At this point in the series we have gotten used to thinking of Spike as an invincible badass. And this really raises the stakes a little bit. (We’ve seen him hurt plenty, but never out-martial-arted.) It’s definitely the first time we’ve seen him run away. I am pretty sure that this is the first time we have seen Spike get beat up. (This, by the way, is a Wolfenstein solution to a Cowboy Bebop problem.) We get a good long look at Spike’s face, and it’s clear he’s thinking just what we’re thinking: how the hell did this happen? Luckily, their fight is interrupted by a stray cat, which sends the assassin into a screaming panic, and Spike is able to beat feet thanks to a handy cache of explosive cylinders at the other end of the alley. There’s a long tense moment (with a delicious dissonant string effect in the soundtrack) as the two of them stare at each other. Long story short, Pierrot thrashes Spike into the ground, and stands over him holding him at gunpoint. It’s a startling and beautiful moment, especially done in silhouette like that, but also an intensely spooky one. It’s not a question of athleticism: the scene flaunts its impossibility as Pierrot bobs through the air like a zeppelin of kung-fu death. The last image here comes from a sequence where Spike’s attacker kicks him into the air four or five times without either one of them touching the ground. The killer beats the ever-living crap out of him, and then, once we’ve gotten used to that, ups the ante by violating the laws of physics. But “Pierrot le Fou” is pure horror from start to finish. But usually they are only moments: the only episodes that are straight-up horror are #11, “Toys in the Attic,” and #20, “Pierrot le Fou.” Even with “Toys in the Attic,” the horror is undercut by its unfathomably weird formalist structure and the goofy twist ending. We get little moments of horror film aesthetics in episodes 4, 5, 6, 11, 16, 20, and (looking forward), 23. Let’s start with…Ĭowboy Bebop has never been shy about dipping its toes into the horrific. Of course, I suppose it’s possible that Godard’s film was released in Japan as “Dokeshi no Rekuiemu,” in which case color me embarrassed.Īnyway, this is a really strong episode, and there’s a lot to say about it, on levels both sublime and ridiculous. Every other episode references music in the title, why break the pattern? (And if you had to change it, it’s not like Godard has some kind of monopoly on crazy people named Pierrot.) But why change it at all? Did they think that the American audience wouldn’t make the connection between Pierrot and clowning, but would catch the film reference? I find the change somewhat unfortunate. I mean, granted, the assassin character is named “Mad Pierrot,” and Cowboy Bebop does love its New Wave, so the reference makes sense. The title in Japanese actually translates as something like “Requiem for a Clown.” It’s a little hard to know why the translators would do this. First, let’s just get this out of the way: this episode is not actually related to the Godard film of the same name that I referenced in my last post.
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