Recap / Cowboy Bebop 2021 S 1 E 10 Supernova Symphony

• The Atoner: Ana has Gren rescue Spike to atone for having given up his location to Vicious under torture.
• Bait-and-Switch: Spike lies in the ruins of Earthland with an ominous figure looming over him, seemingly Mad Pierrot. He wakes up in Ana's nightclub, Gren having rescued him.
• Big "NO!": Vicious yells this when Julia leaves him imprisoned.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Faye leaves for Earth to find out about her past. Jet threatens to kill Spike if he ever sees him again. However we see the return of Ein, accompanied by Radical Ed who's eager to hire Spike for another job.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: Jet throws Spike in the trunk to hand over to Vicious, causing Faye to walk out on him. However Jet arms Spike for the hostage exchange, and Faye returns with a Big Damn Gunship.
• Did You Actually Believe...?: Invoked by Julia in how Spike could possibly believe she would have chosen Vicious over him. Spike admits he was a fool to buy Vicious' story.
• Forced to Watch: Vicious lines up his goons as a firing squad to shoot Jet and Kimmie, forcing Spike's head in their direction so he'll witness their deaths.
• Guns Akimbo
  • Justified with Gren because he has to point guns at both Faye and Jet when they burst into Ana's club from different directions.
  • Spike jumping out of the trunk.
• Improvised Weapon: When Spike picks up a chair Vicious slices it up with his katana, so Spike uses one of the pieces as an improvised tonfa.
• Internal Reveal: Jet discovers that Spike worked for The Syndicate as a Professional Killer.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Julia talks of the terror she felt for years married to Vicious, waking up and wondering if today was the day he was going to kill her. At the end of the episode she has Vicious chained up in the basement. Julia loads a gun, aims it at Vicious and fires...only the gun just clicks and Julia says she'll be back tomorrow to try again.
• Last Episode, New Character: At the end of the episode, Spike has passed out in a back alley only for Radical Ed to wake him up. Ed's manic behaviour is too much for Spike and he passes out again.
• Made of Iron: After surviving what Mad Perriot dished out, Spike gets beaten up, shot twice and falls out a window into the river only to survive again!. Subverted when he finally collapses at the end of the episode, too exhausted to respond the manic entreaties of Radical Ed.
• Magic Bullets: Faye proceeds to Shoot the Rope using the guns on her Red Tail, but she's lucky her friends weren't killed by the ricochets given that she's firing a lot of bullets from a mobile platform into a stone building.
• Mexican Standoff:
  • Gren and Ana versus Jet and Faye in the nightclub, until Spike talks everyone down.
  • The famous Spike/Vicious Guns vs. Swords scene from the anime is recreated here.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Jet is delighted Spike is still alive, gripping him in a Bear Hug. Then after he gets a phone call unheard by the audience, he suddenly puts a gun to Spike's head demanding to know Who Are You?
  • The episode ends on a very bleak note... until the loud, playful voice of a child urges Spike awake. Enter: Radical Edward.
• Mythology Gag
  • In "Ballad of Fallen Angels", Faye was the one being held hostage, with Spike turning up to rescue her and Jet refusing to get involved.
  • When giving Jet a What the Hell, Hero? for wanting to hand over Spike to Vicious, Faye says, "I'm not gonna carry that weight", an inversion of the final line of the anime.
• No One Sees the Boss: Invoked by Julia, who intends to ostensibly relay Vicious' orders as his wife, while actually running the Syndicate.
• Not Quite Dead: While Gren saves Spike at the start of the episode, Spike turns up at the end without any explanation on how he survived this time. Jet isn't surprised, comparing him to a cockroach in his ability to survive anything.
  Faye: What the hell...we thought you were dead!
  Spike: Yeah, I get that a lot.
• Not What It Looks Like: Ana goes to hand Spike a pistol just when Jet and Faye burst into the nightclub with guns drawn, thinking she's going to shoot him.
• Prematurely Marked Grave: Vicious shows Spike the crypt he had prepared for Fearless back when they were 'brothers'. Given the family church is now a desolate wreck, he has no problem putting Spike in there now.
• Punk in the Trunk: Spike is telling Jet how they can rescue Kimmie when Jet punches him in the gut and throws him into the trunk of his car to be handed over to Vicious.
• Shoot the Rope: Faye uses the guns on her Red Tail to part the ropes binding Spike and Jet to the church columns.
• Shout-Out: When Jet wakes up in the church he wants to know where they are. Spike replies, "The ninth circle of Hell", referring to Dante's Inferno. The ninth circle of Hell was where Satan ruled, reserved for betrayers, including the Biblical Cain who killed his own brother.
• Slasher Smile: Vicious gives one right before the Title Sequence.
• Split Screen: Spike and Jet taking on Vicious' goons.
• Taking the Bullet: A wounded mook tries to shoot Spike and Jet as they are leaving the church, and as Spike is carrying Kimmie in his arms all he can do is turn his body as a Bulletproof Human Shield. It's this selfless act that stops Jet from killing Spike later on.
• That Man Is Dead: Spike says he's no longer the man he was and refuses to take Julia's offer of We Can Rule Together. But Julia isn't the woman she was either, and so she shoots Spike to cast off the memory of her 'dream'.
• Visual Pun: Spike walks out of a building with lighting depicting a woman diving down to a sign reading "BAR". Meaning, he just walked out of a dive bar.
• Would Hurt a Child: Jet is grateful when Kimmie is brought to him unharmed, thinking that Vicious will have her released. Vicious however has no intention to sticking to the Syndicate's code of not harming children.
• You Know Too Much: Shin overheads Julia taunting Vicious about how Fearless slept with her. Julia later points out to Shin that Vicious will kill her just for knowing about that, getting her to turn against the other goons and free her.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Spike and Jet appear to have defeated Vicious' goons, then when they try to Shoot the Hostage Taker they find the bullets go straight through Vicious, as he and Kimmie are holograms transmitted from another location. Then even more goons arrive and put laser dots on them, forcing their surrender.