Apologies for the delay my readers (all two of you), but after little ado, my recaps for Episode 4 and 5 are finally here. I know, I know, your lives have been leading up to this moment, but please, do try and contain your excitement.
Episode four, “Sometimes You Can’t Live with Dying, Baby” has cemented a pattern for the series, one that seems to give some viewers cause for alarm, or just fails to tickle their fancy. It was a pattern that was boldly introduced to us in episode 1, and has been with us since we embarked on this funkalicious space adventure in early January. What is this pattern, you may be asking yourself. Well, the pattern of pure and utter chaos that throws logic and reason straight out the window, and holds hands with the universe around the bonfire of great music, superb animation, and the propensity to kill our crew. Sprinkle in some outrageous amounts of fanservice, a heaping mess of aliens and robots, and some fine-tuned jokes, and you got Space Dandy. Well, sort of.
Each episode seems to be a standalone adventure. Death and danger are no threat to our heroes, for we’ve seen them all get blown to smithereens, and Meow was eaten by a giant boobie alien in episode three. So, I am pretty damn sure that it is safe to say we don’t have to worry about where an episode ends, or even worry about where the series is going to go. Take episode four for example, which definitely brought its A game.
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It starts off as per usual, our crew is trying to secure another alien registration bounty, and before we know it, things start to get a little weird. The alien they have captured seems a little off, with lifeless gaze, cold coloring, and slow movement; even the crew manages to notice. While they inspect their odd capture, Meow gets bit, and it’s not long before he too shows signs of zombification, infection, disease. Of course, we all know from the get-go that this is the start of a zombie infestation, but our heroes haven’t a clue.
Cue anime nurses, and the Reckless Mercenaries.
After having Meow confirmed as dead, and Dandy has his share of booty shaking and nurse pestering, they leave their feline companion at the hospital for further inspection. When we return to the scene, red is splattered throughout the halls, and the entire hospital staff looks a lot less lively, and a lot hungrier. Enter the Reckless Mercenaries.
These guys were great, smashing through the window, busting out the lightning sword, and blasting zombies with extreme prejudice. Totally dug their red berets, also. But, after one undead fails to die despite being made to look like Swiss cheese, Dandy and QT finally realize what is going on, and one of the best damn scenes (I know, it seems like every episode has the best damn scene in it) of the series cuts loose.
Try as they might, however, our heroes do not manage to escape the fetid clutches of the undead. But that’s not where the credits role, baby.
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Having all been turned into zombies (even QT, despite his being a robot) our heroes must try and make sense of their new form of existence, and so they turn to their capturer from earlier in the episode, and he guides them to zombie moksha. But the infection does not stop with our heroes, and before you know it, every single life form, and robot, is part of the zombified genus. Even the flippin narrator. There is a poignant message in the end, and even a nifty little surprise before the credits roll, making for one sweet episode. Oh right, and the Gogol Empire were the ones who hired the Reckless Mercenaries, in case you were wondering what those guys were up to. You probably weren’t.
As you could have guessed, episode 5 “A Merry Companion is a Wagon in Space, Baby” does not seem to recall that the entire universe was turned into zombies. No, much like the death of Meow in episode three, or the planet destroying bomb that consumed our heroes in episode one, there is no mention of the undead plague. Funny as it was. Which is totally fine. I am not going to lie though, there is a part of me that wants to see more zombie Dandy, and his adventures fermenting. Imagine how exciting that would be.
Episode 5 starts with our hero, once again, hot on the trail of a new space alien. However, there is a twist: this time he is flying solo, and on the hunt for a notorious species that has bested all previous hunters. They call it the gentuine. I probably spelled that wrong. But, whatever, point is, Dandy is after a scary alien.
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As it turns out, this gen-two-in… yeah let's go with that, has the power to zap people’s consciousness into stuffed animals. And it looks like a little human girl. But what was supposed to be an easy gig ends up getting complicated. The Aloha Oe gets impounded, and this forces Dandy, with gen-two-in in tow, to travel across the cosmos in public transportation to bring her to the registration station. So, while Dandy is stuck in what is essentially a space train, we get treated to a smooth, sentimental tune, beautiful shots of the galaxy-scape, and some interesting character progression between Dandy and the kid.
Through the power of song and montage, what had once started as an icy relationship soon feels more like the bond between a father and his daughter. Considering how irresponsible, lecherous, and downright stupid Dandy usually is, it is actually refreshing to see him in a different light. Now don’t get me wrong, Dandy’s shameless flash and glamorous stupidity are great, it makes the show what it is. But seeing that our hero isn’t such a one trick pony is nice too. It provides some much needed slow down to a show that has been running at full tilt from the get-go. Balance, as they say.
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The story goes on, but I’ll end the recap here. This episode is one you just need to watch, it’s definitely a treat, and I’ve already given you the gist. Oh, but one more thing. This is the only episode so far where the Gogol Empire doesn’t make an appearance. Not that that matters really, but you know. I kind of missed those guys, and their ineptitude. Oh, and fanservice. There was very minimal fanservice. So yeah, good episodes.