Waltz for Zizi: The Great Dance
Spike's interactions mainly involve women. We rarely see him making friends with other guys. Perhaps this is to stress Old Man Bull's accusation that he takes women too lightly, and his assertion that he does not. Finally, in some way or another, nearly every girl he comes across can be drawn parallel some aspect of Julia; perhaps he sees a little bit of Julia in each of them. Which would explain his constant complaints that all women are nothing but trouble. While his mouth says one thing, however, his actions often mean another. Here are some of the few females he's encountered and his relationships (or lack thereof) with them.
->> Katrina
Katrina is Asimov's girlfriend in Session #1, who helps her lover in trying to sell their stolen Red Eye. The end of the episode assures us that she will never be see again. Though her role is small, I think it played an important part in Spike's early character development. Through Old Man Bull, we are introduced to Spike's vulnerability: women. Katrina is a very tragic character, and I think Spike related to her (and Asimov's) tragedy far better than we are led to believe in Session #1, before we know anything of Spike's past and of Julia. In retrospect, Spike must have been deeply shaken by how Katrina met her end, perhaps thinking that Katrina and Asimov could just as easily have been him and Julia. Both pairs had hoped to escape their lives in crime for something simpler and more peaceful. In the end, just like Julia, Katrina realizes that there is no way out for the likes of them. In a way, Old Man Bull's vision of the Swimming Bird (Spike) seeing death because of a woman was like a triple word score: a statement about the past, foreshadowing about the end of Session #1, and a prediction about the end of the series.
->> Stella
Session #8 (Waltz for Venus) has always struck me as the most idealistic, optimistic Bebop episode, and this is no doubt because of the absolute trust and innocence portrayed in Stella. It is Stella who first sees through Spike's facade, and decides that there must be some good in him, no matter how deeply buried it was. As a consequence, it seems Spike lets his guard down around her temporarily. With Stella, he is kind and gentle. But I think he sees enough strength in Stella and respects it by not patronizing her and by not lying to her about what happened to her brother, Roco. Stella is yet another girl made to suffer by a male loved one (in this case her brother) involved with criminals and who attempts to double-cross his organization. Roco, in spite of his good intentions, ultimately has to pay the price and Stella suffers in the process. Once again, Spike is confronted with a situation similar to his own and as the episode draws to a close, he appears more pensive than usual.
->> Electra Obilwon
Electra kind of strikes me as a female version of Spike at first. In that way, she is a lot like Julia. All three of them (or five, counting Vicious and Vincent) are slaves to their own pasts. She is the first woman in the show (even though technically she's outside the series) that Spike directly announces an interest in. Spike seems to like that combination of strength and vulnerability. Again, Vincent and Electra are almost perfect mirror images of Spike and Julia: star-crossed lovers separated by an incident in the past, where one of them (in both cases the guys) disappeared and was presumed dead.
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