Recap / Cowboy Bebop 2021 S 1 E 9 Blue Crow Waltz

We go back in time to the days when Spike worked in the Red Dragon Syndicate under the name Fearless alongside Vicious. However when both fall for a woman named Julia, events conspire that'll lead to tragedy.

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Tropes

• Abusive Parents: Caliban beats and belittles his son and even sanctions his death (not without cause), but Vicious relates how he was Forced to Watch his mother commit suicide with Caliban deriding her and making no effort to talk her down, then deriding Vicious for shedding tears over her death.
• Actor Allusion: Vicious learns some Russian to help romance Julia, knowing it's her native tongue. Elena Satine was born in the former Soviet Union.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: When Ana warns Julia off the Syndicate, Julia says they're like bears—nice to look at but you don't wind down the windows. Next thing we see she's been dating Vicious for weeks. It's only when Vicious runs down and savagely beats Ka-Ching in front of her does she see Beneath the Mask of Sanity.
• And Another Thing...: Stax briefs Fearless and Vicious on the upcoming Neptune deal, then tells them to find another table rather than drink at his capo's table. However he tells Fearless to wait, instructing him to keep an eye on the hot-headed Vicious and make sure he doesn't screw up.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Fearless keeps covering for Vicious' mistakes, until Strax finally calls him on his Honor Before Reason.
  Strax: I know you think you owe him, but a sane person would wonder: "How long are you gonna pay that debt?"
• Aroused by Their Voice: Fearless later admits he fell in Love at First Sight after hearing Julia sing.
  Fearless: Some voice.
  Vicious: Some woman.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment:
  • Vicious appears to be discussing the joy of giving an enemy a Slashed Throat, when he's actually talking of the thrill of letting a woman shave your testicles with a straight razor.
  • Caliban expresses his admiration for Vicious and Fearless destroying the entire Neptune Cartel, only to punch him in the gut and deride his son for taking credit for something Fearless did alone.
• Bantering Baddie Buddies: While waiting for their target to arrive, Vicious and Fearless debate the need for manscaping.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Vicious tells his father that he was with Fearless in taking down the Neptune Cartel. Caliban isn't fooled for a moment, not least because he found his son passed out drunk on the couch.
  • Vicious tells Fearless that Julia chose to stay with him, when he actually sent one of his goons to 'escort' her home so she wouldn't show up at the rendezvous.
• The Bro Code: Even though Fearless has just taken on an entire cartel single-handed to save his friend's life, there's no question that Vicious will ever forgive Fearless for sleeping with his girl.
• Combat Pragmatist: During his melee with the Neptune Cartel, Fearless smashes a hole in a fire extinguisher to spray CO2 gas in their faces.
• Call-Back:
  • After they make love Julia tells Fearless that it's like they're in a dream. This explains the conversation Spike had with Katerina in "Cowboy Gospel".
    Katerina: Spoken like a man who's never been in love.
    Spike: I was. Once.
    Katerina: What happened?
    Spike: I was dreaming. It was time to wake up.
  • In "Venus Pop", Spike asks Ana why she's walking with a cane and Ana just gives a vague answer. Turns out Vicious shoved a wakizashi through her leg to force her to reveal the rendezvous point where Fearless was waiting for Julia.
  • Julia's first song is the same one she sang for Mao in "Darkside Tango".
  • In "Dog Star Swing", Spike mentioned that diamonds are hard to move on the black market. We discover why as the Neptune Cartel have an inexhaustible supply. The Syndicate can't deal in diamonds as their rivals on Neptune could flood the market at any time, sending the price plummeting. An alliance between the two cartels would be necessary to establish a monopoly and control the price.
  • The polaroid Spike is looking at in "Binary Two-Step" was taken by a photographer during his first (and only) dance with Julia. Likewise the virtual Julia called out Spike for murdering everyone at the Blue Crow, "including that girl" referring to the witness he shot.
• Dance of Romance: It all starts with Julia dancing the Jupiter Jig with Fearless because Vicious prefers Drowning My Sorrows.
• Disney Villain Death: A variation when Fearless 'dies' this way; shot and crashing through a railing to roll down the bank into the river where his body is washed away.
• Establishing Character Moment: Fearless garrotes his target to kill him silently and bloodlessly, and when it appears to be taking too long Vicious stabs him to death leaving a bloody mess that he expects Fearless to clean up for him.
• Even Evil Has Standards: But only certain standards. Fearless lets a female witness leave a crime scene because she has her child with her, and a Syndicate rule is that you don't kill children. After massacring the Neptune gang, including several female gang members, he encounters an apparent Innocent Bystander and likewise tells her to flee after she assures him she didn't see anything, but then Fearless shoots her In the Back.
• Eyed Screen: We get the obligatory Sergio Leone close-up on Fearless and Vicious' eyes before they start blasting away at each other.
• Family of Choice: Fearless regards Vicious as his brother because he grew up an orphan on the street, and Vicious persuaded the Syndicate to accept him.
• Flames of Love/Smoking Hot Sex: Subverted in that it's intercut with shots of Vicious burning a corpse.
• Foregone Conclusion: Spike will fail to run away with Julia who will go on to marry Vicious, and Vicious first attempt at power will fail.
• Honor Before Reason: Fearless has every reason to kill Vicious. He's long since paid his debt to his friend, there's a Mob War brewing that will only be averted if Vicious dies, Vicious' own father has sanctioned the hit, even if Fearless refuses someone else will do the job in a nastier manner, it's a chance for Fearless to mend his bridges with his capo, and lets not forget that if he kills Vicious he'll have Julia all to himself. Fearless has a clear opportunity with Vicious off his guard with his neck exposed and gun well out of reach. Instead he decides to wipe out the entire Neptune cartel single-handed, without even taking Vicious as backup. The worse thing is it's All for Nothing.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: Vicious torturing and murdering a member of the Neptune cartel is intercut with Fearless and Julia having sex.
• Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: At the start of the episode, Vicious and Fearless are working as cleaners in a law office after hours. When they garrote and stab to death the district attorney as he's leaving his office bragging about taking down the Syndicate, we discover why.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Caliban discovers that Fearless is planning to run away from the Syndicate. Fearless however has proven to be a One-Man Army, so he tells Vicious his best friend is screwing his girl. Either his son mans up and kills Fearless, adding to his reputation, or Fearless kills him which Caliban clearly doesn't think will be much of a loss.
• Love Is a Weakness: Fearless tells Julia he avoided attachments so he would not be afraid of losing anything, but that's changed now that he's fallen in love with her. That explains why he insists on being called Spike Spiegel even with those who knew him as Fearless.
• Not Rare Over There: On Neptune it rains diamonds, which is why the Elders are so eager to forge a connection with the cartel there.
• One-Man Army: Rather than kill his friend, Fearless enters the Bad Guy Bar used by the Neptune Cartel and proceeds to kill everyone with Guns Akimbo and everything else he can get his hands on.
• Only Electric Sheep Are Cheap:
  • Even a Syndicate capo can't afford real beef, or it's simply not available.
  • Fearless is surprised that Ana has a bouquet of roses, and asks her permission before taking one for his rendezvous with Julia.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fearless rides herd on his friend's impulsive violence and everyone knows it, including Vicious. Ironically it's Fearless who ends up sanctioned by Caliban as a dangerous Wild Card.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Vicious never learned restraint as he assumed that money, or his best friend Fearless, or his father being an Elder would sort out any problem.
• Shoot Your Mate: Unlike other examples of this trope Strax says it's not compulsory, but Fearless at least will give his friend a quick death, which the next man won't.
• Suggestive Collision: Fearless is knocked into Julia when the latter is showing him how to dance.
• The Tooth Hurts: Vicious yanks out Ka-Ching's teeth with pliers in revenge for being insulted.
• Villain Ball: Vicious all the way! He's told to handle the negotiations with the Neptune Cartel to prove his worth to succeed his capo—Vicious treats them with contempt, bringing a gun to their meeting and breaking the deal over an insult. Strax orders him to lay low and let the Elders sort things out—Vicious comes across a Neptune Cartel boss, beats him in the street where anyone can see, abducts him, tortures him, kills him then burns the body by throwing a lighter marked with a Syndicate crest! Then on realising the Syndicate will send someone to kill him for starting a Mob War, his only response is to get dead drunk and only Fearless' loyalty saves his life. It's only at the end he starts acting like the crime boss he's supposed to be, and only because his father taunts him into it.
• Whole Episode Flashback: Set entirely in the past to showcase Spike, Vicious and Julia's backstory.
• You Can Never Leave: Caliban can accept Fearless carrying out the contract on his son—proving his loyalty to the Syndicate—or wiping out the Neptune cartel—proving his loyalty to Vicious. But the news that Fearless is planning to flee with Julia is unforgiveable, because in Caliban's eyes it means that Fearless is only loyal to himself.