Pierrot le fou cowboy bebop netflix1/18/2024 ![]() Dig a little deeper and you’ll see that the tricks, and obsession, aren’t strictly for the kill, but are truly his only means of relating to others. Pierrot obsesses over Spike - the laughter echoing throughout the episode becomes a reflection of this obsession. He mistakes laughter for sadness, grief for gratitude. He is a killing machine running on the exuberance of a young child curious about each and every attack. The constant experiments have rendered his body replete with incredible abilities, including superhuman strength, speed, and a kinetic shield that makes him nearly immortal, yet his mind has regressed to that of a child. “Hello, boy.”Īfter escaping the city, broken and recovering, Spike hesitates in seeking revenge as he learns about Mad Pierrot from Jet’s received intel. From the city where it all starts, much like the theme park where the episode concludes, the hunt is an anomalous mirror-a nameless vision of our darkest, most vulnerable caverns of the mind. We haven’t seen Spike in such a weak light before. He’s almost destroyed in an unbelievable sequence culminating with enough sequential backflips to keep him airborne, seeing that the normally superb hand-to-hand fighter is completely pulverized five times before hitting the ground. Spike isn’t just targeted by the villain, either. ![]() On the surface, he fits the name - looking as much like a crossbreed of different nightmarish Bat-verse villains like the Joker and the Penguin as much as he exemplifies the archetypal jester, or clown - a trickster, complete with a sinister smile and chuckle. It just so happens that the night Spike walks the city, there’s a psychopath out for the kill, and his name is Mad Pierrot. Yet like most things that appear simple at first, something sinister lingers just beneath the surface. Sometimes you need a little time to yourself. Smoke way too many cigarettes and maybe grab a quick bite to eat from a food cart before making his way back to the Bebop. Spike’s out and about, and one might assume this is what he does when he’s looking to be alone - hit up a bar or two, drink some bourbon, hustle a few rounds of pool. Nothing really happens in the grand sense of a prevailing narrative arc. Spike and the crew don’t take on a bounty or follow the usual routine of search, capture, and survive. ![]() It’s one of the few episodes in which money isn’t involved. When compared to the rest of the series, it stands out, almost as if its mere existence were accidental, a nightmare we were never supposed to see. There’s something so ominous, every frame painted over in clashing colors, light and dark, determination and doubt. Watching the episode “Pierrot le Fou” is in many ways a jarring experience, one that borders on absolute horror-a psychological nightmare parsed from the id. A misunderstanding waits around the corner. A city cast in shadow, the slightest tint of nostalgia, as if one might have accidentally fired up an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. For one month, The Dot and Line is publishing essays, interviews, and discussions about each episode of Cowboy Bebop, which turns 20 this April.
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