something with the image of Gren drifting home, as shots of the stars play out, as he returns to the grand cosmic march from which he came. I think that's the mode I like Cowboy Bebop best in -- one-off stories focused on the feeling of the moment, rather than plots or mysteries or larger characters journeys that don’t seem to really make sense.