The best Coyboy Bebop eps are probobly Heavy Metal Queen, that cowboy one, and that one with the Chessmaster in it. I dunno, all the ones that don't actually contribute to the story are good. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Bah, the overall story is what makes Bebop as good as it is. The stand-alone episodes are good, and are a decent way to get introduced to the series. Try "Asteroid Blues" for the more serious side of the series, and "Stray Dog Strut" or "Mushroom Samba" for the more wacky side (even though Stray Dog does contribute to the series, it works on its own). I guess that means you could just watch the first two and get the hang of things, but you'd be missing the all-important overall story. Some of the best episodes relate to the characters and their histories (the origin of Jet's arm, for example), and Spike's background episodes give a sense of humanity to what would otherwise be an all-too-typical cool-guy. For the best overall experience, watch the entire series from start to finish and don't spoil the ending (any of the last 4 or 5 episodes, actually) for yourself. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It makes the series good. But the other episodes are much more entertaining IMO. I found the two-episode section on Spike (I think it's 7-8 (don't remember) particularly unentertaining.