Who's Shooting At Who?
WARNING: This article contains ENDING SPOILERS!!
|
|
Red Dragon syndicate politics don’t play a huge role in Cowboy Bebop, but they are important, especially toward the end of the series. It’s all about the Old Guard keeping that young upstart Vicious in line — and failing. Badly.
To make it easier for us viewers to keep track of who is with the Old Guard and who is with Vicious, the goons for the Old Guard wear dark suits with red lapels and the goons under Vicious follow his lead and wear tailcoats over their (presumably) standard Old Guard uniform.
I didn’t pay much attention to the red lapel thing until I struck up an email conversation with another CB fan. Until then, I didn’t much care about the syndicate goons because…well, why should I? They all looked alike and always ended up bullet-ridden and exceedingly dead. But when the different uniforms were pointed out to me, along with the question as to why it was even necessary, I went back to watch The Real Folk Blues I/II with the intent of determining who exactly was shooting at who — and realized it was a lot more complicated than I’d thought. This just goes to prove that no matter how many times I watch Cowboy Bebop, I can still find things I’d missed.
It was the Red-Lapel-Suits attacking the Loser Bar and chasing Julia. The gunmen at Annie’s shop are a little less clear, but I didn’t notice any tailcoats until Vicious and his entourage showed up at the shop asking after Julia. At the very end, there’s oodles of Red Lapels watching as Spike struggles down the staircase.
To make it easier for us viewers to keep track of who is with the Old Guard and who is with Vicious, the goons for the Old Guard wear dark suits with red lapels and the goons under Vicious follow his lead and wear tailcoats over their (presumably) standard Old Guard uniform.
I didn’t pay much attention to the red lapel thing until I struck up an email conversation with another CB fan. Until then, I didn’t much care about the syndicate goons because…well, why should I? They all looked alike and always ended up bullet-ridden and exceedingly dead. But when the different uniforms were pointed out to me, along with the question as to why it was even necessary, I went back to watch The Real Folk Blues I/II with the intent of determining who exactly was shooting at who — and realized it was a lot more complicated than I’d thought. This just goes to prove that no matter how many times I watch Cowboy Bebop, I can still find things I’d missed.
It was the Red-Lapel-Suits attacking the Loser Bar and chasing Julia. The gunmen at Annie’s shop are a little less clear, but I didn’t notice any tailcoats until Vicious and his entourage showed up at the shop asking after Julia. At the very end, there’s oodles of Red Lapels watching as Spike struggles down the staircase.
Gunman at Loser Bar
|
Gunman shooting at Julia
|
Gunman in Annie's shop
|
So…did all of Vicious’ men wear the tailcoat outfits or only those in his inner circle? It’s hard to say for certain because it looks like the guys working for Vicious simply don a tailcoat over their usual syndicate suit. And maybe wear a dark tie instead of the lighter blue or gray ones the Red Lapels are shown wearing. Does the color of their ties make a difference? I know in the US modern gang wear is very specific, but I don’t know enough about Japanese crime syndicates or gangs to say whether or not this would carry over into the world of Bebop.
Vicious at Annie's shop
|
Syndicate gunmen watching Spike
|
But if Vicious didn’t have any Old Guard Red Lapels working for him — and why would he? — then he wasn’t responsible for the attack on Spike and Jet at the Loser Bar. This means Shin wasn’t at the Loser Bar because he was part of the group there to kill Spike. Instead, in his conspicuous tailcoat, he showed up to warn Spike that he was in danger from the Old Guard after the failed coup by Vicious — and then proceeded to kill Old Guard Red Dragons as Spike and Jet escaped.
From later conversations with Vicious, which are admittedly ambiguous, we know Shin was acting on Vicious’s orders at the Loser Bar. But what Shin did and what Vicious ordered him to do aren’t, apparently, the same thing. So what were the orders Vicious gave to Shin? I’m not sure, but Vicious asks about “the target,” and Shin’s answer reveals he isn’t playing straight with Vicious. Shin just says they got away; he leaves out the details. Vicious knows Shin isn’t being honest and warns him about it. Was Shin supposed to bring Spike to Vicious? Was he supposed to follow him and find out where he was staying? Hmmm, it’s not as if Vicious didn’t know about the Bebop, so I don’t think it was that. But I think it’s safe to at least assume Vicious didn’t want anybody killing Spike except himself.
Again, while I initially thought Vicious ordered Julia’s death, I’ve now decided that isn’t the case. Same goes for Annie. While I don’t think Vicious cared if Annie lived or died, he must’ve known Spike or Julia would go to her and therefore he wanted his people to get to the store before the Old Guard did. But they were too late — much too late, if they only found Julia’s coat and not Julia’s body. It means Spike had enough time to take her body elsewhere before heading off to say good-bye to Jet. Vicious touching the blood makes me wonder if he wasn’t trying to determine how fresh it was and how much time had passed since Annie had died.
Who-was-killing-who only matters, I suppose, in trying to determine what Vicious was thinking, feeling, and planning about Spike and Julia at the end. There’s no doubt in my mind that Vicious wants Spike dead, but there’s more to it than just killing him. Vicious wants to orchestrate how it happens, as he did in Ballad of Fallen Angels. I’m not at all certain their final fight played out as Vicious intended. Maybe he also wanted Julia present to witness his victory over Spike, which could explain why Vicious personally goes to Annie’s shop and asks about Julia. I really do get the sense that Vicious wanted Julia alive rather than dead, for some purpose we’re left guessing about.
Other factors that add validity to Vicious trying to keep Spike and Julia alive (at least temporarily):
1.) The gun battles take place while Vicious is chained up by the syndicate Elders, so it’s possible he loses control of events just long enough to screw up his grand plans.
2.) It’s stressed in RFB I/II, after the failed coup attempt, that the old guard was hunting down all those who were ever associated with Vicious, including Spike, Julia, and Annie. It’s why Shin warns Julia to get the hell outta Dodge before the coup attempt even takes place. Vicious knew this would be the result of his coup if he failed, and even with a contingency plan in place — the amazing exploding bird — he had to know there was a chance Spike and Julia could be killed by someone other than himself.
3.) As with the Loser Bar fight, Shin lies to Vicious about Julia’s whereabouts. He says he doesn’t know where she is, but he tells Spike she’s in Tharsis City. While it’s possible Vicious didn’t know where Julia had been living, I find it doubtful. If Shin could find her, it seems likely Vicious knew where she was, but was content to leave her alone until the situation dictated otherwise. He never asks Shin if Julia is dead — which I think he would have if he’d actually ordered her death — he only ever asks where she is. That, coupled with Vicious’s behavior at Annie’s shop, leads me to believe he wanted her taken captive and brought somewhere for safe-keeping during the coup attempt.
Why would Shin not follow Vicious’s order if it was intended to keep Julia safe? Shin didn’t trust Vicious and probably figured Julia stood a better chance of surviving on her own than anywhere near Vicious.
On a side note, I’m not sure why Vicious tolerated Lin and Shin’s meddling. Perhaps he decided letting Lin and Shin act on their own would at least help Spike and Julia to stay alive long enough for Vicious to kill them himself when the time was right.
Now, despite pointing out all this, I’m not claiming Vicious was some misguided innocent, mooning over Julia and yearning for a little house in the ‘burbs with a wife and a couple of kids. He was cold-hearted, violent, and full of hate. If somebody wanted to still argue that he was the one behind the attack at the Loser Bar and the attacks on Julia and Annie, there’s always his plotting in BoFA to use as an example.
Vicious killed Mao to flush out Spike. Vicious clearly understand Spike would continue avoiding a showdown as long as Julia — and Jet and Faye — were safe. Attacking the Bebop and/or Julia would bring Spike running back to Red Dragon headquarters for a confrontation. That’s about the only rationale I could give for Vicious, rather than the Old Guard, being behind the attacks in the last episodes. It’s entirely possible that had Vicious survived the coup and took power, he eventually would’ve gone after Jet, Faye, or Julia to draw Spike into a fight. Julia worked well as Spike-bait, as shown in Jupiter Jazz, and Vicious knew Faye’s safety mattered to Spike because he’d rescued her once already.
However, the problem I have with Vicious being behind the attacks on Spike, Julia, and Annie — and it’s a big one — is that while Vicious was in total control of the situation in BoFA, he wasn’t in control of events in RFB I/II during several critical moments. Keeping track of Red-Lapels and Tailcoats bears this out, imo. Just as importantly, in BoFA Vicious himself is present and takes an active part in the fight against Spike. He would never sit back and order somebody else to kill Spike or Julia.
Julia’s death seems to be the determining factor in what Vicious does at the end. He simply sits down and waits for Spike. No big show, no more traps, no more punishing little games. There’ll be no more proving which man deserves the girl in question because Vicious knows she’s dead. Spike just confirms it for him. Without Julia on hand to witness his victory and restoration of the honor he’d lost when she and Spike betrayed him, Vicious seems to no longer care about running the Red Dragon syndicate — if he ever really did. At this point, it seems to me as if he only wanted power to make up for the insult to his honor and once he had it, he used it as a tool to force Spike and Julia back into his sphere of control. Julia’s death makes his hard-won leadership of the syndicate all that more meaningless. And so the story ends with a bitter fight to the death between two men who couldn’t move beyond a shared past that not only haunted them, but also tied their fate to each other.
By Michele
Edited Feb 25 2006: I received an email from Wolfkiller in mid-January, raising a couple of good points. So I’m including them here for even more to think about:
I was thinking about your essay regarding who is shooting at who and came up with a few things:
From later conversations with Vicious, which are admittedly ambiguous, we know Shin was acting on Vicious’s orders at the Loser Bar. But what Shin did and what Vicious ordered him to do aren’t, apparently, the same thing. So what were the orders Vicious gave to Shin? I’m not sure, but Vicious asks about “the target,” and Shin’s answer reveals he isn’t playing straight with Vicious. Shin just says they got away; he leaves out the details. Vicious knows Shin isn’t being honest and warns him about it. Was Shin supposed to bring Spike to Vicious? Was he supposed to follow him and find out where he was staying? Hmmm, it’s not as if Vicious didn’t know about the Bebop, so I don’t think it was that. But I think it’s safe to at least assume Vicious didn’t want anybody killing Spike except himself.
Again, while I initially thought Vicious ordered Julia’s death, I’ve now decided that isn’t the case. Same goes for Annie. While I don’t think Vicious cared if Annie lived or died, he must’ve known Spike or Julia would go to her and therefore he wanted his people to get to the store before the Old Guard did. But they were too late — much too late, if they only found Julia’s coat and not Julia’s body. It means Spike had enough time to take her body elsewhere before heading off to say good-bye to Jet. Vicious touching the blood makes me wonder if he wasn’t trying to determine how fresh it was and how much time had passed since Annie had died.
Who-was-killing-who only matters, I suppose, in trying to determine what Vicious was thinking, feeling, and planning about Spike and Julia at the end. There’s no doubt in my mind that Vicious wants Spike dead, but there’s more to it than just killing him. Vicious wants to orchestrate how it happens, as he did in Ballad of Fallen Angels. I’m not at all certain their final fight played out as Vicious intended. Maybe he also wanted Julia present to witness his victory over Spike, which could explain why Vicious personally goes to Annie’s shop and asks about Julia. I really do get the sense that Vicious wanted Julia alive rather than dead, for some purpose we’re left guessing about.
Other factors that add validity to Vicious trying to keep Spike and Julia alive (at least temporarily):
1.) The gun battles take place while Vicious is chained up by the syndicate Elders, so it’s possible he loses control of events just long enough to screw up his grand plans.
2.) It’s stressed in RFB I/II, after the failed coup attempt, that the old guard was hunting down all those who were ever associated with Vicious, including Spike, Julia, and Annie. It’s why Shin warns Julia to get the hell outta Dodge before the coup attempt even takes place. Vicious knew this would be the result of his coup if he failed, and even with a contingency plan in place — the amazing exploding bird — he had to know there was a chance Spike and Julia could be killed by someone other than himself.
3.) As with the Loser Bar fight, Shin lies to Vicious about Julia’s whereabouts. He says he doesn’t know where she is, but he tells Spike she’s in Tharsis City. While it’s possible Vicious didn’t know where Julia had been living, I find it doubtful. If Shin could find her, it seems likely Vicious knew where she was, but was content to leave her alone until the situation dictated otherwise. He never asks Shin if Julia is dead — which I think he would have if he’d actually ordered her death — he only ever asks where she is. That, coupled with Vicious’s behavior at Annie’s shop, leads me to believe he wanted her taken captive and brought somewhere for safe-keeping during the coup attempt.
Why would Shin not follow Vicious’s order if it was intended to keep Julia safe? Shin didn’t trust Vicious and probably figured Julia stood a better chance of surviving on her own than anywhere near Vicious.
On a side note, I’m not sure why Vicious tolerated Lin and Shin’s meddling. Perhaps he decided letting Lin and Shin act on their own would at least help Spike and Julia to stay alive long enough for Vicious to kill them himself when the time was right.
Now, despite pointing out all this, I’m not claiming Vicious was some misguided innocent, mooning over Julia and yearning for a little house in the ‘burbs with a wife and a couple of kids. He was cold-hearted, violent, and full of hate. If somebody wanted to still argue that he was the one behind the attack at the Loser Bar and the attacks on Julia and Annie, there’s always his plotting in BoFA to use as an example.
Vicious killed Mao to flush out Spike. Vicious clearly understand Spike would continue avoiding a showdown as long as Julia — and Jet and Faye — were safe. Attacking the Bebop and/or Julia would bring Spike running back to Red Dragon headquarters for a confrontation. That’s about the only rationale I could give for Vicious, rather than the Old Guard, being behind the attacks in the last episodes. It’s entirely possible that had Vicious survived the coup and took power, he eventually would’ve gone after Jet, Faye, or Julia to draw Spike into a fight. Julia worked well as Spike-bait, as shown in Jupiter Jazz, and Vicious knew Faye’s safety mattered to Spike because he’d rescued her once already.
However, the problem I have with Vicious being behind the attacks on Spike, Julia, and Annie — and it’s a big one — is that while Vicious was in total control of the situation in BoFA, he wasn’t in control of events in RFB I/II during several critical moments. Keeping track of Red-Lapels and Tailcoats bears this out, imo. Just as importantly, in BoFA Vicious himself is present and takes an active part in the fight against Spike. He would never sit back and order somebody else to kill Spike or Julia.
Julia’s death seems to be the determining factor in what Vicious does at the end. He simply sits down and waits for Spike. No big show, no more traps, no more punishing little games. There’ll be no more proving which man deserves the girl in question because Vicious knows she’s dead. Spike just confirms it for him. Without Julia on hand to witness his victory and restoration of the honor he’d lost when she and Spike betrayed him, Vicious seems to no longer care about running the Red Dragon syndicate — if he ever really did. At this point, it seems to me as if he only wanted power to make up for the insult to his honor and once he had it, he used it as a tool to force Spike and Julia back into his sphere of control. Julia’s death makes his hard-won leadership of the syndicate all that more meaningless. And so the story ends with a bitter fight to the death between two men who couldn’t move beyond a shared past that not only haunted them, but also tied their fate to each other.
By Michele
Edited Feb 25 2006: I received an email from Wolfkiller in mid-January, raising a couple of good points. So I’m including them here for even more to think about:
I was thinking about your essay regarding who is shooting at who and came up with a few things:
- During the Vicious execution scene, some of the Red Lapel guys are actually working for Vicious. So everything might not be exactly what it seems, which leads to my next point…
- When Shin returns from the Loser Bar shootout, Vicious asks him about the target. Most would presume it’s Spike since it’s the Red Lapels making the attack. But I believe Vicious ordered a hit on Jet. He ordered the hit on Annie(next point) too, so it seems like he’s baiting Spike into coming.
- The people who attacked Annie already knew about Vicious overthrowing the Van. This means they are following Vicious now. Proof of this can be seen in the execution scene. Right as the last Van dies, everyone immediately stops fighting and regards Vicious as the leader now.
Want to share your thoughts on this essay? Join in the discussion in the Comments section:
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
