NFB Re-Watches Cowboy Bebop: “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”

Let’s just say I owe a debt.

Air Date: 24/11/1998

Director: Tetsuya Watanabe

Writer: Michiko Yokote

Synopsis: Spike’s past life in a criminal syndicate comes back to haunt him, when an old friend-turned-rival makes a violent powerplay.

Review

“Ballad Of Fallen Angels” isn’t just my favourite session of Cowboy Bebop, it might be my favourite episode of animation ever. I was along for the ride on the show for the first four episodes, aware I was watching something very good, but when we hit #5 my eyebrows shot up and I became conscious that I was experiencing something very special indeed. This is the perfect blend of everything that makes Cowboy Bebop as good as it is, all in one mythology-filled noir-ish 24 minute package.

Cowboy Bebop, as a whole, is about the past as much as it is the present. Every character who will eventually call the Bebop home, even the dog, has baggage from their previous life that they have never adequately dealt with, and in a few special episodes they will come up close and personal with the consequences. “Ballad Of Fallen Angels” is the first of those episodes, and the first of a rough five episode arc that comprises our deeper exploration of Spike and where he came from. The message in all of the episodes that are dedicated to crew members’ pasts will generally be the same though: namely heartbreak, an inability to escape from the events that defined you and further death resulting when you try. For Spike specifically, it will be about how love can unexpectedly tear your whole world down, in more ways than one. But there is one other key running throughline for this particular session that I feel is worth focusing on in this discussion also, and that’s the idea of the individual being less than the whole: throughout “Ballad Of Fallen Angels” Spike, Jet and Faye all attempt to confront their issues or snatch a prize individually, and all with dire consequences.

Vicious, remarkably well-named, is a new kind of threat. The once-off villains of the first four sessions, from Asimov to Twinkle, were just that: once-offs, credible threats, interesting characters, but the kind of antagonist that was never meant to stick around for too long. Vicious is going to be something a fair bit different. The opening scene outlines that clearly, in its depiction of a man who is not out to sell drugs (“Asteroid Blues”) or steal a dog (“Stray Dog Strut”) or get involved in a madcap scheme to save the Ganymede sea rat (“Gateway Shuffle”). No, this man is here to kill his rivals, start wars and get revenge, and all without saying a word. As introductory scenes for villains go, this would-be coup is hauntingly effective at marking Vicious out to us.

The rest of the first half of “Ballad Of Fallen Angels” is about the trap slowly closing on Spike. And trap it is: whether is snares Spike or someone he cares about, one way or another Vicious is going to get the man in his sights. This also makes him seems more deadly than those who have come before, in that he is the pro-active instigator of the plot, with Spike reacting. And while this is very much the Spike show – more below – I do appreciate how those others get drawn in, namely Jet and Faye. “Ballad Of Fallen Angels” doesn’t do long-winded exposition, or any concrete explanation for why Spike and Vicious fell out like they did, but it does give us tangible reasons for why Jet and Faye will get stuck in the middle of the consequences: Jet because he simply cares about Spike more than he is willing to let on, and Faye because she eyes a payday and has no real idea about the wider situation. A simple plot of Spike seeking revenge might have been OK, but the episode does the legwork in getting his comrades involved as well, leading to those wonderful moments in the opera house where Vicious is forced to be content with capturing Faye instead of Spike.

I think the real reason why “Ballad Of Fallen Ages” has always appealed to me as much as it does is the way that the bubbling emotions under the surface of the narrative are largely kept where they are, at least until the finale. Spike retains an almost annoying calm throughout, as if he has always known that he will one day have to deal with Vicious in this manner, but you can feel the anger there too, the recrimination. When he meet with “Annie”, you can sense that same feeling as her hand shakes the glass she is drinking from. There’s a great deal of pain and heartache in the past of Spike Spiegel, and while we see flashes of it, here and back at the start of “Asteroid Blues”, I love that Cowboy Bebop has enough faith in its audience to not spell it all out obliquely. It’s the feeling that matters more: of how deep Vicious’ disdain for Spike must be, of how weighty Spike’s sense of debt is, of how this is just the latest chapter in a very long running series of dire events.

The second half of the session is just perfect. Spike seemingly died, in a fashion, when he left his previous criminal life behind, but now he prepares to go back into that state of existence, with the church that Vicious is set-up in serving as some sort of meta crossing point. The calm way that he goes about doing this, with his guns and grenades retrieved from the fridge, is equal parts thrilling and chilling, Spike very much resigned. Jet’s intervention, or attempted one anyway, is pretty telling as to his feelings, on Spike and the larger situation: trying to be at least somewhat truthful about his arm and how he ended up with it. It’s the only way he thinks he can get through to Spike. Jet cares, that much is clear, but is perhaps clouded by too much machismo bullshit to be totally honest about it.

That leads us to the crowing jewel of the episode, the cathedral confrontation. Heavily influenced by things like The Killer and Obsession, it’s a masterpiece of animation and story-telling: that slow patient walk up to and through the yawning doors; Spike and Vicious’ meaning-laden first conversation; the brief stand-off filled with tension before Spike wakes up and chooses violence; the resulting shoot-out, stuffed with spectacular visuals and action; Spike and Vicious’ final face-off; and the “Green Bird” sequence that closes it all out. Every moment seems like the people behind it spent hundreds of hours envisioning just how it should look, feel and sound, and the end result is maybe as good as Cowboy Bebop would ever be able to get.

The most critical elements, given what is to come down the line, are undoubtedly those two moments where Spike and Vicious get to talk to each other. There will never be an exposition dump that firmly outlines every pertinent detail of Spike’s past, but you can infer enough in these conversations, the subtle hints and deeply-felt emotions between these two, even before we return to the flashes of Spike’s past. These two were close, fighting alongside each other in a previous life, but have since taken wildly different paths: enough that Vicious now seeks to kill Spike, enough that Spike knows he has no choice but to confront Vicious. And it has to be more than Spike walking away from the syndicate you would think. The brief flashes of that blonde-haired woman, soon to be known to us as Julia, are enough to lay the groundwork. Vicious might be deranged in his own fashion, but his seemingly pathological need to trap and kill Spike stems from far more than just syndicate politics.

This is very much Spike’s episode, and we learn more about him here than we have in every other episode up to this point. His previously displayed recklessness is almost blended seamlessly with his calculation in “Ballad Of Fallen Angel” combined into a sense of detachment as he goes about his business, as if he always knew this moment would come. This is a single-minded man when he feels the need to be, annoyed by Jet’s efforts to stymie what he feels he has to do. He honours his debts, even when they are to people he left behind a very long time ago. His previous purpose as some sort of criminal soldier has been left behind, which places him very much opposite Vicious: in some ways their encounter is a clash of competing purposes, with Vicious unable to tolerate the idea of Spike being anything other than he himself is. If Spike has strayed, he deserves to be destroyed.

The closing sequence gives us some firm indications that Spike is far more than the person he has been portrayed to be so far. That Spike is somewhat aloof with people: willing to be drawn along by Faye to a point, friendly with Jet, but always his own man. Back in the day he had Vicious, but he also had something with Julia, a relationship that must have left him fundamentally changed, enough that he is that cool, detached individual that he is today. “Ballad Of Fallen Angels” sets up more to follow in that regard, and the first-time viewer must be desperate to find out more about what happened between all of these people.

There seems to be a new animated element to wonder at in this session every ten seconds. Every scene has something that really catches the eye from the use of blood, pricked or shed, in the opening all the way to the recurring use of the ace of spades in the very last shot. Annie’s alcohol, Vicious’ bird, Jet’s bonsai tree, Spike’s grenades, the little things abound. I’d like to focus in on the closing shoot-out though, since an essay could be written on those few minutes alone. Spike’s approach to the cathedral is the sort of moody, weighty depiction that you would not have expected in this universe; the moment when he opens fire on the mook holding Faye is a brilliant realisation of the sort of stand-off you would have thought impossible to pull off in animation; Vicious’ swings of his sword look crisp, deadly and sharp; and that’s before we get to the “Green Bird” sequence, a brilliant invocation of Spike’s past merging seamlessly with the present. “Ballad Of Fallen Angels” is the kind of episode that could be watched with the sound off, and you’d still be able to appreciate an enormous portion of what makes it as special as it is.

And as far as music goes, this is certainly up there as one of the best, most memorable, sessions of the entire run. It says something that tunes as intrinsic to the general tone and mood of Cowboy Bebop as “Slipper Sleaze” or “Waltz For Zizi” first appear in “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”, but they aren’t even the main event on a musical front. That main event is essentially three songs that aren’t much in the way of bebop at all as it happens: the wonderfully emotive rendition of “Ava Maria” that marks the end of the first half of the episode; the heavyweight organ/rock of “Rain” as we head towards the conclusion; and then “Green Bird”, one of the most bizarre songs of the entire show, that matches nonsense lyrics with an achingly enrapturing piano tune. But it isn’t that any of these songs are all great of their own accord, it’s that they are the perfect accompaniment to what they are played over, signifying, in their own turn, the majesty of the larger backstory between Spike and Vicious, Spike’s slow walk towards the confrontation with his past and the frenetic relationship between that past and the present. Cowboy Bebop has already demonstrated, repeatedly, its great ability to match the scene with the right bit of music, but I’m not sure if that skill is ever done better than it is here.

Then why are you still alive!?

Notes

-The episode presents an incredible contrast from the off, as the serenity and civility of the syndicate treaty signing turns to such sudden and terrible violence, the past overtaking the present.

-That violent transition is marked by a rapid cut between the explosion, blood and Vicious’ pet bird, whose caw is like the harbinger of doom all of its own.

-Long before Vicious says anything in the episode, we see that smile and instantly know nearly everything we really need to know about the guy.

-Jet wants to know why Spike is so intent on looking into the Mao Yenrai bounty. Spike is unmoved: “How’d you mess up your arm?”. Jet won’t answer. The psychology of male tendency to bury things in a nutshell there.

-I love the sight of Faye butting in to this growing argument having apparently just come back from a shopping trip. Spike and Jet appear to have reconciled themselves to her becoming a member of the crew.

-Jet’s anger at Spike is noteworthy. This is about as much emotion as we have ever seen from the man so far, so we know instantly we are dealing with a huge issue.

-Faye sees the ace of spades, the most valuable card in the deck, and her mind instantly goes to the rich rewards possible if she was able to pull in someone like Mao Yenrai. Others will have a different interpretation of that card.

-The laid back mix of piano, bass and drums that plays as Faye enters the opera house is “Slipper Sleaze” from The Seatbelts, and will be used as establishing music again multiple times.

-Faye’s outfit for the opera house is something else. Unlike “Honky Tonk Women”, there Faye’s clothing and the focus on it seemed like it said something important about her character, this feels a bit more fan-servicey. Some jiggly breasts in later moments help me with that conclusion.

-For some reason they decide to have Jet drink from what is clearly a take on Pepsi Cola, here dubbed Pippu Cola.

-The song being sung in the opera house is Jerzy Knetig’s rendition of the hymn “Ava Maria”, performed with the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra, and it is simply stunning.

-Faye is a bit of a damsel in distress in this episode, but at least it is a situation of her own making: she’s caught totally off-guard when the tables turn, because she hasn’t really considered what it is that she is getting into.

-Spike all too casually interrupts the shoplifting in progress, magically snatching the offending item from the kids hands, in what seems a fairly obvious call-back to a similar scene in “Asteroid Blues”.

-Names can be important in this world, even when they are as blunt as “Vicious”. Here, Spike’s use of “Anastasia” seems laden with its own meaning, as compared to the more informal “Annie”.

-The use of Yenrai’s corpse as bait to tap Spike is pretty grisly it has to be said. But that’s Vicious. It’s not enough to trap Spike, he has to hurt him.

-That’s two bounties killed by the authorities before they could be claimed, one that was arrested before it could be claimed, one that escaped and now one that was dead to begin with.

-Vicious’ self-introduction is remarkably chilling and creepy, and beautifully paced. As he says his name he’s not even looking at Faye. She isn’t who he did all this for, so she’s only important insofar as she can lead him to Spike.

-The melancholy guitar tune played as Annie and Spike talk is “Waltz For Zizi” and we’ll be hearing a lot more.

-Annie pours a drink, “for Mao”. Spike snatches it up: “If it’s for Mao then I’ll drink it myself”. This is Spike saying, without saying, “I’m accepting the responsibility for avenging Mao”.

-In another moment that I feel calls back to a scene in “Asteroid Blues”, Jet outlines the facts of the Yenrai case to Spike, oblivious to the reality that Spike already knows it all.

-Out of options, Jet tries to get through to Spike alluding to why he lost his arm. It’s another haunted past, and we will get there in time.

-And Faye is tied up again, for the third time in as many episodes. I honestly didn’t remember this being a recurring look for her, but at this point I suppose I must consider it just a little eye-raising from the production team.

-Twice in this episode Spike exhibits some manner of concern for Faye beyond what you would expect, the most extreme being when he agrees to go after her when she is captured by Vicious. But it doesn’t really mean anything.

-Spike’s trek to the cathedral is to The Seatbelts‘ “Rain”, which is about as serious a piece as Cowbow Bebop‘s soundtrack tends to get, all doom-laden lyrics and organs, before an electric guitar solo straight out of prog rock cuts in. The colours here are incredible too, the looming cathedral hued in purple.

-The perspective as Spike enters the church is from afar, the light of the outside giving way to the darkness within, he seeming like a very small animal that has walked deliberately into the lion’s maw.

-Vicious implies that Spike is an angel that has been cast from heaven, doomed to become a demon. Spike disagrees. These two are about as far away as they can be on the topic of the past.

-Spike remarks that his past is like “a bad dream I never wake up from”, which I think is the first instance of Cowboy Bebop tapping into the idea of Spike, somnambulism and the blended line between dreams and reality. It’ll be so into the idea in fact that the very last shot of the entire franchise will be on that point.

-What a moment: Spike is ordered to drop his gun, and we cut to looking at him from the side, then from the front, the barrel of the gun placed level with his eyeball. He’s perfectly motionless, not so much weighing the decision to shoot as he is the right moment too. The witless mook doesn’t even realise he’s a heartbeat from death. Spike’s skill in making the shot helps to mask the shock of the aftermath, as Faye finds herself covered in blood.

-I can’t say enough about the resulting shoot-out. The mix of gunplay and explosions is simply wonderful, both in the structure of the scene, the animation of the particulars and in the audio of everything going on.

-Faye, for all her pleading of comradeship, looks back just once at the sound of a grenade going off, and then keeps running. I suppose there’s only so much that she can do.

-Jet slices off a bit too much of his trees, his mind not fully on the task, and I was struck by the exhortation of “Damn it!” that comes out of his mouth.

-Spike and Vicious find themselves in their own stand-off at the top of the cathedral, Spike with his gun in Vicious’ chest, and Vicious with his sword in Spike’s. It’s quite decent foreshadowing for what is to come down the line.

-Vicious cannot comprehend how Spike can continue on with life after turning his back on who he used to be, having “bled all that blood away”. It makes him furious: “Then why are you still alive!?”

-Spike tossing a grenade, unnoticed until it’s too late, might seem a call-back to his sleight of hand in “Gateway Shuffle”, but was actually foreshadowed here, in how he grabbed the porno mag from the shoplifting kid without him noticing.

-As we commence the flashback sequence, we zoom in on Spike’s left eye: an important detail for later in the show’s run.

-“Green Bird”, this almost haunting nonsense rhyme, plays over that remarkable sequence where we get flashes of Spike’s previous life. Far from being at each other’s throats, Spike and Vicious once fought back to back, until, perhaps, Spike met that enigmatic woman after a bad shootout. I love the instance when Spike’s memories are intermingled with the cathedral window blowing up in an enormous explosion, which might be the animated moment of the episode.

-“Just like that, sing for me, please”. I don’t know if we will ever hear Spike speak as such again.

-I love how the episode appears to tie a link between Julia and Faye, both singing to an injured Spike at different points in his timeline, only for Spike to puncture the allusion decisively: “You sing off-key”.

-What a classic bit of anime posturing, as Faye stomps away from Spike.

-At the end it is Spike who comes up with the Ace of Spades. Are we take this as a sign of his unnatural luck perhaps?

Final Verdict: I’ll never get tired of “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”, and I think I will go so far as to declare it the best episode of the entire show, and perhaps one of the best things in the entire anime sub-genre. It’s a relative thing of course, as I don’t meant to imply that it’s all downhill from here, but this session is really special: in terms of how it presents Spike’s backstory, in how it shows us this new and deadly villain, in its narrative, its action, its visuals, its character work and in its music. It’s a remarkable achievement, and five episodes in Cowboy Bebop was declaring to the world just how could it could be and how good it was intending to be.

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