“Wild Horses” is a fine, but not great episode that has a really cool ending. For a story about the history of the Swordfish and featuring space pirates as the bounty-heads-of-the-week, the episode just seemed like a whole lot of wasted potential.
One thing I thought the episode did well was show how the different characters see their world differently. Think back to the Firefly episode “Objects in Space,” when bounty hunter/aspiring philosopher Jubal Early commented on whether or not we imbue objects with meaning. That idea is on full display here when Spike, Jet, and Doohan – a mechanic and the builder of the Swordfish – all see the same things in different ways. Spike at one point refers to the Swordfish as “just some old ship,” but we soon learn that it was made to be a racing craft (I guess Spike had the weapons added later). In an old picture of Doohan and Swordfish, the ship looks like it had just been built, without a scratch on it and a vibrant paint job. This is a stark contrast to the banged up thing we see every week. One man treated it like gold, the other sees it as a tool to be used without care. Jet meanwhile takes offense when the pirates he and Faye are hunting call the Bebop junk, whereas Spike almost seems to agree with that assessment. But his perception of the ship changes when his life is at risk; trapped in a malfunctioning Swordfish, he sighs with relief when he sees the Bebop, saying that the “old hulk looks like a goddess to me now.”
These perceptions are based on the different characters’ personalities as well as their situations. We already know that Spike has a very relaxed attitude about most things, highlighted last episode when he tried to make the VCR work by kicking it. Doohan, on the other hand, is very meticulous and set in his ways. He and his assistant Miles are restoring some old ship, which Spike refers to as an ancient relic, despite Spike and Miles’ belief that doing so is pointless. None of the systems on the old ship will be compatible with modern navigating software and the thing has various designs that are completely outdated in 2071. But Doohan is stubborn and wants to do it, most likely for the fun of it. Doohan also scolds Miles when he suggests they upgrade some of the systems on the Swordfish while repairing it, and says that he’s trying to make a point with Swordfish.
Unfortunately, the pirates story isn’t as interesting. The characters are not developed well beyond their surfer dude stereotypes. They cause interesting things to happen, such as giving computer viruses to the Bebop and the crew’s personal ships, and necessitating the thrilling rescue of Spike at the end, but when they are on-screen, they can be tough to sit through. Also, speaking of the computer virus, it is Jet, rather than Ed, who does most of the work to eradicate it from the Bebop’s systems. I continue to wonder about her purpose on the ship.
Fortunately, the climax nearly makes up for the episode’s problems. First off, it does a good job of reminding us about Spike’s complete indifference to the idea of death. The man believes so much in the idea that he has already died and is living on in a dream that it doesn’t matter if he dies now. What he saw as his life is long over, and what remains, a Spartan existence on a rundown ship with people he can barely stand, is not a reality he’ll go out of his way to preserve. But even better is how Doohan and Miles come to his rescue. I won’t spoil the surprise (but the episode isn’t as clever about hiding it as it thinks it is), but it’s a great use of history* (the episode takes place on Earth) and is filled with thrilling heroics.
Up next: The only narration we get is maniacal laughter, as scenes of intense violence and creepy lab experiments play. The preview ends with Spike helpless on the ground as a man raises a gun to his head.
*Sadly, the tragic explosion in 2003 makes “historical accuracy” impossible.
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