Recap: Cowboy Bebop Session 14 Bohemian Rhapsody
The Bebop crew bust their butts taking down bounties, but unless they catch the mastermind behind a money laundering scheme, they can't collect the reward. The only clue they have to go on is a chess piece they got of their perps.
- Boom Town: Sorta, Spike and Faye investigate an old satellite where Hex may be only to find it houses many homeless people who have made the place their own.
- Crazy People Play Chess: He isn't called Chessmaster Hex for nothing.
- Cool Old Guy: He may have gone senile but Hex can still work his way around a chess board.
- Keep the Reward: Having solved the mystery of Hex's scheme, the Bebop crew are in a position where they can get anything from the gate corporation in exchange for their silence about what really happened about the warp gate. Jet only requests they cancel the bounty on Hex so he may continue his chess match with Ed.
- Revenge: Hex's motive with good reason as he was in charge of making the warp gate that would allow space travel but was kicked off the team before the kinks could be ironed out, leading to the gate explosion. His revenge was meant to coincide with the gate's anniversary, but it wound up being a long waiting time before his plan came to fruition. By the time it did, he had grown old and senile ultimately forgetting about the plan he had put into place.
- Surprise Check Mate: Hex and Ed surprise one another through their chess match with unpredictable moves. So much so that the game goes on for about a week. Ultimately Hex wins before passing on.
- Talking through Technique: Subverted in this case, The crew of the Bebop thought that the chess pieces they found on apprehended thieves might hold some secret message, but they were merely a signal from Hex to his former employers that it was he who was pulling the jobs. He had a reputation as a chess lover.