Sunday, July 31, 2011

Cowboy Bebop - Session 8: Waltz for Venus

There are a few themes worth keeping track of throughout Cowboy Bebop, but I consider only two to be central to what the series is all about. First is the subject of time -- particularly one's past and its relationship with the present -- which we have thus far seen primarily through Spike's eyes. This will eventually become an important concern for every principal character in some way after we get a much clearer look at the histories of Faye, Jet, and the rest.

The other element, critical though it is, doesn't really surface until Waltz for Venus. It's the ultimate futility of it all, which benefits greatly from the information about the character's pasts given ostensibly in service of the other theme. I'm sure I must be quoting someone, though I can't determine who or how loosely this is paraphrased, but, in essence, "there is no sadness without memory". In other words, for this futility to have any impact, it helps to get a little perspective via backstory. It's still far too early to say anything definitive about how anything or anyone winds up at the end of Bebop, but this episode does provide a nice preview, in miniature, of what is to come.

As gloomy as that may sound, Venus doesn't start out as a drag. In fact, after a successful bounty collection by the on-again team of Spike and Faye, the Bebop crew is temporary flush with a little cash. To celebrate, Faye seizes the opportunity to resume being broke by way of the casino and Ein gets a nice meal. On the whole, though, their lives don’t really change much for the better after this rare victory, even temporarily. Shortly after the bounty is turned in and the reward has been distributed among the crew, Jet is already looking for the next bounty to start the whole process over again.

And now that we’ve seen the meager rewards for success in their work, it raises the question of why they even bother doing it at all. Considering the risks involved and, perhaps more importantly, their constant failures, it is surprising that they’re able to earn enough money to survive. They must be cashing in on some bounties between episodes, because the available evidence does not suggest that they could last this long otherwise. Leaving Faye and her gambling aside, if the money they get from turning in bounties goes towards food and other basic necessities plus ship maintenance and fuel, the purpose of which is to allow them to continue hunting bounties, well, the entire thing seems basically pointless.

To clear the air of existential funk, this episode introduces Roco and Stella, a brother and sister living on Venus whose motivations are much easier to define. They represent a solid sibling relationship with the older brother being willing to do anything to help the younger sister, who in turn loves her older brother unconditionally. This relative simplicity gives them a certain innocence that sets them apart from most of the other people we meet in this universe. It manifests itself first in the way they are both surprisingly quick to put a great deal of trust in Spike, even doing so independently from each other and under circumstances that wouldn't exactly justify it.

Although Roco does so partly out of desperation and necessity, Stella's intuitive judgment of character stems from her blindness, caused by an uncommon reaction to the plants used to terraform the planet. She tells Spike that she can understand things more easily because she is blind, which is how she can quickly tell that Spike is basically a good person, even if that goodness is buried. She compares him to her brother, who is still good even though he is doing bad things with bad people, because he is just using them as a way to get the cure for her blindness.

One way to interpret Stella is through a zen sort of filter which allows her blindness to be the strength by which she can ignore the superficial things that get in the way of understanding. I think the sad reality, though, is that she’s a kind, well-meaning person who is cut off from the world and therefore rather naive as to how it works. Roco is similarly naive, but since he doesn’t have the excuse of being holed up in the desert, I think he is more likely to come across as mostly foolish. None of this is meant to imply that these two are pitiful or stupid, only that their innocence leads them to do some foolish things.

This is most obvious in the way Roco tries to use the criminal gang as a way to secure the rare Grey Ash plant that will cure his sister. In this respect, he’s a little like Faye and her gambling in that he is taking a big risk in hopes that a big payoff will follow, despite the odds being decidedly against that outcome. In his mind, he must have imagined that he could get what he wanted from them and escape, not quite realizing how good they would be at keeping that from happening.

The defining moment in this episode comes during the showdown with the gang when Roco finally succeeds in throwing an attacker the way Spike had showed him. As he smiles to Spike and gets a thumbs up in response, he is shot, without warning, through the chest. As he falls so does the Grey Ash, which withers and dies seconds after its protective glass case is broken. This scene, to be echoed later in the series, makes it achingly clear that not only can life end in an instant, but every important thing gained in that life can disappear just as quickly.

The bitterness of this outcome is sweetened somewhat when Stella is still able to be cured by way of the Grey Ash seeds Roco had smuggled to her earlier without her knowledge. This ending removes much of the futile edge from Roco's life and death, but it also says something about how this series intends to treat earnest though naive people. Specifically, it gives some support to "loss of innocence" as one of the other minor themes worth keeping an eye on as we progress. Its contributions to the overall futility of the series pay off spectacularly.


Side Note:
Faye’s lone-wolf bounty hunting story gets almost no time but is still worth a mention. Mainly because she is in no-nonsense badass mode which is all kicking down doors and shoving pistols into dude’s mouths. I think part of her knows that she’s been making a poor seductress and so she tries the more aggressive stance we’ve hardly seen since her machinegun-accented introduction in the second episode. It’s a great time for her to use this tactic, too, because it puts her in clear opposition to Spike’s Bruce Lee-inspired “like water” style that simply redirects the aggression of his attacker.

76 comments:

_J_ said...

" First is the subject of time -- particularly one's past and its relationship with the present -- which we have thus far seen primarily through Spike's eyes."

I see what you did there, and it was fantastic.

_J_ said...

This is probably one of my favorite episodes of the series. After reading your review I had to put in my disk to watch it. You are correct about the futility / naivety themes. Here are a few ideas to play with.

“if the money they get from turning in bounties goes towards food and other basic necessities plus ship maintenance and fuel, the purpose of which is to allow them to continue hunting bounties, well, the entire thing seems basically pointless.”

I think that was my, and I’m assuming everyone else’s, critique of existence at the end of high school, when one is confronted with the inevitability of adulthood and one’s entry into the workforce. One works to obtain money, which one uses to purchase food and shelter, for the sake of perpetuating one’s life, the majority of which is consumed by work, in order to amass funds, etc. It’s the hollow, meaningless cycle of inane repetition of life in contemporary society.

The difference is that the crew of the Bebop isn’t working at a rake factory, which is to say that their economic livelihood is intrinsically linked to their, let’s say “existential livelihood”. The pursuit of bounties is more than a pursuit of funds as each misadventure affords lessons, back story, and insights for the characters as well as the audience. This becomes more pronounced in later episodes (i.e. Jet pursues a bounty that just happens to be the boyfriend of the ex he just happened to be visiting).

Yes, they don’t make much money, but in the attempt to capture a bounty they inevitably grasp something far more meaningful than credits or double-dollars or whatever-the-fuck currency they use. The meaningless cycle of bounties to rewards to new bounties is diminished by the fact that each bounty teaches the characters something new, or exposes them to a new aspect of their past. This is remarkably unlike assembling squeegees for years on end in a factory.

“One way to interpret Stella is through a zen sort of filter which allows her blindness to be the strength by which she can ignore the superficial things that get in the way of understanding. I think the sad reality, though, is that she’s a kind, well-meaning person who is cut off from the world and therefore rather naive as to how it works. Roco is similarly naive, but since he doesn’t have the excuse of being holed up in the desert, I think he is more likely to come across as mostly foolish. None of this is meant to imply that these two are pitiful or stupid, only that their innocence leads them to do some foolish things.”

Naïve tends to have a negative connotation. I’ll agree that Roco and Stella are quite naïve, but their naiveté results from the purity of their well-intentioned character. And I don’t want to go to some sort of zen super-human clairvoyance. They’re just untainted by how fucking miserable life is.

In the scene where Roco gives Spike the pill to counteract the helium in the atmosphere, the look on Roco’s face is pure optimistic hopefulness; he just wants Spike to teach him, with absolutely no reservations about that desire. He really doesn’t understand how the world works, and is operating from an idealistic hopefulness. It’s the same sort of untarnished niceness we get in Stela, when she can go from pointing a gun at Spike to sharing her tea with him. Yes, these characters are naïve; but that naiveté is a good thing, because it allows them to be genuine.

_J_ said...

“As he smiles to Spike and gets a thumbs up in response, he is shot, without warning, through the chest. As he falls so does the Grey Ash, which withers and dies seconds after its protective glass case is broken. This scene, to be echoed later in the series, makes it achingly clear that not only can life end in an instant, but every important thing gained in that life can disappear just as quickly.”

Your life can end in an instant, and all of your hopes and dreams can shatter around you. So very good.

I’m not entirely clear on how this scene relates to the water metaphor. The importance of the water metaphor is that it explains not just how Spike fights, but how he lives. He simply reacts to life, “Whatever happens, happens.” It’s interesting, I think, to compare Spike’s method to Roco. Initially Roco is determined, perhaps even short-sighted, with an exclusive mission to save his sister. After meeting Spike, Roco comes to understand the water metaphor and, eventually, successfully utilizes it. But once he is able to become like water, to calmly react, he dies. Yet when he dies he continues on in his quest to save Stella, asking Spike to ensure that she gets her surgery.

I’m not sure what to make of his last few moments. Did he accept the water metaphor, and he’s calmly reacting to his death by asking Spike to care for Stella? Or has he returned to his previous state, by continuing the quest through another? I’m not sure. He’s obviously changed after meeting Spike, yet his final question regards whether Spike could have been his friend if they’d met sooner, and that, to me, is asking whether Spike could have steered him away from the life of a criminal.

Such a good episode. If only because it is the most effective use of this, which is...just sit and listen to it.

MA17 said...

I struggled with whether or not to talk about motivations more in this one. The reasons behind why Spike does seemingly crazy stuff like avenge Giraffe or help Roco are starting to show in this episode, but I think it's too early to get into it. I'm waiting for at least Jamming With Edward since it pretty much has Spike saying "I do these missions, not these missions" and some other things that start drawing him a lot more clearly.

I don't know exactly what to think about Roco and water at the time of his death, either. He's still out of his league trying to go up against a professional gang, so one good throw doesn't mean he's good enough to survive. If he and Spike had met earlier in life, maybe they would have been friends and maybe Roco would have been skilled enough to actually use Spike's philosophy/technique to get somewhere in life.

jw said...

I'm the guy who, in the comments section of the AV Club review for this session, sort of inferred that I felt I could write better reviews than the ones we've been getting. I saw your comment a little belatedly, but I'm glad I saw it. This is much more like it, and infinitely more perceptive writing. I will probably continue to visit the "Bebop"-related AV Club pages, skipping the reviews and reading the comments, if only because the people who comment tend to have more interesting things to say than the actual reviewer...but it's good to know I can come here and actually read the writing, without my brain hurting. It'll also give me a good excuse to dust off the DVDs again, which is never a bad idea.

Kudos, too, on the shout-out to "Memory". I remember the first time I'd made it to the last DVD in the "Perfect Sessions" set. About 30 seconds of that haunting music box theme is the background music that plays over the main menu, and I must have let it repeat about twenty times before I finally got around to hitting the play button to watch the final two sessions. That and "Goodnight Julia" are two of the most beautiful and evocative pieces of music I've ever heard. If there is such a thing as a musical genius, I think Yoko Kanno must be one.

MA17 said...

I'm really glad you're liking it.

I do kind of feel bad for Simon over at the AV Club. Not only does it seems like he's struggling with an unfamiliar series that takes some time to appreciate but he's doing it in front of people who have been appreciating it for years.

_J_ said...

"he's doing it in front of people who have been appreciating it for years."

Eleven years. He’s obviously new to Bebop, yet is writing reviews for an audience that has watched the series for eleven years.

That’s either hubris or stupidity.

I appreciate your reviews, because I know you’ve talked about it, thought about it, attended conventions, etc. It’s nice to have a collection of those reflections. Whereas the A.V. club guy is “Have I mentioned that Faye has titties?” week after week.

I can’t wait for his reviews of Evangelion. Those will be swell.

MA17 said...

You should totally do Eva writeups before they have a chance to get to them.

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