After learning that Cowboy Bebop is getting a live-action remake, I decided to revisit the much-beloved anime series from the 90s (although not aired in the U.S. until the early 2000s). Many people think of it as the best anime series ever, and with good reason. My episode reviews will contain spoilers, so be sure to watch the series before you read this.

Session 10: Ganymede Elegy

A bank robber named Baker Panchorero is tied up on the Bebop. Ein starts barking, so he kicks a can and hits Ein. Ed then drops out of a duct and bites his ear! Ed’s personality was patterned on that of a cat, and it really shows sometimes. The crew actually gets paid for their bounty. One of the rare times this happens in the show.

Jet looks at a pocket watch (that goes up to 15?) and remembers a woman he used to know, a bartender named Elisa. He calls for permission to land and his old friend Donnelly answers. Jet’s been gone about 7 or 8 years. Since Jet is 36 years old now, this means he left the force in his late twenties. His nickname when he used to be a cop was the Black Dog, because once he got his teeth into something, he wouldn’t let go.

As we’ve come to expect, each location has its own unique look. Ganymede has a large ocean filled with seagulls and fishing boats, reflecting a very large Jupiter above. When Jet goes to check in on Elisa, her current boyfriend, a man named Rhint Celonias, tells Jet Elisa isn’t there. He has a hand in his jacket as if he’s got a weapon. However, Elisa steps out and tells Jet she’s closing down.

Spike learns Rhint has a bounty on him. He’s wanted for murder. Ed fishes while Faye sunbathes. Ed catches a strange creature that cuts itself loose. Jet reminisces with Elisa. His lost love flashback is rainy like Spike’s. The pocket watch was all she left behind when she left him. He decided to leave Ganymede if she didn’t return by the time the watch stopped. She doesn’t say why she left.

Spike looks for Jet. He’s parked his shipplane in the street, blocking traffic. Elisa and Rhint flee in a boat, Spike pursues from the air. They go into a tunnel and he almost collides with Jet. Jet tells Spike he’ll handle this bounty. I don’t remember seeing Jet’s shipplane before. Usually he stays on the Bebop while Spike and Faye head out in their zipcrafts. Jet’s shipplane has a grabbing arm with a harpoon on top of it and it can land in water.

Their ship crashes. Elisa pulls a gun on Jet and shoots at his feet. She reveals that she left Jet because she wanted to make her own decisions even if they were mistakes, so it sounds like he was too controlling. Jet punches Rhint and tells him to take care of Elisa. The cops grab him, but he’ll probably get off on a self-defense plea. Jet says goodbye to Elisa and throws the watch in the sea.

Session 11: Toys in the Attic

This time, we get a horror episode inspired by the movie Aliens. With no bounty to hunt, the crew passes time aboard ship. In this episode, each crewmate takes turns narrating. Jet narrates first in the form of a ship’s log. We open on Jet losing his clothes to Faye in a dice game. Lesson 1: No good comes from trying to get rich quick. We see a rat being chased by something in the pipes. Now naked and searching for a blanket to wear, Jet discovers an old fridge in a storage room that he didn’t remember being there.

Next Faye narrates. Lesson 2: Survival of the fittest. Deceive or be deceived. Spike knows Faye cheated at dice using a magnetic ankle bracelet. Jet was bit by something. Spike and Faye think it was just a rat. Spike offers Jet herbal medicine in the form of a lizard to squish up and drink. Jet drinks it then passes out. Spike discovers an unknown poison in Jet’s system. Could it be an alien? Spike gives Ed infrared goggles to look for it. Ed runs off with Ein. The creature bites Faye while she’s in the bath.

Ed narrates. Lesson 3: If you see a stranger, follow him. Ein runs away from Ed and gets bit. Spike can’t find Ed.

Spike decides to go after the creature and gears up. He notices there’s a bit of food on the fencing foil, takes a bite, and makes a disgusted face. He puts the ship on autopilot along Route 66. Spike goes through a zero gravity portion of the ship, when he gets to a rotating hallway, he has gravity again. He finds Ed’s equipment. The creature escapes his net gun. He uses smoke grenades and closes the door behind him. He can’t find a lighter, so he uses a blowtorch to light his cigarette, disintegrating it! He opens the door and shoots, but the slime is fast enough to dodge. He does a flip and burns it with the blowtorch. It smells familiar.

Spike remembers he put a Ganymede rock lobster in the storage room fridge a year ago so no one else would eat it, but he forgot about it. He opens the fridge. Its looks like a bizarre alien. Spike turns off the gravity to jettison the fridge out an airlock, but slime jumps from the fridge and bites him. Lesson 4: Don’t leave things in the fridge.

Ed eats the slime thinking it’s pudding. Says, “No I can’t eat anymore” like she did at the top of the episode. Floating through space with the door open, the fridge trails behind star dust. Tchaikovsky is playing. Usually at the end of the episode, there’s text that read See You Space Cowboy, but this time it says The End.

For the next time teaser, Ed says everyone died. It was a short series. That was the last episode. However, Spike says there really is a next episode.