Session 4: Unconventional Oral Fixations

crunch shudder crunch shudder

"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.

Session 3: Luck of the Gaucho

feel the swoon, faye

"Honky Tonk Women." Or just "woman." As much as I love overanalyzing this show, it's hard to tell where the translation issues end and the attention to detail begins. The English dub, which apparently holds more canonical weight as I mentioned before, called it "Woman" in last episode's preview. Was naming the episode "Women" a conscious choice to make it sound more tantalizing, while the translation to "Woman" strove for accuracy? For ease of mind, I'll speculate no further on translation issues. I'll continue to watch each episode at least once with the subtitles, but I'll give the English dub the benefit of the doubt for any discrepancies. However, for categorical purposes I'll still call the episode "Honky Tonk Women." Speaking of episode titles, I did finally notice that they all have a musical reference so far: "Asteroid Blues," "Stray Dog Strut," and "Honky Tonk Women." I haven't looked at the other episode titles yet, so we'll see if the trend continues.