Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

Cowboy Bebop: Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

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Most episodes focus on the capture of an evil bounty, but occasionally Cowboy Bebop treats fans to an exploration of the lives of the main characters.

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Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

Cowboy Bebop is remarkable for many different reasons. One of them is how the series manages to make its characters feel so fleshed-out and three-dimensional while never revealing the whole truth about any of their backstories.

Across the series’ 26 episodes, or “sessions,” there are some stories which break from the “bounty of the week” formula to explore the main characters’ lives and backgrounds in more depth.

10 Asteroid Blues Sets Up Spike’s Backstory From The Beginning

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

Session #1, “Asteroid Blues,” sets up Cowboy Bebop without ever holding the viewer’s hand. The opening scene of the episode and series is a grey-tinted flashback of Spike – the bouquet he’s holding and multiple used cigarettes at his feet indicate he’s waiting for a lover who failed to show.

He walks off, letting a single rose fall to the ground, then the scene switches to a rapid-fire montage of him in a shoot-out with multiple armed men. The context of these images only becomes clear later. It’s obvious that Spike is running from something. It’s what causes his brief kinship with Katerina – she’s running from her past just as he is.

9 Ballad Of Fallen Angels Offers The First Concrete Hints

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

After a string of standalone adventures, Session #5, “Ballad Of The Fallen Angels,” introduces Vicious, a Red Dragon Syndicate enforcer and the series’ most recurring villain. Vicious kills his captain, Mao Yenrai, to usurp his rank and sabotage a ceasefire with a rival syndicate. Mao’s death captures Spike’s attention. Viewers finally start to get some concrete hints about Spike’s past – he was in the Syndicate himself, and brothers in arms with Vicious. What caused their falling out, is yet to be revealed.

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8 Ganymede Elegy First Hints At Jet Black’s Early Days

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

Session #10, “Ganymede Elegy,” featured the Bebop crew visiting the eponymous moon, which turns out to be Jet’s hometown. He stops in for a visit with his ex Alisa, a struggling bartender who left him in the middle of the night.

The spark between Jet and Alisa is extinguished, but Jet still wants to know why she left him. Matters are complicated even more when he learns there’s a bounty on her new boyfriend, Rhint.

7 Jupiter Jazz Further Details Spike And Vicious’ Rivalry

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

Vicious returns in the series’ first two-part Session, “Jupiter Jazz.” The episode reveals he fought in a war on Titan, spying on the side he was ostensibly fighting for. Vicious framed his comrade Gren for the treason, and Gren’s quest for vengeance becomes the story’s focal point.

Whenever Vicious is around, viewers also learn more of Spike’s background. Past episodes have shown a blonde woman in Spike’s flashbacks. This episode reveals her name – Julia – and all but confirms it was her who Spike was waiting for in the opening scene.

6 My Funny Valentine Details How Faye Awoke From Cryo-Sleep

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

Faye Valentine is a con artist by trade and the least scrupulous of the Bebop crew. Session #15, “My Funny Valentine,” reveals what made her that way, and is further proof of the old wisdom “Those who are heartless, once cared too much.” The episode reveals she had been frozen in cryo-sleep and awoke an amnesiac. Seduced by a man posing as her attorney, Whitney Haggis, she was conned into assuming his debts after he faked his death. While Faye gets a chance at revenge on Haggis, he’s unable to give her information on her pre-deep freeze life.

5 Black Dog Serenade Reveals How Jet Lost His Arm

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

Previous episodes had alluded to Jet’s past as an Inter-Solar System Police (ISSP) officer, but the first episode to give viewers a glimpse of his past was Session #16, “Black Dog Serenade.” Flashbacks show how Jet and his partner Fad were pursuing a Syndicate assassin, Udai Taxim. Taxim sprang a trap on Jet, and the injury is why Jet has a bionic arm in the show’s present setting. When Taxim escapes, Jet and Fad team up once more to bring him back in – it turns out Fad was a dirty cop who shot Jet during Taxim’s ambush. Fad allows Jet to kill him as penance.

4 Speak Like A Child Hints Where Faye Came From

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

With the series more than halfway over, Session #18, “Speak Like A Child,” offers concrete hints about Faye’s origin. While Ms. Valentine herself is off gambling, a BetaMax tape is delivered to the ship addressed to Faye. After a failed odyssey to procure a tape player back on Earth, the Bebop crew eventually have one delivered to them.

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The tape’s contents show a teenage Faye, likely sometime in the late 20th century, recording a message for her future self. Faye’s younger self is pure, sunny optimism, a total contrast with her current self. Yet, even the contents of the tape don’t jog Faye’s memories.

3 Boogie Woogie Feng Shui Focuses On An Old Friend Of Jet

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

Jet’s final spotlight episode is Session #21, “Boogie Woogie Feng Shui.” It’s less revealing than the previous two, but the episode still focuses on an old contact of Jet named Pao Pu-Zi. Jet receives a message from Pao requesting his help, only to discover Pao is missing, presumed dead. From there, Jet teams up with Pao’s daughter Meifa to locate her father, guided by clues rooted in the philosophy of Feng Shui.

2 Hard Luck Woman Ends Faye’s And Ed’s Stories

Cowboy Bebop Every Episode Which Focuses On The Main Characters’ Backstories

In Session #24, “Hard Luck Woman,” the Bebop crew stops on Earth. A chance encounter with a childhood friend spurs Faye into finally remembering her old home, but when she arrives there, she finds it long gone. Quiet but sad, Faye draws the outline of her old room and sits gazing at the stars.

The episode is also a showcase for Ed, otherwise the biggest enigma on the series. The episode reveals her true name, Françoise Appledelhi, and features her briefly reuniting with her father, Siniz. Inspired by Faye’s words that “there’s no better feeling than to belong,” and her father’s disinterest in her, Ed leaves the Bebop to find her own home, taking Ein with her. While Faye returns for the finale, Ed and Ein do not.

1 The Real Folk Blues Ends The Series With A Finale Focused On Spike, Julia, And Vicious

Cowboy Bebop’s 2nd two-parter is the series finale, “The Real Folk Blues.” When Vicious launches a coup against the Syndicate leadership, the Van, they put a hit on all his associates. Spike and Julia end up as targets, and viewers learn that Julia missed her meeting with Spike because Vicious had ordered her to kill him. The two lovers are finally brought back together, but Vicious’ forces ensure their reunion doesn’t last long. Thus, Cowboy Bebop ends where it begins, with Spike in a battle with Vicious’ forces. Though he may not escape with his life this time, he does earn his revenge.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/cowboy-bebop-episodes-focused-on-main-characters-backstories/

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