IT’S HERE! Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop has arrived! Grab your favorite bowl of noodles, a warm and cozy blanket and get ready to dive into our recap of the very first episode. I promise you won’t be disappointed! In Cowboy Gospel, Spike (John Cho) and Jet (Mustafa Shakir) head to New Tijuana after getting shortchanged on a job. Let’s hope this second one doesn’t let them down!
DISCLAIMER: This is a recap and, by definition, will contain spoilers for Cowboy Bebop. If you haven’t watched it yet – stop. Go watch it first and then come back. You can thank me later!
RELATED: Keep up with Cowboy Bebop by checking out our recaps!
Cowboy Gospel opens at the Watanabe Casino where a deranged Tanaka (James Hiroyuki Liao) and his gang are in the middle of a heist. Tanaka goes on quite a rampage as he goes on and on about corporate overlords and how they ruin everything. Before Tanaka is about to go on another long windy speech, Spike arrives in style via the elevator. Let the ass-kicking begin! Spike is handling things pretty well when Jet shows up and reprimands him for not waiting.
Spike and Jet manage to take out all of Tanaka’s helpers before turning their guns on him. Tanaka thinks this hostage will get him out alive, but Spike doesn’t seem to care about her one bit. Of course, there is one last surprise when one of Tanaka’s men comes out of the bathroom and joins the standoff. Who takes a dump during a heist? The standoff gets worse when he pulls out a Disruptor gun. Jet tries to calm things down, but Spike isn’t having it. After poop boy insults him, Spike takes a shot at his arm and the Disruptor gun goes off.
Do you know what those things can do? Blast a hole into the side of a space casino! It looks like Spike, Jet and Tanaka are about to fly off into space when Jet manages to hit the safety lever and seal off the room. If this entire scene seems a bit familiar, it’s because it is! Having just rewatched Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, it is plain to see they are paying homage to the opening scene in the convenience store. Just two humble bounty hunters.
Cue opening theme. Tank! by The Seatbelts will never get old, folks. Never.
We see a few glimpses of Spike’s past during a dream he has. We see him and Julia (Elena Satine) quite cozy and then Viscious (Alex Hassell) shooting at him. It looks like things did not end well in this bounty hunter’s past. Jet is directing the Bebop through a space jump before making them dinner. And in these few moments, it becomes pretty clear just how broke these guys are. But, we also get to see more of Jet and Spike’s relationship and the way they are able to play off of each other is pretty stellar.
Cowboy Gospel cuts to New Tijuana, where Asimov (Jan Uddin) and Katerina (Lydia Peckham) walk into a bar. Asimov leaves the pregnant Katerina at the bar while he heads into the back. It turns out he is trying to sell off Red Eye. When the buyer doesn’t believe him, Asimov injects it into his eye and goes ballistic. It’s at this moment a group from the Syndicate shows up to get the Red Eye back. Figures that out that Asimov stole it from them and they aren’t too happy about it. But what these men weren’t expecting was Asimov to be high on the stuff and to knock them right into the ground. Unfortunately for him, one of them gets away.
We jump back to the Bebop, where Jet arrives to drop off Tanaka to the ISSP. However, it turns out that the damage caused by the Disruptor has become their problem and the bounty ends up being a lot less than Jet was hoping for. If this wasn’t enough to get under Jet’s skin, he runs into Chalmers (Geoff Stults). They are quite the history and Jet tries not to stick around the hash out old times. But Chalmers does supply him with some intel on an upcoming bounty on New Tijuana. Why help Jet out? Jet’s ex-wife asked him to and we get a brief peek into their past, and it doesn’t look good.
Back on the Bebop, Spike is doing some martial arts training when Jet drops the news about Tanaka’s bounty on him. They are a tense moment for a second before they laugh off the shocked face of the one guy Jet killed before moving on to the next bounty. Spike isn’t interested in tracking down Asimov and tries to persuade Jet to head out towards the belt. No, go from Jet. Asimov is much closer. On New Tijuana, in fact. But Spike is a no-go on this one. The last time he went to TJ, he got stabbed buying a churro. A churro! Jet puts his foot down and after letting off some steam, Spike finally agrees.
Spike starts canvassing the area with no luck while Jet questions the bartender (Anji Kreft) at El Rey. She fills him in on what happened and how the Syndicate returned and cleaned up all the bodies. For a bit of woolong she also shares that before he got there, another bounty hunter with purple hair came in to ask a few questions about the situation. She doesn’t share a name, but we are pretty sure we know who it is!
Cowboy Gospel kicks us back to Spike who is questioning Antonio (Arthur Ranford), Carlos (Fungai Mhlanga) and Jobim (Lutz Halbhubner) (our favorite old man trio!) and they point him in the direction of the clinic across the street. Inside, Asimov is forcing the nurse to close up his gunshot wound while Spike approaches Katerina. He smooth talks her into sharing a bit of information about herself including how she thinks that Mars is a great place to start a new life. It seems that Katerina reminds Spike quite a bit of Julia and we see a bit of the same flashback again. This time he opens up about being in love once, but he was only dreaming and it was time to wake up.
Before the conversation can go on, someone approaches Spike from behind with a gun. And it’s Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda)! He is encroaching on her mark and she needs him to leave. The two have a small tiff and they realize that one, Spike is after Asimov and two, Faye is after Katerina, who happens to be the daughter of a very wealthy man who wants her home. Katerina pleads with Spike to help her, which leads to Spike and Faye battling it out in the street. While they are going at it, Katerina gets in the car and Asimov gets away thanks to Spike’s inability to pull the trigger. But he does pick up another captive in the form of Faye.
Back on the Bebop, Jet arrives back to find Spike blasting music in his headphones while Faye is screaming from the locked bathroom. Ahh, the nostalgia. Spike introduces the two and Faye’s foul mouth earns her more time locked away in the bathroom. Jet shares the new information he got while visiting El Rey and Spike isn’t too thrilled about the Syndicate. Jet and Spike piece together what precisely is going on in the Asimov situation. However, Spike is ready to back out and reminds Jet that they don’t deal with the Syndicate. But Jet isn’t walking away from this bounty. He needs to get his daughter a birthday present. You can’t say that this man doesn’t have priorities.
The two narrow down where Asimov and Katerina are heading and set off, leaving Faye locked in the bathroom. Thankfully, she has a few tricks up her sleeve and is able to get out and find the Bebop’s arsenal, which is a mess, of course. She investigates a bit and is able to get into the ship’s computer thanks to Jet having to write down his password so he won’t forget it. Silly bounty hunters.
Cowboy Gospel jumps to Asimov and Katerina as they break into the Spaceport to still a ship. But Spike and Jet aren’t about to let them leave. Spike tries to talk Asimov into letting him take Katerina away, but it’s a hard no. A fight breaks out, Asimov sneaks a dose of the Red Eye and the Syndicate shows up at about the same time. Talk about a triple whammy. Things start heating up and Katerina is shot in the stomach and we learn that she isn’t pregnant but has been smuggling the Red Eye vials. Spike and Jet continue the fight with the Syndicate while Asimov and Katerina make their way to the ship.
While Jet is battling it out with Asimov, Spike comes face to face with one of the members of the Syndicate who calls him Fearless. In this brief moment, we learn that the Syndicate killed Spike. Well, he looks very much alive to us. But it does explain why Spike doesn’t want to have to deal with the Syndicate. Spike kills Chivo to keep him quiet, but he doesn’t see the other member who sneaks off.
Just as Asimov is going to kill Jet, Faye shows up and takes him out. Katerina helps him up into the ship and they take off with Spike on their tail in the Swordfish II, leaving Faye and Jet on the ground. In space, Katerina realizes that Faye’s shot was fatal as the ISSP arrives. Spike tries to talk her into turning around instead of risking her life. But, she doesn’t listen and the ISSP shoots her spaceship down.
Cowboy Gospel comes to a close as the one Syndicate member who informs Vicious that Asimov and the other member of the Syndicate are dead thanks to a few cowboys. He also lets him know that there is a chance that Fearless is still alive. In a quick moment, Vicious unleashes his katana on the unsuspecting man. He demands that the others search out this cowboy and if it is Fearless, he wants his head. In the final moments, we see Vicious walk up to Julia and he calls her his love before the two share a kiss.
RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Faye Valentine!
What a first episode! I spent quite a bit of time rewinding scenes just to enjoy them again! The opening sequence is definitely on high on my list of top series openings ever. Who doesn’t want to break up a heist in a space casino? They also didn’t waste any of our time with dropping hints at the character’s backstories. But, they never gave us more than what was needed to raise some suspicion about what might be going on. What is Spike’s connection to the Syndicate? Why did they have him killed? How is he alive?
What I really took away from this first episode of Cowboy Bebop was how well Cho and Shakir fall into their roles as Spike and Jet. The two play off of each other beautifully as they verbally go toe to toe. And the light-hearted moments in between really help to ease the tension. It is darn near perfect. I also love that we got the chance to see Faye right away in this episode. While it isn’t how we meet her in the anime, it feels right for her character. I can’t wait to see what other things are adjusted for the series!
What have been your favorite moments? Let us know in the comments below and on social media!
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/cowboy-bebop-gift-guide/
Who I Am: A nerd by the strictest definition. I enjoy diving straight into my favorite fandoms without a care in the world. I live on video/board games, fantasy movies and TV, and all things geeky.
- Tavern Talk Thursday: Grow Your Myth With TWISTED CRYPTIDS - October 10, 2024
- Meredith Moriarty Talks THIRD SHIFT SOCIETY and What Lies Ahead - October 7, 2024
- Saturday Morning Webtoons: FOREST OF HUMANS and DISTANT SKY - October 6, 2024
