The Netflix adaption of Cowboy Bebop has been performing admirably. Its painstakingly reconstructed opening credit sequence drew a lot of attention. People were going insane about John Cho’s luscious locks. The show’s resident Faye Valentine, Danielle Pienda, had to deal with some misogynistic admirers, but she handled them with wit. And now there’s a full-length teaser, complete with dynamic camerawork and editing, as well as an f-bomb tossed into an overly PG-13 environment.
The ad, which debuted at a Netflix livestream event on Tuesday, is nearly identical to the original. It, too, sees Cho’s protagonist telling his companion Ana about his death-defying exploits (Tamara Tunie). “I go as Spike Spiegel these days if you need to find me,” he says.
Spike teams up with Mustafa Shakir’s Jet Black to undertake bounty hunting, which leads to some good old-fashioned space cruising. Faye soon joins them as a hesitant — and frequently pugilistic — companion. You can also witness the Teddy Bomber, smuggler Katerina Solensan, and experiment-gone-wrong Pierrot le Fou, the latter a homage to Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic.
It’s not just fan service that’s been offered up. The series looks more “cinematic” than almost every TV show on right now, with elaborate camera moves, split-screen, and a jazzy score that summons late-night music sessions. More TV should be this stylish.
