Cowboy Bebop Session #19: Wild Horses

The always beautiful animation of Cowboy Bebop.

The latest entry sees our fearless hero, Spike Spiegel, crashed down on a hot, arid planet surface with to his Swordfish. Have I mentioned I love crash landings? The rest of the team ponders the whereabouts of Spike who has yet to check in for Cowboy Bebop, Session #19, Wild Horses.

Jet, Ein, Ed and Faye are keeping tabs on some pirates while they wait for Spike. Out in the desert Spike meets Myles, an assistant to an old friend called Doohan. Myles is apparently a big admirer of the Swordfish II, a monoracer, built by none other than Doohan himself. Myles drives Spike to a shipyard. We meet the "old man." Doohan is going to perform a bit of a tune-up on the old girl.
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Back on the BeBop, the crew begins tangling with some bad news. Some baddie space pirates have connected to Faye's ship and the BeBop. On board the enemy ship we find the group is working with a nasty virus mixing system called Black Hell. The pirates exit the airspace indubitably leaving a nasty, little thing called a virus [or bacteria] on board the BeBop.
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On the planet below Myles calls the Swordfish II a relic in need of some souping up. Doohan gets annoyed with Myles and sends him off. Doohan likens himself to the old Swordfish II.
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Back on the BeBop, Faye receives an incoming call from Spike. Faye tells Spike Jet is working on a bacteria problem. Oh really. Frustrated Jet tells her it's a computer virus not bacteria. Ed and Ein are working overtime to help Jet no doubt. Faye is a sexy, bad ass but she has her intellectual limitations. This is amusing stuff.


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A van driver pulls up with a part for the Swordfish II. You get the feeling Spike and Doohan have known one another for a long time. I suspect Spike even worked for the old man at one time. They definitely think alike and Spike admires and respects the old man.
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Spike returns to the BeBop and learns Jet had his Hammerhead shot up pretty good by their intended bounty. Spike's fairly dinged up as well. Jet receives the bill from Doohan on Spike's repairs. The BeBop is being hacked by the virus and Jet has a plan to go on offense against the pirates. If attacked by the connecting virus cables they will shut down the on board systems and fly manually.
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At a gambling space station Spike and Faye fire upon the suspected bounty hunters. They are trying to weed them out. As a result the old monoracer finds their man and the associating villainy. The dudes attempt to attach their virus cables to the Swordfish II. An ungodly amount of cables are shot at Spike and the Swordfish II and he manages to evade all but one. Spike manages to break free and send the cable back upon the pirate vessel. Spike maneuvers through an asteroid field where he sees a pirate vessel explode as a result of asteroids.

Spike's fuel tanks are empty and Doohan offers to lend a hand. Doohan gives him some advice to clear free of Earth's gravitational pull. Spike manages to crash his Swordfish inside Doohan's space shuttle in a most outrageous move. The level of disbelief expected of the viewer is fairly ridiculous. The Swordfish II loses its wings in the process but Spike pulls off a miraculous landing. I know it's a cartoon, but this ranks up there with the Swordfish catching the falling man on its win earlier in the season. It just couldn't happen.
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As this one concludes I kind of sort of scratched my head at exactly what it is I just watched. I mean, what was the point? Perhaps it's the style of writing from the anime creators. I just don't get it sometimes. It takes cool to weird new levels that somehow escape me. I know this series is not receiving the love from me, but the cel animation is something to behold.

Wild Horses: B-