And that's the end of Cowboy Bebop. We actually watched these last week, but I wanted to post the noir thoughts at the same time.
"Hard Luck Woman," episode 24: In which Ed tries to go home and Faye can't.
Sorry, still don't like Faye. I was mildly surprised that Ed left, but I guess it's thematic with:
"The Real Folk Blues," episodes 25-26: In which lots of people die, including Julia and Vicious and maybe Spike, or maybe not.
When these were over, I really just didn't know what I thought. I got to like Spike, so I would've been sorry if he died; but leaving it open-ended, well, I just didn't know what to think. Except annoyance at the creators, because it felt like being cutesy or pulling a cheap trick.
Though the noir thoughts about the "noble but stupid gesture" came out of trying to decide what I thought about the ending, I don't actually quite put it in that category. Vicious is going to keep sending assassins after Spike, and taking out a bad ruler is not pointless; whatever else happens, I do think the world has to be better without Vicious in charge of the Syndicate. But I couldn't quite pull together what the series was obviously trying to say about one's place in the world; Jet has the Bebop and won't leave it, Faye has nowhere else so it's the Bebop by default (and was she annoying when Spike was leaving!), Ed has her father (maybe) and Ein . . . but I don't think that Spike's place is the Syndicate, if that was being implied. (Maybe it wasn't. Like I said, didn't quite follow it.)
Overall, it was almost like watching two different series: the random silly filler bits, and the angsty backstory-repercussions bit. I think I would have liked it better if there was more interplay between the two parts of the series.
But hey, good music and pretty space bits!