Short Summary
The crew set their sights on a man named the Teddy Bomber, named so because of his motif of using bombs designed as teddy bears. However a bounty hunter dubbed Cowboy Andy has also set his sights on him, leading into a rivalry between Spike and Andy.Long Summary
In a twin skyscraper, a security guard balances a teddy bear on a railing, laughing menacingly as he leaves. Spike stops the man by the exit, handing him back his bear and identifying him as the Teddy Bomber. Spike subdues him and says that he disabled the teddy bomb. T.B. reveals "there's more than one bear". While beginning to explain his motives, both hear whistling, and a cowboy-themed bounty hunter bursts in on his horse. Cowboy Andy misidentifies Spike as the bomber, meaning the real culprit gets away and sets off the bomb. The central walkway between the two buildings falls to the ground.Jet and Faye present scepticism at Spike meeting a cowboy, but Ed finds him on the database. Faye expresses interest in this handsome and rich man. The crew track Teddy Bomber to a masquerade party... unsubtly dressed as a teddy bear. He's cut off from explaining his motives again by Cowboy Andy showing up once more, who once again he identifies the wrong target (Jet this time). T.B. sets off his bombs and flees in a getaway car. Andy pursues him on horseback (with Faye having inviting herself along for the ride)… only it turns out that Andy is shooting at Spike's ship flying overhead, as he rides straight past T.B.'s car.
Faye goes with Andy back to his apartment. Unfortunately he turns out to have a vacuous and self-absorbed personality. All she gets is a large supply of his own-brand stew, which she shares with the Bebop crew on her return. Faye says that the cowboy is much like Spike, which he takes very personally. T.B. releases a challenge to the Big Shot show, but the credits roll before the message can be read out in full. Ed easily deduces that Teddy's attacking buildings in size order, from largest to smallest, therefore his next target is city hall.
Spike meets T.B. at city hall. Teddy starts to explain his motive once again, but Andy arrives right on cue. Spike and Andy trade barbs with each other. Furious he's never taken seriously and always ignored, Teddy Bomber sets off his bomb and runs to an elevator. Spike and Cowboy take the elevator, but T.B. reveals he's not inside… it's a trap. Teddy has rigged it to explode when it reaches the top floor. Spike boasts to Andy he'd anticipated this, and he earlier hacked the elevator for the access code. Andy reveals he also anticipated this and he also hacked the elevator, inadvertently setting to code back to whatever unknown combination it was before. The elevator reaches the top and explodes, but both of them jump out and survive. During all this, Faye finds Teddy Bomber watching from the plaza, punches him out and captures him.
Spike's and Andy's rage boils over, and they fight on the shattered rooftop. Spike slams his fist on a desk which inadvertently causes the floor to collapse under Andy. Picking himself up and dusting himself off, a stunned Cowboy Andy admits defeat and gives Spike his cowboy hat. Stating that he'll retire from this 'hobby', he rides off on his horse (which caught another elevator up to meet him) with the words "See you, Space Cowboy".
Later in a prison van, Teddy Bomber finally gets to explain his motivations to the guard. Outside, Andy passes the truck on his horse, having now rebranded himself as a Samurai.
See You Space Samurai...
This episode has the following tropes:
- Batman Gambit: When Spike and Andy are trapped on the elevator, Spike reveals that he predicted that the Teddy Bomber would adjust the emergency access codes and thus reverted them back to normal. It hilariously backfires in that Andy predicted the same thing and unknowingly re-reverted the codes.
- Bowdlerise: Jet's hippie costume at the costume party has a picture of a marijuana plant on the shirt. When [adult swim] aired the episode (after pulling it on the heels of the 9/11 attacks), the marijuana plant was digitally changed to a peace symbol in one of the few digital replacement edits on Cartoon Network — or any channel — that wasn't painfully obvious.
- Andy says "Aw nuts" in the Adult Swim version, but says "Aw shit" in the original/DVD versions.
- Brick Joke: Near the beginning, Jet and Faye don't believe Spike was attacked by a cowboy, saying a samurai would have been more believable. At the end, Andy trades in his cowboy motif for a samurai one.
- Civilized Animal: Andy claims that his horse, Onyx, is capable of playing chess, much to the disbelief of everyone present. It comes across as less unbelievable later when she's shown being able to operate an elevator completely independently.
- Ennio Morricone Pastiche: As fitting of the general Spaghetti Western homages of the episode, Andy's leitmotif (which he's constantly whistling aloud) is a Morricone riff. More precisely, a riff
on Morricone's theme for A Few Dollars More. - Elevator Failure: Due to Teddy Bomber's sabotage (and Spike and Andy's separate attempts to counter it), it locks and turns into a death trap.
- Graceful Loser: Andy after Spike accidentally "defeats" him by nearly sending him off a building.
- Gratuitous English: In the Japanese voice track, Andy constantly peppers his speech with English words and phrases as he tries to emulate a classic cowboy.
- Ignored Enemy: Constantly with the Teddy Bomber when Spike and Andy start fighting on another. It frustrates him to no end.
- Inspector Javert: Cowboy Andy mistakes both Spike and Jet on separate occasions for the Teddy Bomber... even with the real Teddy Bomber standing right next to them both times.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Strictly speaking, Spike and Andy are professional rivals, but still on the same side. Nevertheless, they spend the episode trying to kill each other.
- Mad Bomber: The Teddy Bomber blows stuff up with teddy bears.
- Motive Rant: Subverted; a Running Gag in the episode has the Teddy Bomber trying to explain himself, while Andy and Spike keep interrupting him. He's finally able to deliver one to his jailer in the end, at which point it's more of a 'resigned motive explanation' than a 'rant'.
- The motive in question involved demolishing tall buildings that symbolize what he sees as needless capitalism, something that Ed was able to decipher after learning Teddy Bomber is attacking them in the order of height, starting with the tallest ones.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Parodied by Spike and Andy. Andy has all Spike's most obnoxious traits exaggerated to the point of absurdity, which simultaneously allows the show's creators to remorselessly take the piss out of all the "cool" things about Spike. Both Jet and Faye lampshade it, which Spike takes personally. In the end, even Spike himself admits they're pretty similar (but Andy's still not as cool as Spike himself, of course).Jet: Andy really pushes your buttons. What is it about him that gets you so bent?
Faye: I know why he hates the guy: they're too much alike.
Spike: What part of me could be anything like that stupid ass?!
Jet: The part that makes you so damn troublesome. - Samurai Cowboy: Bit of a variant. Andy starts out as a cowboy, but after Spike "beats" him, he switches his motif to that of a samurai.
- Second-Person Attack: When Faye get the drop on the Teddy Bomber near the end of the episode.
