How far would you go to get revenge on someone from your past? Would you put yourself in danger, knowing that even if you succeed, it could mean your death as well? Most great tales of revenge treat it as a consuming fire, destroying the revenge seeker as much as the target. Last episode, we saw how the mention of Vicious’ name could drive Spike into a mad rage that culminated with him getting shot when confronting his nemesis. Against better sense, he tried to take on Vicious even though Vicious had back-up. In “Jupiter Jazz, Part 2,” we see how two other characters deal with their desire for vengeance: Gren, against Vicious, and Vicious, against Spike.
As Spike lies dying (or so we think), we hear a voiceover of Gren, explaining his history with Vicious. Gren is a man with a compulsive need to belong. He tells Faye that he is drawn to the word “comrade” almost “to the point of tears.” I want to say that his need to belong to a group and his use of the word comrade underscores both the ties between Callisto and the U.S.S.R. and the suspicion of the government against Gren. However, Faye has also used “comrade” to describe her relationship with Spike and Jet, and I don’t know nearly enough about Japanese history with socialism and communism to know whether this was an intended commentary. (Then again, maybe the dub, which is what I’ve been watching, put the undertones in, knowing they would resonate with an American audience.) Gren had to put his life into the hands of his brothers in arms during the war, and they put theirs in his. Despite the war being hell – the flashbacks, shown in a faded pinkish hue, depict a desert planet perpetually going through a sandstorm – Gren was able to get through it with the strength given to him by his comrades.
Of course, any camaraderie with Vicious is sure to end in tears. After being the best of friends during the war, to the point of giving Gren a music box for (seemingly) no reason at all, Vicious told the interplanetary government that Gren was a spy. While in prison, Gren was given experimental drugs, throwing his hormones out of whack and giving him female features. Eventually, he escaped to Callisto, where he met Julia. She told him that the music box was some kind of poisoned gift, and sure enough, it contained a transmitter that convinced the government that he was the spy. And thus Gren’s desire for revenge was born.
Everything that we’ve seen of Vicious has proven that he’s a bad person. We know that he and Spike also used to be friends, but now they want to kill each other. Spike wants to get revenge on Vicious for what he did to Mao. So far, we’d been led to believe that Vicious just wanted to kill Spike because he could not suffer his mentor to live as a good man, but his true motivation is that Spike took Julia from him. A series of flashbacks show us their fall from friends to enemies as voiceovers from Spike, Julia, and Spike make threats and promises. Vicious may be a disconnected psychopath, but he still has some traces of humanity. Or he did at some point; it’s likely that those last traces were destroyed in his quest for power and revenge.
Meanwhile, Spike comes to, realizing that Lin simply shot him with a tranquilizer dart. He gets back in the Swordfish and begins his search for Vicious again. He receives a call from Jet, offering to let him back on the ship if Spike brings in Gren, but Spike isn’t too receptive. Jet has found Faye and is bringing her back to the Bebop. The two discuss why Faye left, why she left Swordfish and Hammerhead intact after disabling the Bebop, and the fact that the safe was practically empty when she robbed it. The two don’t get too much to do this episode aside from providing Spike a home and human connections.
However, these connections are extremely important, as they are ultimately what set Spike apart from Vicious. Last episode, Spike could not bring himself to kill Lin, a man who clearly bore Spike no loyalty and was aiding Vicious. Spike had a history with Lin and felt no ill will toward him nor was hunting him. In this episode, Vicious tries to flee after Lin is injured in a bomb blast meant for him and doesn’t grieve for an instant when Lin takes a bullet for him. To Vicious, there is no one but Vicious and the people in his way. Everyone else can go to hell.
Looking to the past can be dangerous. Dwelling on past wrongs can drive people to their destruction. Spike for the most part has tried to move on with his life, but he at times feels like he can never escape the past. He believes that he’s merely dreaming, stuck in his life before the Bebop. And we learn here that the scene at the beginning of “Sympathy for the Devil” was a flashback to him receiving a cybernetic eye, most likely due to losing his real one escaping from Vicious after leaving the Syndicate. As he says, one eye sees the past; it’s a reminder of who he was and the life he may never be able to leave behind, no matter how hard he tries.
Up next: Beat music, heavy with drums, plays over images of a chess board and pieces, as Spike speaks in metaphors, before telling the viewers to hang around and waste their lives with him in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
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