Fiction

When characters realize the world they know is in fact “something else,” they have permanently crossed a threshold. The thin membrane they might otherwise call normality has been punctured, and the air of stability drains out. There is some attempt to clutch their worlds close, to grab something pinned down. But it is, inevitably, too late: there is no putting normal back when it never existed in the first place. Almost all fiction involves characters trying to fix or improve their world. But only one genre targets…

Cowboy Bebop — out Friday on Netflix — is at its best when it's channelling the same energy the original anime it's based on was inspired by: pulp fiction. It's hard to get it right because if you go overboard, it's on the nose and you stop caring. But Cowboy Bebop really nails its pulpiness. The important thing with making a pulpy show is getting the audience on your side early on. The Netflix series — developed by Christopher Yost (Thor: Ragnarok), and with André Nemec (Zoo, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) as…