"Pierrot Le Fou" is the twentieth session of Cowboy Bebop.
Cast
In order of appearance:
Plot
Looming in the city's night sky, a mysterious figure descends upon a group of unsuspecting men to claim their lives.
After coming out of a bar, Spike accidentally came upon the scene of a brutal shootout in a dark alley. A mysterious man at the scene had apparently gunned down several men. Being aware of Spike's presence at the scene, the mysterious man proceeded to fire several shots at Spike with his gun which resembled a cane. Spike, reacting quickly, managed to dodge the shots, hide behind some garbage nearby and return fire from his handgun. However, he found that his bullets had no effect on the mysterious man as the bullet seemed to stop several feet short of it's target by some unknown force surrounding the mysterious man. The man then floated toward Spike and began engaging with him in hand-to-hand combat. The man bested Spike in the engagement with a series of flying kicks and had him knocked down at gunpoint. Luckily for Spike, a cat nearby frightened the man causing him to shoot furiously at the cat instead. During this minor distraction, Spike managed to blow up a propane tank right in front of the man causing a huge explosion that he himself barely escaped from. However, to Spike's surprise, the man has somehow came out of the explosion seemingly untouched then proceeding to wound Spike's arm with a throwing knife. The man then proceeded to display his collection of weapons underneath his coat. Finding himself outmatched, Spike began to make an escape towards the river, but not before being blown into the water by the man's grenade launcher. Afterward, with Spike nowhere in sight, the mysterious man disappeared into the night from which he came from.
The next day Jet and his friend Bob discuss the incident on how Spike was lucky enough to get away with his life, Bob tells him that the man he encountered is called "Mad Pierrot", Spike is seen the next morning on the couch covered in bandages, Faye calls him the living mummy and they discuss the strange man he encountered and how Spike always gets into situations like this, Bob explains that Mad Pierrot was the seventh person to be conducted in experiments in order to create the ultimate killing machine and they say they that Spike is the only known person to survive an encounter with him and that he enters and leaves a scene with a smile and that Mad Pierrot's real name is Tongpu.
Meanwhile Ed receives an email saying that Spike has been invited to a party and that it's being held in the theme park Space Land, Spike tells Faye that if he gets into trouble that she will come to his rescue and Faye calls him an idiot for saying that, as soon as Spike leaves Jet arrives and tells Ed to do him a favor, Spike arrives at Space Land where he encounters Tongpu who tells him to party while exchanging gun fire at him leading Spike on a mad chase, during the chase Spike encounters many of the amusement park's mascots that tell him how dangerous the fun house; he is entering is, Tongpu arrives on a penguin car and fires a rocket at Spike, meanwhile Jet tells Ed to hack the website of the ISSP the company that created Mad Pierrot.
Meanwhile, Spike is being chased by Tongpu and shoots at him forgetting that the vest is bullet proof, along the way Spike encounters another mascot which resembles a mix between Goofy and Pluto of the Disney company that greets him he tells it to shut up and beats it up, he then accidentally steps on a mine field which propels him into the air Tongpu catches him by the leg with a whip and tosses him onto a rollercoaster he and throws a bomb at him in the cart and Spike falls from the rollercoaster into the river below, meanwhile Ed has managed to hack into the website where she finds a recording of the experiments performed on Tongpu while a scientist strokes a cat, the audience discovers that Tongpu escapes and murders the staff, Jet reads that the experiments caused him to regress in personality to a child, a child that likes to kill and he remarks that there is nothing as innocent and yet so cruel as a child.
Spike has managed to swim to shore where he is greeted by Tongpu who tells him "it's showtime" and shoots at him with a rocket, Spike manages to escape when a couple of rockets strike near Tongpu which reveals Faye piloting the Red Tail cruiser, Tongpu dodges the rockets and shoots down the cruiser the explosion sends Spike crashing into a gift shop while Faye lands safely but is rendered unconscious, Tongpu approaches Spike and tells him "prepare to die" when suddenly a toy cat falls from a shelf and starts meowing freaking out Tongpu who shoots the toy to pieces, using this diversion Spike escapes and fires at Tongpu who then shoots Spike's gun out of his hands, a parade of mascots begins. Spike slowly reaches for a small dagger, tucked away behind him on his belt. As the lights flash, they strike Spike's eyes in such a way that Tongpu remembers the cat from the laboratorys eye's. In a scream of fear, he fires and the bullet pierces Spike's shoulder. Spike throws the dagger at Tongpu hitting him in the leg. This one wound reduces Tongpu to tears, causing him to fall down onto the ground crying out for his mother. As he is lying there the parade of robots pass over him with the largest one stepping on Tongpu, killing him.
Jet contacts Spike with information on Tongpu, but Spike interrupts, saying that he no longer needs the information. He then quips how he hates amusement parks.
Quotes
Mad Pierrot: Hello, gentlemen. I have come to take your lives.
Themes and Motifs
Real World References
- Pierrot Le Fou is a 1965 postmodern film directed by the French and Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, who was one of the founding members of the French New Wave in cinema.
- Tongpu's character seems to be based off a mixture of two of Batman's notable nemeses: The Penguin and The Joker and less popular villain the Tally Man who is also an assassin, also sporting a top hat, and like Mad Pierrot first appears massacring a group of criminals, he who also has the seeming ability to fly, a cruel almost permaent grin, and with distrubed childlike personality. Which when all the vilains are combined reflect Tangu's attire and personality quite well.