Cowboy Bebop/Session 7 Heavy Metal Queen/Recap

The episode begins with a spaceship freighter making its way to a satellite, heavy metal music blaring from it. The pilot, a husky woman named V.T. and her pet cat Zeros are coming off a shift. They meet up with another trucker, Auto, chit chat for a bit and start to part ways before Auto stops her and pulls out some money. This is a apparently an ongoing game in which people try to guess V.T.'s full name in which she has earned a stack of money from it. The rules of the game are simple, they only get one guess and no clues. Auto apparently been trying for awhile and this bout ends no differently. V.T wishes him luck before heading off.

We then go to an eatery called Mac's Diner where an old man is outside talking with a couple of young punks, claiming to have been the mentor to a legendary bounty hunter called Terpsichore though the punks don't believe him. V.T. heads into the diner finding it filled with rough looking individuals. Talking to the bartender reveals they're all bounty hunters waiting for a bounty to show up much to V.T's disgust. In the bathroom of said diner is Spike, nursing a hangover and complaining to Jet about the "exclusive information" on the bountyhead named Dexter who has a tattoo shaped like a dragon. When he asks about Faye, its revealed she's at a kiddy themed restaurant called Woody's. A muscled individual walks in and Faye spots what looks like a dragon on his chest, thinking it's Dexter. She holds him at gunpoint and calls him by name which a rather wimpy bespectacled man in the next table suddenly panics upon hearing. He starts to slip away but Faye calls out to him to call the I.S.S.P. However as he's leaving, she spots the dragon tattoo on his shoulder and realizes she has the wrong guy. Uncovering the tattoo on the person she thought was Dexter reveals it was actually an eel.

Back at Mac's, some Hispanic bounty hunters are hassling the waitress and try to have their way with her. V.T. attacks them in response leading to a fight. Spike shows no interest at first trying to put an egg in his glass. But one of the hunters bump into him and causes the egg to drop on his crotch. Angered, he joins in on the fight. During this, Faye chases the real Dexter through the parking lot in her ship. She nearly corners him as he's getting into an elevator but he throws a vial that explodes and damages her ship, allowing him to get away. She phones Jet about what happened much to his dismay. Spike and V.T make quick work of the thugs before Spike throws them out. He heads back inside where V.T. express her displeasure about bounty hunters before offering Spike a drink as thanks. Spike gets another egg and makes himself a Prairie Oyster to help his hangover. V.T. notes he's the second person to drink the cocktail, her husband being the first. Antonio, Carlos, and Jobim (i.e. the old men) arrive and challenge to guess V.T.'s name. They guess wrong (not even guessing in the right alphabetical group) and add more money to the pile.

Spike, interested, goes to try his luck, but Jet calls him to inform what happened, giving Spike away as a bounty hunter. V.T. rebuffs him calling him a liar (though really she never asked) and refuses to pay for his drink. He shrugs it off and pays his tab but upon heading for his ship, finds it busted and desecrated which the waitress, Murial, forgot to remind him that it was the same thugs from before who did it. Spike is forced to hitchhike which V.T. comes across as she's leaving the diner. While she wants nothing to do with him, Zeros takes a liking Spike and perches atop his head. V.T caves and offers him a ride, picking up Faye in the process. Faye tries to tell Spike of Dexter's description and ship but V.T.'s rock music drowns her out.

Spike and Faye regroup on the Bebop where Faye finally is able to give Spike the information. Meanwhile V.T is making her way home when she contacted by Auto whose had hit and run in with a trucker that damaged his own ship. He wishes to track them down for repairs, when told the description V.T. realizes it the same one that fits Dexter. She calls around to the other truckers to see if they've spotted Dexter, eventually hitting upon where he was last located. V.T. manages to catch up and chases Dexter toward an asteroid known as the Linus Mines. She contacts Spike who tries to warn about the explosives he's carrying but the signal cuts out. Spike and Faye head out though their ships are not armed and still in need of repairs. Back at the chase, Dexter tries to use one of his explosives on V.T. but it misses her ship. However it causes a chain reaction around the mines and a cave in results. Dexter tries to stop his ship while V.T accelerates. Spike and Faye arrive, finding Dexter's spaceship and unfortunately his corpse as the rocks cracked his cockpit and depressurized it, suffocating him in the vacuum.

V.T. and Zeroes are still alive, but they're not out of the woods yet as Dexter was hauling nitro which has now become unstable. Whats more the asteroids reactors are breaking up making the place a literal ticking time bomb. The group make their way to an exit chute but just as they're in reach of it, an explosion cause rubble to block their way. Spike tries shooting it but his ship's machine guns aren't enough and Faye only has her princers. V.T. however hits upon a plan to use the nitro to blow their way out. They head back to Dexter's freighter and have Faye open it and grab one. When asked what to do next, Spike tells her to put it into his cockpit pod while he "does his famous floating act". He detactes the pod from his ship, plugs his ears and takes a deep breath before opening the hatch. Spike floats to V.T.'s ship as Faye drops the nitro into the pod.

V.T. opens her hatch to let him in, but just as she's about to reach his hand. An explosion knocks him away, Spike goes floating away from the ship until he uses his gun to recoil himself back to her. V.T pulls him in as the computer on Spike's pod activate and flies to the rubble blowing it clear and allowing the ships (with Faye grabbing the Swordfish) to reach the exit as the mines blow up. As Spike recovers in V.T's cockpit he spots her pocket watch and realizes who she is, thanking her as Victoria Terpsichore who was the wife of the legendary bounty hunter mentioned before. V.T mentions that her husband "doing his bounty hunting in Heaven" and offers Spike the cash stack but he only takes a little and jokingly tells her to use the rest to treat her husband to a Prairie Oyster on Spike.

See You Space Cowboy'

This episode has the following tropes:


 * Bar Brawl: Between V.T, the Hispanic bounty hunters and Spike
 * Brawn Hilda: V.T fits this to a...tee =P
 * Dumb Blonde: Murial
 * Karma Houdini: The Hispanic Bounty Hunters towards trashing Spike's ship
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Dexter is obviously based on Woody Allen, heck the place where he hangs out is called Woody's for crying out loud
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: V.T. though intentional as its part of the guessing game she has going.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: When Dexter tries to use his explosives against V.T
 * Space Trucker: Natch.