Vicious decides to up his game on killing Spike and releases Pierrot LeFou, a syndicate experiment that was deemed uncontrollable and locked away. LeFou agrees to assassinate Spike for him, putting the crew in danger when he comes after them. Meanwhile Vicious starts to plant his seeds for his coup.
Tropes
- Adapted Out: In the anime, LeFou targeted ISSP officials and only went after Spike due to witnessing him kill one. That aspect is cut here and he comes after Spike on essentially a hired hit from Vicious.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the anime, Vicious murdered Mao after he tried to make peace with a rival Triad gang. Here she betrays and tries to murder him.
- Amusement Park of Doom: LeFou's Happy Place memory is him visiting Earthland as a child. It's now derelict making it quite suitable for calling Spike out for a one-on-one battle.
- And This Is for...: When Vicious stabs Mao, he says it's for forcing Julia to sing for her.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: LeFou threatens to kill Spike's friends if he doesn't come and face him.
- Animal Eye Spy: Justified as Mad Pierrot was specifically enabled to interface with Ein and other such dogs.
- Appropriated Appellation: When Vicious asks "What's your name, soldier?" he's told "LeFou", which is French for "The Madman". Given that his past has been erased, LeFou may not know any other name.
- Arm Cannon: Mad Pierrot has a Fire-Breathing Weapon attached to his arm, and Spike gets severely burned when he tries to grapple with him.
- Asshole Victim: Vicious shoots dead the Mad Doctor who operated on Mad Pierrot. His fellow associates in The Syndicate won't be missed either.
- As the Good Book Says...: Vicious says, "Let there be light!" as Shin pulls the Big Electric Switch to turn on the lights.
- Baby Planet: Justified as Earthland is just a theme park on an asteroid; it's even invoked in the title.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Jet tells Spike he knows who he used to be. "A man with your skills only comes from one place. (beat) Where did you serve?"
- Bilingual Bonus: Pierrot recites part of the famous "tears in rain" speech from Blade Runner in French.
- Can't You Read the Sign?: Foreshadowing of Mad Pierrot's introduction is given by a shot of a sign saying CAUTION.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Vicious uses the shapeshifter technology used in "Dog Star Swing" to impersonate Santiago and force him to take his place.
- The loofah on a stick that Faye recommended in "Darkside Tango" gets placed between Spike's teeth for his painful burn therapy.
- LeFou is about to kill everyone when the sight of Ein causes him to freeze up. Spike later throws out a toy robot dog to achieve the same effect so he can get close enough to stab him.
- Cliffhanger: Spike is last seen running for his life amid Stuff Blowing Up, while Vicious has discovered Julia's betrayal and has returned to confront her.
- Bound and Gagged: Vicious is delivered to the Elders gagged and Shipped in Shackles, even though their plan just involved him wearing trick handcuffs as a Play-Along Prisoner. This appears to be because Mao and Santiago have betrayed him, but it's actually to prevent Santiago from alerting Mao that she's about to cut off his head instead of Vicious.
- Bowling for Ratings: Subverted; Jet tries to introduce his friends to the joys of bowling but they're less than impressed, especially as the game doesn't appear to make Jet very relaxed.
- The Cameo: John Noble as Caliban.
- Die Laughing: As a dying taunt, Mao reveals to Vicious that Julia set him up to be killed.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Jet assumes Spike is ex-special forces, not Syndicate. Of course this makes perfect sense—Spike has a past he refuses to talk about, his record has been wiped, he's an expert in weapons and hand-to-hand combat, and he's got a former-black ops veteran gunning for him in what appears to be a personal vendetta.
- Explosive Decompression: Implied; as LeFou flies off into space, his chest expands enough to break his bandolier of grenades, causing it to fall down on top of Spike.
- Fist Bump: Jet coaxes a reluctant Spike and Faye into a three-way fist bump before enacting The Plan.
- Friendship Moment: While at the bowling alley, Faye is presented with a birthday cake by Jet and Spike, even though no-one knows when her birthday is. Later both Faye and Jet make it clear that even a psychotic Monster Clown super-soldier will have to go through them if he wants to get to Spike.
- Gone Horribly Right: Dr Godard says this happened to LeFou, though given what we see of her methods that's hardly a surprise. They even invented Red Eye to control him, but it scrambled his brain instead (meaning she's responsible for that drug as well).
- I Resemble That Remark!: Vicious is warned not to release LeFou as he's a violent homicidal loose cannon.Vicious: (putting a gun to her head) Well then, he sounds like my kind of guy.
- Meat Grinder Surgery: From the sounds and splattered blood in Mad Pierrot's flashbacks, he was on the receiving end without aesthetic. Going to his Happy Place doesn't seem to help much.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast:Dr Godard: This is insane! There's a reason we call him...Mad Pierrot! (Vicious shoots her)
- Noodle Incident
- Jet and Spike teamed up after Spike saved his life. No further introduction was needed.
- Jet acquired a cannister of poison gas some years ago, and now he's finally got the excuse to use it he fully intends to, dammit!
- Off with His Head!: Mao cuts off Vicious head with a katana. Only it's not Vicious, but Santiago in a shapeshifter rig. Vicious in turn brings Mao's head back to his wife and throws it in the fire.
- One Bullet Left: Spike is down to one knife. LeFou deflects the thrust into his thigh, but it's enough to distract him so Spike can activate his Rocket Boots and launch him into space.
- One-Man Army: Vicious shows he's not to be taken lightly when he slaughters the Elders and their bodyguards with katana, tanto and naginata.
- Pin-Pulling Teeth: LeFou does this with a stick grenade, but he is looney anyway.
- Properly Paranoid:
- After discovering that Mad Pierrot can hack into Ein, the dog is left at the docks so it won't happen again.
- Vicious fully anticipated his colleagues pulling a double-cross and worked it into his plan. Julia's betrayal takes him by surprise, but he knows how to deal with that as well.
- Psycho for Hire: Invoked by Vicious when he rescues Mad Pierrot from the mental institution he's imprisoned in, promising him all the Red Eye he wants if he kills Spike.
- Psychotic Manchild:
- LeFou cries for his mother after Spike stabs him in the thigh.
- His father gives a dying taunt to Vicious that he's just a scared little boy.
- Rhyming List: Jet insists they recite each stage of his plan to take down Mad Pierrot with a rhyme to help memorize it. It's a waste of time as Spike shuts down the BeBop with a computer virus so they can't follow him.
- Self-Made Orphan: Turns out the Elder in charge of the Syndicate is Vicious' father. This doesn't stop him from condemning his son to death, and Vicious in turn has a heart-to-heart conversation with him.
- Shout-Out
- The Villain of the Week is named after the 1965 film Pierrot le Fou, and the doctor who created him is called Godard after the director of that film.
- A forcefield that can only be penetrated by a slow-moving knife is from Dune.
- Jet says he got the idea of memorizing The Plan with a rhyme from an old Lee Marvin movie. That would be The Dirty Dozen.
- Jet shares a bottle of Monkey Punch rum with Spike.
- To Bladerunner when Jet suggests that Spike may have been in special forces and served at the Shoulder of Orion or Tannhäuser Gate. In the previous scene Mad Pierrot recites the famous Tears in Rain soliloquy with some minor alterations.
- Spike shuts down the BeBop with a Captain Kangaroo virus.
- Some Kind Of Forcefield: When Spike and Jet fire upon LeFou, ripples appear in the air and the bullets fall to the ground. Spike later describes it as "ablative armor" that converts kinetic energy from explosions and fast-moving bullets, so a knife can penetrate it.
- Super-Soldier: LeFou can Flash Step to Dodge the Bullet, fly through the air with Rocket Boots, has a personal forcefield and can hack into remote animal spies. Unfortunately all this has driven him insane.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Spike knows full well that Vicious has sent Mad Pierrot after him, so makes sure that his friends don't risk their lives by stranding them on the BeBop the moment he leaves in the Swordfish.
- Trenchcoat Warfare: Spike and Jet draw their guns and dive for cover the moment LeFou opens his coat to reveal he's a Walking Arsenal.
- Trashcan Bonfire: Jet always sets the trashbin on fire at the end of his Planning with Props Rhyming List. Turns out the 'gas' he intends to burn LeFou with isn't petrol or rocket fuel, but a Deadly Gas. Which raises the question of why Jet felt the need to set the trash can on fire.
- "Uh-Oh" Eyes: Everyone realises something is wrong when Ein enters the cockpit with Glowing Eyes, which then project a Huge Holographic Head of Mad Pierrot. Faye freaks out over this more than the bloodcurdling death threats that follow.
- Un-person: Jet consults Woodcock on the attacker, only to be handed an empty file. She warns him that Spike also has a wiped past, but even though Jet notes that the Syndicate has that power along with the black ops government types, he assumes this means his partner is ex-special forces.
- Universal Universe Time: Averted; there's a shot of a 15 hour clock.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Dogs to LeFou since they were around during his experimentation. The lab he's kept in even keeps dogs in cages near him to keep him passive. It's what saves the crew on the first encounter with LeFou when Ein starts barking at him just when LeFou is on the verge of killing Spikee
- White Shirt of Death: The doctor at Cherious Medical when Vicious springs LeFou, and Vicious in his pale suit is covered in blood after hacking his way through the Elders bodyguards.
- You Won't Feel a Thing!: Averted; putting Spike in a bath of chemicals to treat his burns and then dumping several bags of ice on top of him is going to hurt a lot.
