After taking a backseat in the last episode, Faye Valentine takes the leading role in the seventh episode “Galileo Hustle.” Yet, most of the episode does have our crew interacting (always a plus) and we get some tension between Jet and Spike, as we get a set-up for an eventual betrayal later down the line. Can Netflix’s take on Cowboy Bebop pull off one of the calmer moments from the original series and can it continue the momentum built from the previous episode?
We finally get a pay-off from a few episodes ago on the arrival of Whitney. Early on, we find out how this gender-bent version of the character played into Faye’s origin. Right after she got out of cryo-sleep, this version of the character pretended to be her mother and conned her out of her Identikit. I like this take a tad more than the original. These two characters build a relationship throughout the episode that is a twisted take that kind of works.
Jet gets some great moments, as we also build upon some character development between him and Chalmers, which was sweet to see. It’s a bit fast considering where they started this season, but I like that we see episodes that seemed a bit out of nowhere continue to build into the next. The same goes for Spike still recovering from the events of “Binary Two-Step” adding a nice layer of continuity that also lets you know that this takes place directly after the previous one.
The episode does have an important set-up surrounding Jet’s emotional reaction to being betrayed. While he does forgive her for lying about her not-mother being a con artist, it sets up a bigger betrayal later down the line. It’s a great way to build up the point made in the previous episode when the fake Julia confronted Spieka bout lying to his long-time partner. Heartbreak is on the horizon at this rate, which won’t go over so easily this time around.
As much as I enjoy this take on Whitney, I do think the episode wraps up the cassette mystery way too fast. It seems convenient that their ship happens to have the player they need. Yes, it was a distraction in the original but that was fun seeing Jet and Spike going out of their way to solve the mystery surrounding it. It seems that their focus is more on setting up Faye’s actual mother at the end of that episode. We know little about how old this version of Faye actually is and if she even has the debt from the original. We’ll see what the future has in store for our protagonist.
Overall, a strong episode once again that continues to build up from previous storylines. It’s good that after the halfway mark we finally see some payoffs. I’ll say that Daniella Pineda is a highlight in this episode, especially in the emotional moment in the end. It probably was one of the highlights and was the show at its most restrained. Oh yeah, Vicious and Julia continue their plans to take over the syndicate. Overall, was a very good episode that isn’t quite on the same level as the previous one but it’s a close one.
