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"Gateway Shuffle." Once again, my expectations are subverted. That is, my utter lack of expectations or predictions subverted this action-packed, genre-busting episode. Usually, the previews have been a good indicator for what to expect. I got another vaguely "silly" vibe à la "Stray Dog Strut," but this episode turned out to be much more chilling and creepy. My feeble attempt to categorize this show into monster-of-the-week and lore-heavy episodes was also thwarted, with "Gateway Shuffle" having the best of both worlds. Amongst the sea of text in the intro is the phrase "They are sick and tired of conventional fixed style jazz." Guess the creators had the same philosophy about episodic television. To my delight, "Mom" from Futurama (yes, I know it aired after Cowboy Bebop) aka Twinkle Maria Murdoch became my favorite villain thus far, surpassing Asimov! But does the episode as a whole surpass "Asteroid Blues?" Let's find out.
Episode discussion will come later, as usual. However, I thought I'd change up the format a bit by spending more time analyzing specific aspects of the episode and the show as a whole, and less on the droning expository descriptions of events scene-by-scene. This means I may gloss over entire scenes if I don't have anything interesting or witty to say about them. It may also mean I'll drone on about something that may get answered in the next episode, or something I'm completely wrong about. But like I've said, my ranting ignorance is kinda the point of this blog. Hopefully it's one of the highlights as well! I may not do this every post, especially if there just isn't anything worth discussing at length, or if it makes the flow of these posts even more disjointed than it already is. I figure if anyone has read this far, it's hardcore Cowboy Bebop fans. (free form vs. "conventional fixed style" jazz, eh?) So the next few paragraphs will contain more long-form observations, while the episode discussion will have the pithy scene-by-scene summary of "Gateway Shuffle."
Allow me to ponder the state of the universe we're in. It should be a relatively safe guess that some calamity on Earth spurred the rapid colonization of Mars, the asteroids, and beyond. The terraforming technology is remarkable, and maybe Earth has since been recolonized. However, an unfixable nuclear event seems a likely scenario, perhaps explaining people's Tarantino-esque hyper-violence. Jet mentioned "after the gates stabilized, food wasn't scarce anymore." Famine during the beginnings of the space frontier would spur the creation of the crime syndicates. And considering that the government is weak enough (or the criminals are strong enough?) that they deign to negotiate with terrorists, it's no wonder the crime syndicates grew into full-fledged businesses. The 300,000 bounty hunters statistic is less surprising now. With other clues concerning the lore being few and far between, and knowing that I said that I'd no longer speculate on translation discrepancies, I still want to note something interesting that may or may not even be a discrepancy. While there is absolutely no reason to assume any of the scattered Engrish text holds any grand relevance, it is simply in my nature to overanalyze such things. The words "Chicago, Illinois, JAPAN" appear on an empty bag of "lemon" in Faye's ship during the teaser. Maybe it's a reimagined city in the form of a space colony, like Tijuana. Or maybe these are old rations from the time when Earth still existed. Or most likely, the text is copied from a real-life bag a Japanese artist used . Isn't rampant speculation fun?
Another question that struck me recently was "what language are the characters actually speaking?" I assumed Japanese at first, but now I think it could be English. I don't think it's been stated definitively, so let's go over the clues. One, as I've mentioned before, the creators apparently prefer the English dub of the show itself over the Japanese. I don't know the full extent of their reasoning, since this is one of the very few things I learned about the show from my minimalistic research. Could one of those reasons be that they envisioned the characters speaking English during their creation, but were heard in Japanese for the sake of their audience? Two, the majority of lettering and signs within the show are in English. This theory may not hold as much weight, since a good portion of today's advertising in Japan is in English. Based on my vague understanding of Japanese culture, anime often incorporates English for a stylistic effect, much like Westerners who get kanji tattoos without fully understanding their meaning. However, the extent to which English is used makes me think it's the primary language in the star system, with Japanese being secondary. The biggest clue supporting this is the way in which Japanese speech is used in the English dub. The few times it happens, it's either used in easily understandable contexts or is translated soon afterwards. Examples: the final line of "Stray Dog Strut." Judy signs off with "Good luck" in the J. dub, and "Siyonara" in the E. dub. Also, in "Gateway Shuffle," the computerized breakfast menu says "All done! Accepted! Arigato!" Lastly, the onslaught of instructional voices upon exiting a stargate. I can't tell if other languages besides English and Japanese are spoken, but if so, that could even suggest a multilingual culture. At the very least, the culture appears to be partially bilingual.
EPISODE DISCUSSION. What do you know, it's not Mars! Good ol' Jupiter and a terraformed Ganymede are the backdrop on a damsel in distress. Sucking down some Tang-like substance, Faye's not so different from Spike in his first appearance. He sucked down a cigarette the first time we ever saw him, then lamented his lack of menu options a few scenes later. Oral fixations, obviously! Faye's growling stomach certainly is pitiable, but less so when we find out how why she's out here. Although, as impulsive as she is, running out of fuel in the far reaches of space doesn't seem like an accident. She said she lost the money gambling, but she may be on the run from debt collectors again. Lady Luck manages to float right into the path of a wrecked ship - the first of many coincidences. The transition from the ship's beeping console to the title card, timed nearly to the same beat of the music - nice touch.
Title card - And Jet aka Mr. Exposition is doing what he does best, (or most often, at least) as he lays down the lore on sea rats, famine, and stargate stabilization. Interesting stuff, but thankfully it didn't last as long as last's episode's computer chip spiel. The guys seem to have learned from their past mistake with Hakim's face swapping and invested in some fancy beer goggles that can identify faces even with the most drastic reconstruction. Race swapping's apparently a popular choice for fugitives. Meanwhile, Murdoch and "sons" are discussing a ship they blew to pieces. "One last ampule doesn't mean much," eh? With these goons letting a spy infiltrate their ranks and not even blowing up his ship properly, it's a wonder their organization has lasted as long as it has. Two more instances of oral fixation appear in a uncomfortable close up of Murdoch's mouth as she chews loudly, and Morgan opening his mouth full of chewed meat in surprise before getting shot... uuugh.
Murdoch's description of the sea rat as "intelligent and kind" contrasted quite heavily with the gun-toting henchmen wearing their faces. Spike and Jet were disturbingly unfazed by the shootout. Granted, it's part of their job, but they didn't even give aid to anyone, only checking on Morgan's body. I suppose others would do the same if 25 million Woolongs were on the line, but they never gave it a second thought. Perhaps greed will be this episode's recurring deadly sin? For my own ease of mind, I probably shouldn't give the background characters any heed either. They're unlikely to get justice in this dystopian universe anyway. At least the henchmen were kind enough to shoot out the lights so people could see the little propaganda movie more easily as they took their dying breaths. Gotta look at the bright side!
Despite being "captured," Murdoch's oddly confident that she'll return to base, which we later find out is because she canceled her own bounty. So what does she seek to gain by going with Spike and Jet? Three possible reasons: one, she may have canceled the government's bounty, but the police may still have an arrest warrant. Although, her lackeys managed to escape just fine, and she did manage to erase any record of the terrorist attack later... Two, getting "kidnapped" would put pressure on the government to carry out her wishes more quickly, however she apparently intended to carry out her plan regardless of whether the government prohibited sea rat hunting. Three, she perked up slightly when Spike said "25 million will buy a lot of lobster stew," so maybe he touched a nerve by threatening to chow down on some precious lobsters.
Faye's made it to the ISSP mole's destroyed ship only to discover no food or fuel. Never mind the dying man giving clear instructions on what to do with the briefcase, it's all about what Faye can gain. Are there no more good Samaritans left in this universe?! Apparently not, if the environmental protectionists are resorting to terrorism. Rather, a single misanthropic "warrior of peace" took power while the good environmentalists were likely exterminated. The revelation of the government-blocked bounty causes Spike's soda can to do a spit-take. In the establishing shot of the baddies' ship a few scenes later, you can totally see their escape ship poking out behind some debris. Not sure if that's intentional or an animation goof. We meet "Chief Minister Panderson," head of terrorist negotiations perhaps? That seems to be the long and short of his job description. Despite his promises of sea rat protection, the goons are more concerned about Mom and squeaky toy sea rats. Spike's cheeky grin during Faye's distress call - wonderful.
After a Tom Waits-ian saxophone wail in the intermission title card, Faye's handcuffed again, this time outside the bathroom! She repeats her motto "easy come, easy go," a both slothful and greedy philosophy in my opinion. Jet's old friend Bob is a dirty, dirty man... chips on the keyboard? Really? Bob must have ratted out their position to the government, as evidenced by the next scene with Panderson. Jet's just as devious, as he blackmails his "buddy" for info. Another nugget of Jet's shady past comes to light. Spike doesn't believe Faye's story about the ISSP mole, and even Bob's speech about the Monkey Business virus and Murdoch's obvious consternation with his handling of the vial didn't tip him off. I don't know how someone so skilled at sleight of hand can be so unobservant. There was a moment where he noticed that Murdoch was watching him, so maybe he continued to attempt opening the contraption in order to not tip her off. But then why would he be so reckless as to shoot at a biohazardous container? I'm convinced it was Jet who put the pieces together on the vial's contents and told Spike to slip it into Murdoch's pocket later. I love how when Bob's explaining the devolution retrovirus, it cuts to Spike banging the device like an ape banging bones in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Plus, it's another oral fixation instance with the shot of just Bob's mustachioed mouth speaking.
Murdoch is released while covert government agents look on the exchange. And GOOD GOD when she just floats away, it's creepy as all shit. Panderson's pandering isn't enough for Murdoch, who's eager to release some judgment on Ganymede and poor Harrison. She and her cronies disembark from the decoy ship to the other ship hidden behind the debris using the six orange monkey containers apparently doubling as escape pods. They get caught in the ship's net while the agents are distracted by pop-up ads. It would seem the monkey research lab was on this hidden ship all along, since a half-monkeyfied Harrison is seen after the decoy ship explodes. So perhaps the establishing shot mentioned earlier was intentional after all. Murdoch's speech about "consumer culture" is funny considering her choice of outfit and the fact she was just dining at one of the swankiest restaurants orbiting Jupiter. I look forward to seeing a list of things that this show inspired, since her views on humanity was quite reminiscent of The Matrix's Agent Smith.
Spike and Jet have the green light to capture Murdoch, but first must save a moon of 8 million inhabitants. Somehow Faye managed to uncuff herself again despite presumably being stripped of such devices. Ein is not pleased. Spike narrowly avoids oncoming traffic as he makes for the missile, and we get our standard action sequence, with "standard" describing its regularity, not quality. Suffice it to way, I loved it all - the music, Spike's electro-gun, panicky Panderson, operatic Murdoch, and conniving Faye. Looks like Jet fixed the hangar door since Faye broke out of it last time. She and Spike escape the closing gate in the nick of time. Mr. Exposition gives an explanation on matter enclosed in hyperspace almost as ridiculous as the notion of a devolving retrovirus. Rule of Cool applies, so Murdoch and her cohorts becoming "glitches in a natural system" both by getting monkeyfied and teetering on the edge of reality is a perfect fate. Finally, Faye's officially on the team, yaaay! Who takes a gun to the shower though? And I wonder if the final shot of the sea rat squeaky toy foreshadows a return of Twinkle Maria Murdoch...
PREDICTIONS: Oh man oh man oh man I'm hyped beyond belief for this next episode!!! I'm trying not to get too excited in case it doesn't live up to my expectations, but I can't help it! My eyes shot wide open when I heard that music box. I watched that "Asteroid Blues" cold open so many times trying to parse clues... see my Session 1 post to see my interpretation of that scene. I suspect, rather, I hope there's misdirection, because I hope that's not Spike pointing a gun at Jet... but it could be that Spike believes Jet betrayed him. Jet did blackmail his old pal Bob. What does the music box represent? Maybe some event in Spike's past that he can't escape, like a tell-tale heart, making him "trapped in an endless nightmare." The falling rose makes me think he failed the blonde woman in some way, who I did notice appears throughout the credits sequence. The white-haired man might be the same one standing behind Spike next to a chain-link fence in one of the pictures. It's hard to get any more clues from the credits scene, aside from being a series of events leading up to the "Asteroid Blues" cold open. So this next episode may be a "history repeating itself" sort of deal, with flashbacks to this church shootout incident, and Faye taking the blonde woman's place in a repetitive dream.
RATING: "Gateway Shuffle" contained my favorite villain AND favorite action scene. The missile shooting and subsequent hyperspace escape had me just as filled with suspense as any good sci-fi movie. There really were no blatant weak points. Murdoch's lackeys were kind of bland, cookie-cutter henchmen, and the plot continues to rely on increasingly unlikely coincidences (or maybe mystical fate?) to advance, but that's all I feel I can really criticize. Still, "Asteroid Blues" has some ineffable quality making it remain my favorite episode, so "Gateway Shuffle" gets 9.4 orders of sea rat saute out of 10.
Until next time, "Do that morphin' for my endorphin!"
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| Oral intimidation helping Faye escape... somehow |
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