We’ve been anticipating Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop series since it was announced earlier this year. Fans of the 1998 original anime series have been waiting patiently until they could see their favorite protagonist, Spike Spiegel, in this live-action remake.
Does the series meet expectations? Are the characters even more amazing and dynamic than in the mother series? And does this series do a great job of paying homage to the original? Let’s review the show episode by episode, right here.
First up, the premiere!
Episode 1: “Cowboy Gospel”
The first episode is always the most important as it sets audiences up for what’s to come. And this Netflix series does an okay job of that.
Less than a minute in, “Cowboy Gospel” serves up an action sequences that sent shivers down my spine as Spike Spiegel (John Cho) and Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir) absolutely dominate a group of thieves…for the most part.
In the midst of a heated battle, one of the thieves shoots a wall, which leads to the oxygen being sucked out of the room. It’s a nice touch that acquaints us with the sci-fi reality of Cowboy Bebop in a way that was seldom seen in the anime series.
The series is set many years in the future, and there have been a ton of technological advances that making outer space habitable. But these characters are still human beings who need oxygen to survive. Seeing this acknowledged was super refreshing.
In addition to this environmental awareness, the premiere gets brownie points for slowly unveiling the private life of Jet Black, as we learn he has a daughter and wife. This was something that fans of the anime had to wait a little while longer to see.
Still, the reveal of Jet Black’s life, as well as the unexpected introductions of Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda), Julia (Elena Satine), and Vicious (Alex Hassell) felt a tad premature, as these characters and their secrets are pivotal to the story and shouldn’t be brought up in vain. The original show built up these characters and I can’t help but wonder if having them appear in the first episode will pay off in the end. We’ll have to wait and see to know for sure.
All in all, the first episode of Cowboy Bebop packs a strong punch; not as strong as the anime’s first episode, but dang near close.
Will the next episode also exceed expectations?
Episode Rating: 5/10
Episode 2: “Venus Pop”
Cowboy Bebop‘s second episode gets off to a pretty rough start. We meet our characters at a wedding shortly after they take on the job of hunting down the Teddy Bomber. Spike engages in a showdown with a presumed ally of the Syndicate and quickly defeats him, putting three bullets into their body. And here lies the first red flag of the episode: one-dimensional characters.
Spike seems to be hellbent on defeating the Syndicate and seemingly can’t see beyond this. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it feels out of sync with everything we know Spike Spiegel to be: strong but aloof, driven but kind, hardwired sometimes, but overall insanely charming. But was this an accidental mischaracterization, or intentional.
Jet Black also has tunnel vision; he’s focused on getting his daughter’s birthday present, with the rest of his character melted away. Seeing him so reduced hurts.
Still, seeing Spike react to a picture of his old lover Julia as watching Jet and Spike shoot the fade like old times was a nice treat. Hopefully, more moments like these will blot out the mistakes made so far.
That said, the second red flag lies in the episode’s vibe in general. “Venus Pop” does not, in fact, pop. The episode has a hushed, slow-burn tone. It felt a bit like filler, if it wasn’t for one pretty decent moment: Vicious and Julia’s relationship is, without a doubt, the most interesting thing to come out of this episode. Their dispositions conflict beautifully. Julia is more of a gentle soul who seems to have wandered from Heaven, whereas Vicious is a cold-hearted man who definitely has roots in the fiery underworld. The series does a great job at playing with these contradictions in a way that we didn’t really get to see in the 1998 series.
Still the idea that the antagonists Julia and Vicious wil be better developed than our heroes may be a pink flag in itself. Perhaps my worry will be in vain. Perhaps not.
The last red flag is Faye’s absence. Her not being in this episode isn’t too strange as her character would probably only get in the way, but after the show introduced her in the first episode, it was expected that she would have more of a role to play somehow, someway. If she didn’t, why introduce her that early?
I wish the series was a bit more intentional with these extremely important characters and not introduce them so haphazardly, but hopefully things will turn around in Episode 3, “Dog Star Swing.”
Episode rating: 2/10
Episode 3: “Dog Star Swing”
“Dog Star Swing” establishes that the series is taking the slow-burn approach to the story and sets the pace for the rest of the show. Spike knows that Vicious is after him, meaning that an epic showdown between the two is near. But other business (i.e. securing a highly sought-after doll for your child) must be done before we see this fight go down.
Jet is still passionate about getting this doll for his daughter and, once again, I wonder why this Jet’s story is centered around this. He’s a family man, yes, but perhaps this would’ve been better to show a little later in the series.
At the end of the episode, Jet can’t get the doll for his daughter, Kimmie, after all. This conclusion, while ironic, is absolutely not worth the build-up.
Another aspect that was not worth the build-up was the fight between Hakim, an anime-favorite bounty, and our bounty hunters. The tussle between the two pales next to the ferociousness Vicious displayed while killing workers of the Syndicate in cold blood after he concludes they’re unnecessary to keep alive.
The show is doing an amazing job at building Vicious into a menacing character by having him commit all these heinous crimes. It helps us understand why he can only be brought down by someone like Spike, but I wish our main characters were given the same amount of detailing as Vicious. After all, each episode is much longer than an episode of the anime, so it’s frustrating getting less information despite having more time.
The only other thing done right in this third episode is how it subtly shows us Spike’s bloodlust. When he asks Jet whether he would put a bullet in a guy who betrayed, we get a peek at the darkness that lurks under the surface, getting Spike closer to the multidimensional character we know from the anime.
Hopefully the series continues using subtlety; it’s more effective than bombarding viewers with one-dimensional objectives or unfinished plot points. (Again, where is Faye?)
All in all, I’m slowly warming up to the series now that it seems to have finally found its footing. But will Episode 4 deliver what I’ve been hungry for?
Episode rating: 4/10
Episode 4: “Callisto Soul”
At long last, Faye Valentine returns. We start this episode with this purple-haired beauty meeting with the person she believes unfroze her from her cryogenic slumber years ago to steal her financial settlement. She asks for her mother’s whereabouts so she can retrieve what was also stolen from her upon defrosting: her Identikit.
Faye also comes across another revered villain from the 1998 series, Maria Murdock, only this time her concoction turns humans into trees, which I admit makes a lot of sense given her environmentalist bent. Maria is, of course, a valuable bounty that Faye, Jet and Spike must team up to bring down, but the task isn’t easy. Things get more complicated until Faye must sacrifice herself in order to save the planet and her new allies, showing off a depth to her character that goes well beyond has sassiness, which we love but is only a facade.
With both Faye and Maria in the mix, Episode 4 is much more enjoyable than the previous two. It explores the characters in more depth and pushes the story along. And there is one more woman who we can thank for making this episode great: Julia has been given so much more depth on this show; in the anime she was mostly a helpless maiden who only got in the way. But in the Netflix series she’s shows a lot of savvy as she influences Vicious to stage a coup against the Elders in the hopes that she and he could live as they want.
During their discussion, Vicious and Julia mention a woman named Mao who seems to be the key to this coup. Julia does some digging, heading to Ana (Tamara Tunie) to find answers about Mao. All of it solidifies Julia as a force to be reckoned with.
Episode 4 serves as the perfect setup for the events to follow. We now have our main trio of bounty hunters established, as well as an upcoming event in Julia and Vicious’ life that will push them one step further to Spike.
These episodes are improving every time, so I have high hopes for “Darkside Tango.”
Episode rating: 5.5/10
Episode 5: “Darkside Tango”
There are only three words to say when it comes to the way Cowboy Bebop portrayed Jet Black in this episode: “I stand corrected”.
This Jet Black-centered episode undoes most of the mistakes from earlier in the series. Before, he was a grumpy man whose only conflict was whether he would secure a doll for his daughter. Now, he’s still a grumpy old man, only this time he’s given a story you simply can’t look away from.
We start the episode off with a flashback to Jet Black’s past. He and his then-ISSP partner were tracking down a wanted man named Udai Taxim. During this mission, one thing leads to another and Jet winds up losing his arm, his ISSP title, and his joy. We get a deeper look into his character and come to understand why he has been so desperate to make things right.
While Jet is confronting the ghosts of his past, Vicious and Julia finally meet up with the infamous Mao, only their meeting reveals much more about Julia than about this Elder member. And there are no complaints from me: Julia unexpectedly disobeying Vicious made up for the disappointment of not learning more about Mao and her role in the coup. And now we are inches from a climax, especially now that we know Julia knows that Spike is alive.
And as if Episode 5 didn’t bless us with enough intrigue, we also get to see Spike and Faye’s dynamic develop further, getting closer to what fans of the anime have always known it to be: an adorable game of cat and mouse.
The growing partnership between Faye and Spike, the betrayal and loss of Jet’s former partner, and the display of a power-hungry Vicious all helped to make this episode great. The only thing that may have made it better would have been our genius dog Ein having more of a role than Faye’s dance partner, but we’ll take what we can get.
Serving as the halfway point of the series, Episode 5 did its job of making audiences want to continue watching, and now sits at the top spot along with Episodes 1 and 4 as the most enjoyable episode of the series thus far. Will episode 6, “Binary Two-Step,” top this? We’ll see.
Episode rating: 5/10
Episode 6: “Binary Two-Step”
Forget what we said about the last episode; “Binary Two-Step” is, unquestionably, the game changer of the series. From start to finish, this episode felt fresh, different, and innovative. It’s the first episode to expand on what we knew from the 1998 anime series.
Spike’s journey to uncover the mystery behind Dr. Londes is front and center in this episode, and what we expected to be a regular bounty has a psychological twist that no one, not even Spike, saw coming.
In Dr. Londes’ lab, Spike is stuck in a mental labyrinth that requires him to cut the neural connections of whatever it is that is holding him back from becoming his best self. This connection, naturally, is with Julia. He encounters his past love numerous times in his dream-like state. Each time, the dream Julia becomes better at using the right words to push Spike away for good, and each time, Spike seemingly falls for the trap.
“My husband [Vicious] may do bad things,” Julia laments, “But you [Spike] are the psychopath”.
Comments like this one, though manufactured by a machine, impact both Spike Spiegel and us, as we never expected such words to come from this harmless human being. I can’t help but wonder if Julia (both in the adaptation and the anime) has always felt some sort of resentment towards Spike for what he’s done in the past, but we’ll have to keep watching to know for sure.
Another great moment in this episode is Faye’s hookup with an attractive mechanic to whom she confesses that she hasn’t had much luck since she woke up from her cryogenic sleep. Our ice queen’s heart finally melts, kickstarting her journey to confront her ghosts.
From Spike being exposed as the most flawed of them all to Julia saying that she’s the one who wants to do the saving, Episode 6 uncovered so much more about these characters. And the best gift was, of course, the mention of our beloved Radical Ed!
With the episodes becoming slightly better each time, it isn’t outrageous to expect that Episode 7, “Galileo Hustle,” will be just as good, if not better.
Episode rating: 6.5/10
Episode 7: “Galileo Hustle”
“Galileo Hustle” is yet another Faye Valentine-centered episode, and just like Episodes 4 and 6, it teaches us a lot about this character.
At the start of Episode 7, Faye meets her “mother” Whitney, and soon after follows her lead by convincing Spike and Jet to take her to the city of Santos. Here, we see that Faye’s actual personality contrasts with everything we’ve seen so far, which is a very good thing as it stays faithful to the anime. She’s no longer the tough cookie who has no issue kicking some bounty booty, but a youngster who reveres her mother and is willing to do whatever it takes to please her. But Faye has to summon some of that old steel when Whitney runs into trouble with the Iron Mink, the arms dealer who wants Whitney dead for betraying their marriage.
Watching the show, I thought this story would crescendo with Whitney stopped in her tracks and Faye, now having secured her Identikit, putting a stop to her mother’s shenanigans. Instead, we get a comically steamy scene between Whitney and The Iron Mink; the two seem to have made up after Whitney uttered a random safe word. While a few moments of comedy here and there is a nice break from the action, this scene didn’t feel necessary and I couldn’t help but feel robbed of closure on Faye’s story.
Nevertheless, this misstep is overshadowed by the other good moments. In addition to Jet indulging his doting father persona while Spike is hilariously fighting for his life in the background, we get some much-needed updates on the forthcoming coup, which now involves Julia’s plan to betray Vicious after he betrays the Syndicate. Hopefully that moment will resurrect some of the magic of the 1998 series.
We’ve seen Faye and Jet deal with their personal baggage, but our lead protagonist’s past has yet to be unraveled. Is Spike up next and, if so, how will he deal with the ghosts that have been haunting him?
Episode rating: 5.5/10
Episode 8: “Sad Clown A-Go-Go”
As expected, Episode 8 of Cowboy Bebop digs deeper into the story of Spike Spiegel. And as a bonus, it also features the introduction of yet another great foe from the 1998 anime series, the Mad Pierrot.
I was uneasy wondering whether the series would do this fabled antagonist justice, but my worries were quickly cast aside once I saw how menacing they made Pierrot; he is just as eager to kill Spike as Vicious. (Although I was confused as to why Vicious would employ Pierrot to do such a thing rather than take care of it himself.)
Of course, Mad Pierrot is no match for our space cowboy in the end, but his sudden appearance had Jet questioning his longtime partner, wondering who Spike is and what exactly he’d done to pick up such a death wish.
In retrospect, I’m glad the Netflix series decided to ease into Spike’s character arc. (Ignoring the first two episodes, of course.) For the first time in a long time, I’m hopeful that the series will stick the landing with Spike. After all, here in the eighth episode, it finally makes Ein important to the story as well as nail the conclusion of the coup storyline with the Syndicate. So I expect nothing but greatness from the remainder of the series.
Speaking of the coup, it was pretty electrifying. Vicious unexpectedly betrayed everyone, including the people he recruited to assist in taking the Elders’ throne. With the killing of Eunuch, Mao and the Elders’ master (Vicious’ own father), the white-haired villain is in a position to do damage to anyone and everyone, especially Julia.
We end this action-packed episode with questions all about Julia. How will Vicious deal with her now that he knows that she betrayed him? What does her singing signify? Most importantly, will Spike get to her in time to save her life?
Episode rating: 6/10
Episode 9: “Blue Crow Waltz”
Being so close to the end, we were overdue for a story detailing the lives of Spike, Julia and Vicious. In “Blue Crow Waltz,” we learn that Vicious wasn’t favored by his boss, Stax, who was in charge of overseeing him in place of his father. Stax viewed the young Vicious as impulsive, immature, and not worthy of acknowledgement by the Syndicate. Though Vicious is all of these things and more, we see that Spike has a soft spot for his friend. We also see how they both came to know Julia and how they became entranced by this gentle spirit in a way that spelled disaster for all three of them.
Episode 9 continued to impress me. We not only saw the savageness of Vicious but also the savageness of Spike as he makes love to his best friend’s girlfriend. And after Vicious makes a mess of things, Stax tasks Spike with killing his friend, an order that comes from Vicious’ own father.
Needless to say, Spike, though close, isn’t able to bring himself to do this, and instead slays the men who betrayed the Syndicate in hopes to improve Vicious’ bad reputation. But this only makes Vicious look worse in his father’s eyes. It also demonstrates that Netflix understands that Spike Spiegel’s nature is that he is driven but kind.
If there’s a problem with this episode, it’s that we don’t get enough information about Spike apart from his relationships with Julia and Vicious. Although granted, this could just be another way that the 2021 series wanted to stay faithful to the 1998 anime.
All in all, Episode 9 was yet another acceptable standalone episode that, in regards to Vicious, expanded upon what we initially knew from the original anime. And with the tenth and final episode just ahead, we hope to see how all of these events that transpired between Spike, Julia and Vicious will pay off in the big finale.
There are a few loose ends to tie up. I’m extremely excited but a little worried about how it will end. Will Cowboy Bebop stick the landing, or will it lose its footing at the finish line?
Episode rating: 6/10
Episode 10: “Supernova Symphony”
We’ve arrived at the finish line, and the warning signs we saw at the beginning of the series have been borne out. It’s a shame, especially since the Netflix series seemed to have finally found its own unique stride. “Supernova Symphony” is anything but an organized orchestra; it’s more of a disastrous discord.
From the pacing to the needless inclusion of side characters to the conclusion that proved to be 100% not worth the time, not only did this series lose all the momentum it managed to build up this far, but it left such a sour taste that I almost wonder if they’d been trolling us the whole time.
Firstly, this episode should have been, without a sliver of a doubt, focused entirely on Spike Spiegel. The inclusion of Jet Black’s daughter Kimmie and other secondary characters was not necessary; they just got in the way of the story reaching the conclusion that we thought we were going to get: a showdown between Spike and Vicious where only one walks away alive. The anime wisely had Jet and Faye take a backseat during this part of the story, but the Netflix show isn’t as smart.
Secondly, while I’m all for a girl power moment and appreciated Julia’s expanded role in the adaptation, we were never given any hint that taking over the Syndicate was Julia’s intention, just that she wanted the freedom to what she pleases. Yes, doing what she pleases can include being a leader of the Syndicate, but some foreshadowing or heads up of some sort would have helped us swallow this twist.
And speaking of story beats not being executed well, it seems like the series forgot about the Syndicate employing her husband to shoot her. Considering all of this, why the writers tasked Julia with delivering the final shot to Spike Spiegel simply because he didn’t retrieve her, despite knowing that he would have been killed if he had done so, is completely beyond understanding and extremely painful to watch as it shows clear signs of inexcusable forgetfulness.
However, those stumbles don’t even hold a candle to the last egregious mistake. The sudden appearance of Radical Edward would have been exciting if our red-haired genius was shown much earlier in the series, but like this, it was all I could do to not switch off the series and ask myself what was the point of including them at all, Ed stumbling upon an (uncharacteristically) drunken Spike with Ein in tow creates a plot hole so huge I doubt even a whole second season could make up for it.
These three things weren’t the only issues with the finale, but they were the hardest to ignore and prove that the remake not only missed the point of the 1998 series, but its own point. And boy, is that a shame.
Episode rating: 1/10
Cowboy Bebop review
As fans of the 1998 anime series, I knew that the Netflix show wouldn’t be able to outdo the original; live-action remakes of anime series seldom do, which is why I reviewed the show like it was a regular show simply inspired by the anime. However, even judged this way, the series still falls flat on its face.
The episodes were very mixed, with some standing alone as solid entertainments and others nothing more than a forgotten afterthought. But after watching the series in its entirety, I can’t help but wonder if the Netflix series ever truly understood the point of the anime.
Cowboy Bebop was never about the action. It was never about power. It was never about impressing the audience with its galactic settings, and it most certainly was never about Spike Spiegel. Instead, it was always about the ghosts that you can’t outrun no matter how far away you fly. Cowboy Bebop was and always will be about being haunted. That explains why the anime left left certain characters where it did, and why the Netflix show had nowhere to go but rock bottom after solving our main characters’ problems.
Nevertheless, if you never knew the anime existed the show is still somewhat enjoyable. But if you know the ins and outs of the 1998 series, stay away.
Both in the Netflix series and the anime, Spike Spiegel doesn’t sweat the small stuff and lets fate take its natural course. With this in mind, one wonders if this will be the last time we will ever see Spike, or if the Netflix series will return with a season 2 that will outdo the first.
We don’t currently know, but as our space cowboy would say, “whatever happens, happens.”
Series Overall Rating: 5/10
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