NFB Re-Watches Cowboy Bebop: “Sympathy For The Devil”

Do you understand?

Air Date: 28/11/1998

Director: Ikurō Satō

Writer: Keiko Nobumoto

Synopsis: Spike finds himself embroiled in a mystery 80 years old when investigating a strange duo: a paralyzed man confined to a wheelchair, and a young boy, more than meets the eye, who seems to be his constant companion.

Review

In “Sympathy For The Devil”, Cowboy Bebop takes a slight turn from the kind of story it told in “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”, even as it remains steadfastly focused on the quiet heroism of Spike Spiegel. He remains the main player, and in “Sympathy For The Devil” we once again zero in on his sense of responsibility and the issues of his past. But outside of that lens it is a very different kind of session, one that eases into the most noir of stories told so far, even as it devotes itself to what will be a recurring theme of the show going forward: science gone wrong, with unintended consequences when people are changed in ways that they should never be changed. In line with our first really serious look at the backstory of the universe that has, to this point, been largely ignored, “Sympathy For The Devil” is already an episode replete with reasons for notoriety. That’s long before we consider the antagonist and how out there his existence is, and how extreme the show’s depiction of how Spike deals with him.

The first half of the episode sets up something that we could describe as a standard episode of a show dedicated to bounty hunters chasing bounties: there’s a target, a noir-ish scene in an underground jazz club and the back alleys surrounding it, a tail and an armed confrontation. So good, so by-the-book. But even in this the elements that will make “Sympathy For The Devil” something special are there, such as the disturbingly ethereal dream Spike wakes from at the very beginning, the very deliberate focus on this strange boy with such skill at the harmonica and the sense that, in going after the presumed target and his young companion, Spike is wandering into something he can not truly understand. To put it another way, “Sympathy For The Devil” has something of a hazy dream-like quality to it right from the off: despite it seeming like a straightforward bounty, the presentation leaves the viewer in no doubt that something strange is going on, and Spike is walking right into the middle of it.

The reveal, when it comes, is of course surprising. I am struck again on this viewing of how oblivious Spike is to the larger situation and the danger that he is in: I don’t think Cowboy Bebop has portrayed him as out of the loop to this extent before now, and won’t really do it much later either. But then again who would have suspected this, the idea that it is the young boy who is the real threat? Having been firmly a noir story up to the halfway point “Sympathy For The Devil” steps very neatly into the horror genre, but not like “Gateway Shuffle”. There it was a bit sensationalist, here the body horror is of a more insidious kind, with the idea of something fundamentally wrong occurring to a person, a physical abnormality that then turns them into something warped and evil mentally. That’s what Wenn is at the end of the day: a boy who shouldn’t exist, who has let that reality twist him up inside to the point that he has became this malevolent puppetmaster.

The second half of the episode follows something of the pattern for the first, beginning with another dreamlike flashback, only this time it is from the perspective of Wenn. This is our first indication of the deeper lore of the Cowboy Bebop universe, one that is based largely around a devastating “gate” accident that tore up a chunk of Luna and did bad things to Earth, perhaps necessitating a greater drive to colonise the Solar System. But that’s all just background noise to this haunting and terrible origin story, as Wenn is turned from a young boy starting out on the harmonica to an orphan with unnatural longevity. From there we are rapidly introduced to the “modern” Wenn, who is most definitely a threat to Spike, winging him with that huge pistol and generally acting as above human morality: I suppose when you are both functionally immortal and trapped in the body of a child, you’re bound to start acting a bit sketchy.

The episode again turns somewhat to horror with the concept of the “Alpha Catch”, a futuristic piece of technology that I don’t think even appears again, allowing the Bebop crew to look into the memories of the otherwise locked-in Zebra. His is a horrific fate: trapped inside his own body, forced to simply sit there and watch as his best friend is murdered, before he is carelessly tossed aside by his uncaring gaoler. If “Sympathy For The Devil” errs, it is in how it essentially leaves Zebra’s fate hanging, he just departing from the episode after this scene. By now the inner meaning of the title of the episode is becoming clear: like Lucifer in the song, Wenn is a being drifting through the years, observing the deaths of those around him, and being an active participant in such things at other moments, sometimes for no other reason than it pleases him to do so.

From there we are into another one of what is rapidly becoming a staple: a thrilling finale, filled with neat animated touches and startling action. Spike and Wenn face each other with some similarities: Spike is treated like a dead man walking by his crewmates for even considering going after Wenn, while Wenn himself is essentially revealed to be a shambling corpse only putting off his fate thanks to some strange science. When the end comes Wenn seems to welcome it, perhaps realising that he shouldn’t really exist as he does, with Spike’s shot as much an act of mercy as anything else.

In character terms “Sympathy For The Devil” is something a re-tread for Spike, with many of the same themes and allusions as we saw in “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”. This is a man with a dark past that has clearly caused him some trauma, who too often finds himself leaping into the rabbit hole out of nothing more than curiosity: here in the mystery surrounding Zebra to be solved, and then in facing down and destroying Wenn. Just as with Mao Yenrai, Spike takes on a responsibility here that it can be argued he doesn’t have to acknowledge, perhaps indicating something of a martyr complex on top of everything else. Above all else, we have gotten used to Spike as a man who wants to be challenged: physically with Asimov in “Asteroid Blues”, emotionally and intellectually with Faye in “Honky Tonk Women” and in a much deeper existential sense with Vicious in “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”. Here, there is the moral imperative of stopping Wenn before he can play his puppeteer role with some other victim, but there is that challenge as well, the challenge of taking on and defeating a seemingly immortal foe.

Beyond that Spike, faces a meta-narrative moment of importance in this final confrontation, something that will not become clear until the very end of the series. The parallels with how the show will end are clear and undeniable, to the point that the conclusion of “Sympathy For The Devil” could almost be called a premonition of sorts. Against Wenn Spike faces a version of his demise, and the suggested idea that like Wenn he is simply waiting to die (or wake up, depending on how you want to put it). He comes through it, rejecting for a space the suggested inevitability of his own fate, but he won’t be so lucky a second time.

“Sympathy For The Devil” perhaps lacks some of the eye-catching animation of the previous session, but there is plenty to see and to like here regardless. The opening flashback sequence is something of a follow through from the “Green Bird” conclusion of “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”, only framed in a more disturbing way, an eclectic litany of odd images brought together in a manner that the show will repeat later. The jazz club is suitably moody in its depiction, wreathed with smoke, the soft lighting emphasising the importance of Wenn in the frame. Wen’s flashback is a suitable sibling to the opening sequence, dreamlike in its own turn, the silence of it only emphasising its impact. And the flame-soaked finale is just perfect, a High Noon suitable for this kind of sci-fi western pastiche, from the initial crash of Wenn’s car right down to his final departure as an aged corpse. Moreover, this episode does an utterly great job with Spike. The sweat almost dripping off of him in the opening is such a great effect, as is the later efforts to emphasise his calm and cool demeanour when under pressure.

As you might expect, “Sympathy For The Devil” is marked on the musical front by repeated examples of the harmonica, an instrument so perfect for the genre of music Cowboy Bebop is all about its a miracle that we don’t hear more from it, honestly. The mournful tunes that emanate from Wenn’s lips, and in the background through iconic tracks like “Digging My Potato”, help to imbue the episode with the needed sense of sadness, trauma and weight. A few other tunes stand-out, like the first time we hear the distinctive guitar of “Don’t Bother None”, or the evocative drums of “Stomp” at the conclusion. While we have to describe it as something of a comedown from the music that defined “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”, it still enriches the episode nicely, giving it everything that it needs to be musically.

Bang…

Notes

-The opening harmonica tune is the suitably moody “Digging My Potato”, that will re-occur.

-Unlike every episode up to this point, the opening scene of the session focuses more on Spike and this enigmatic look at some event in his past where he was the subject of major surgery, especially on his eye-ball. We might remember the focus on just one of his eyes in “Ballad Of Fallen Angels”.

-Spike wakes up from that dream-like remembrance, sweating and in something of a panic. His tendency to hypersomnia is beginning more obvious as we go on.

-I love that Faye will absolutely lower herself to eating dog food, and feels no shame at the act. She’s a survivor, and she does what she has to in order to survive.

-She still talks a good game all the same, discussing how ladies like her are “delicate and refined”, even as she wolfs down the can.

-I think the club scene is the first time that the word “jazz” is used in the show, as Spike and Jet briefly discuss their appreciation for the art.

-I love Jet and “Fatty” patting each other aggressively on the shoulder and repeating the same kind of glib responses to each other, it painfully obvious they aren’t pleased to see each other at all.

-The guitar tune that plays as Spike tails Giraffe is “Don’t Bother None” from The Seatbelts. We’ve actually heard parts of it before, in “Asteroid Blues”, but it gets a firmer airing here.

-It’s a very sudden crash through the skyscraper window for Giraffe, that naturally brings to mind thoughts of the Comedian’s death in Watchmen.

-We had a bit of it in “Gateway Shuffle”, but I really love the effort that the animators go to in showing how Spike controls the Swordfish. Here, him pulling the foot controls up activates the thrusters that propel to vessel upwards.

-Spike might be our hero, but he remains something of a mercenary, wanting “Giraffe” to live but only so he can cash in for the bounty.

-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, one that was dead to begin with and now two murdered before they could be claimed.

-A great moment to puncture any idea that the denizens of the Bebop are all getting along: Jet presents Faye with “an official invoice” for her use of the ship: “…and thank you for your business”.

-The episode leans into the name “Fatty ” anyway, as the titular bounty hunter enjoys a table heaving with desserts. It’s a strange location for this kind of information pump.

-Spike perhaps guesses there is more to Wenn than there may initially appear, as he stares at him in the midst of the jazz club. He’s figuring stuff out, without the need for archives as Jet pursues.

-Maybe a bit much for Jet to talk about the “iron codes of honour” of men, but he follows through, in not resisting Spike’s later decision to confront Wenn. It’s just something that has to be done.

-“I was alive when this place was an outpost” is the creepy revealing line for Wen, but much better is the vicious smile that comes across his face after, which is suitably devilish. Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name.

-Yeesh at this depiction of Wenn’s parents, or so I presume, animated as lacking eyes. Is this to represent how distant the memory is for him?

-Even more disturbing, they then turn into burnt corpses before our eyes, like Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru in A New Hope. The gate explosion may possibly be a reflection of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

-This episode doesn’t mess around, with a remarkable scene here where Spike shoots a child right between the eyes, his head snapping back sickeningly.

-The “Alpha Catch” machine is a bit of a weird one. That technology has progressed to this point is remarkable, and you’d think we’d see more from it going forward.

-So the MacGuffin of the episode is a literal “magic bullet”, whose existence and creation is breezed over in one short bit of exposition from Jet. It’s a weakness of the episode, no doubt.

-It isn’t in Faye’s nature to really understand when people do things that don’t enrich themselves to at least some degree. She remains curious about Spike I feel, which should not be taken as affection.

-In an amazing shot, Wenn rises from the flames after his car crash, still invulnerable. The music for the rest of the sequence is the suitably titled percussion-only track “Stomp”, which has never been released commercially.

-I just love this sequence of three shots that Wenn fires, the first two ricocheting round Spike, the last grazing his cheek. His remains rigidly still throughout, like a duellist waiting for his opponent to run out of bullets.

-When that time comes, Spike puts the barrel of the gun to his temple like he is giving it a blessing, aims slowly but with rigid precision, and fires the magic bullet right between Wenn’s eyes. What a moment.

-Wenn’s transformation is pretty gut-wrenching. A great effect is in how it seems to cause him a great deal of pain, as opposed to just being a sudden dying.

-Wenn’s last words are a pleading question to Spike, asking if he understands the dichotomy of feeling the onrush of death combined with an emotional sense of ease at letting go of life. On a meta level, it’s like Spike’s destiny has taken form and is asking him directly if he understands that his end is coming too.

-After failing to get a note out of it, Spike tosses the harmonica up, which we see rotating in the air, which seems an obvious allusion to 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Bang” he signs, miming a gunshot. It’s a moment very open to interpretation, given what comes later: for me it’s a sign of Spike’s rejection of a destined death, with the silent harmonica a sign of his inability at that moment to deal with the pain of his past (Wenn was able to create music on it as a means of dealing with his own inner pain).

-That’s a moment that isn’t helped by the difference between the subtitles and the English dub: the subtitled line of reply from Spike to Wenn’s last question is a wistful “Like I do”, indicating a connection between their fates, an acknowledgement that Spike might also have a hidden desire to ease his burdens through death. The sub is “Yeah I understand…as if”, a more flippant rejection of what Wenn was asking. I promised myself I was not going to get into the subs/dub debate (I’ve watched and enjoyed both, but am using the dub for this series primarily), but this is one instance where the difference seems especially critical. I’ve read claims that both approaches are wrong, and a more accurate translation would be something alone the lines of “Do you get me?” “Yeah, I get you”.

Final Verdict: “Sympathy For The Devil” is a moodier episode than the last few in many ways, which seems a bit strange to say even as I write it, given the extreme sci-fi nature of the premise. But it pulls it all off for the most part, with an engaging villain, some excellent set-pieces and a glimpse into the past, present and future of Spike that manages to be different enough to the last session that it doesn’t brook too much comparison. Now, let’s get metal.

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