Let It Go, Before It Drags You Under

I don't think I was ever a particularly big fan of Vicious, Spike's old partner from his crime syndicate hitman days, and the closest thing to a final boss Cowboy Bebop has. Spike's never afraid of Vicious, or hesitant to face him. If anything, he's almost psychotic at times about wanting to kill Vicious. And Vicious is usually content to make Spike fight through two or three dozen goons to get at him. Which, while entirely appropriate for a villain, doesn't do a lot to burnish his credentials as a badass.

Yes, you kicked Spike out a window, after he'd been shot three times mowing down your cannon fodder. Bra-vo. *sarcastic golf clap*

Rewatching the series this spring made me, if anything, even less impressed. Vicious spends most of the series steadily taking control of "The Syndicate", until he's basically the Kingpin for the entire Solar System. He's got dozens of guys ready to die for him. Money, power, influence, drugs, weapons, all that stuff at his beck and call. And, upon reaches that pinnacle, Vicious decides he's got to finish Spike off once and for all. Bring the entire syndicate down on him, the proverbial anvil to crush a cockroach.

Meanwhile, Spike is barely managing a subsistence-level existence as a bounty hunter. Living on a beat to hell scow of a spaceship, with a grumpy ex-cop and a woman who's a walking advertisement for those gambling addiction hotline numbers. Given how readily Spike bails to pursue any lead on Julia or to get at Vicious, I don't think he's really happy with that life. Either it's the best he thinks he can get, or the best he deserves, or he just doesn't see the point in trying for anything better without Julia.

Watching the finale, having seen Spike's life over the previous 20+ episodes, all I could think was, "Vicious, sweetie, you won the break-up. Move on."

I'm sure Vicious would argue there's some higher ideal behind his actions. That once you're in, you're in until death. That Spike, by trying to leave for a peaceful life with Julia, betrayed the ideals of The Syndicate as surely as Vicious claimed its leaders did when he staged his coup. If you let one person get away with leaving, The Syndicate looks weak.

So Spike has to be killed as an example, even though the life he's living could serve as a cautionary tale to anyone thinking about bailing. Stick with the Syndicate, at least you'll die in a nice suit, instead of in a second-rate blue suit that makes you look like a broker on a losing streak.

And refusing to let it go gets Vicious killed. He loses everything he got almost as soon as he got it, because he wouldn't let go of an old grudge. Of course, Spike would argue they both were supposed to die years ago, when things first came to a head. This was just both of them finally realizing it. The heart still pumping blood, even if there's no conscious mind to make use of it. So maybe they both got what they wanted, in the end.