"Big Shots" Re-Watch: "Bohemian Rhapsody" & "My Funny Valentine"

 Cowboy Bebop

You've been waiting and it is time for some backstory on the enigmatic Faye Valentine. Let's go ahead and dive right into things.

Jet Black: "remember, this could be a trap; a continuation of the game."

Spike Spiegel: "Whatever happens, happens."

Spike, Faye and Jet are individually catching bounties that are hacking the Gates. They aren't getting any money from these bounties because the Gate Company, the ones putting up the bounty, are looking for the mastermind. The chess pieces left with each person apprehended gives the team a clue, leading them to former Gate employee, Chessmaster Hex. Is the 98 year old man that Ed is playing virtual chess with a criminal mastermind?

Bobby Fisher?

The Gate disaster has been mentioned a few times in the run of the show but we haven't learned much about it. We get some backstory this episode along with a fun standalone that doesn't have the highest stakes even though we are taking about the planetary gates being potentially sabotaged.

The episode begins in a really interesting way showing each of our three leads taking down separate bounties. It's a fun sequence and a great way to open the show. It's hilarious to find out that it was Faye's idea for the group to go after these bounties separately because competition can be good in a group. But as soon as things get tough she is ready to get together with the boys so that they can pool their resources and information. It is a very Faye move and I love it.

We get to see Jet do his thing as he waltzes into the Gate Corporation HQ and meets with the head of the company. While he's there, he leaves a but in his cigarette which is pretty ingenious. Due to that bug, the team learns about Chessmaster Hex. Hex should be 98 years old. He's a tech genius and a chess prodigy. He was hired to work on the Hyperspace Gate Project. He developed the Central Core System that all the gates use. He became concerned that the gates weren't ready and suggested that they wait on building them, but instead he was forced out by the Gate Corporation.

Ed doesn't get a ton to do in this episode except play chess and of course she is playing Chessmaster Hex. The group is able to track Hex to a junk heap which is like a hippie commune out in the middle of space. It's made up of wrecked ships and spare parts that were used to make the gates. I loved the sequence of Faye and Spike making their way through the junk heap trying to find Hex. There are cats and dogs floating around in the low gravity. There are apples growing on the ceiling. There are pigeons?! People just chilling drunk and getting stoned. It's a trip and it's one of those visuals and sequencing that make "Cowboy Bebop" worth watching.

When Faye and Spike find Hex, still playing Ed, they realize pretty quickly that he is old and senile. And that he can't be held responsible for whatever has happened today. It turns out that he did plan this, fifty years ago, the day that the Gates were scheduled to do their first update. Jet and the crew turn down their bounty and agree to keep the secret of the Gate defect as long as the corporation stays away from Hex. We also get a cute cameo from the three old men and it seems as if Hex peacefully passes away after beating Ed at chess.

I enjoyed this episode. It could have given us a little more gate information and was much lighter than I expected it to be the first time I watched it. The stuff with the other bounty hunter, Jonathan, was just kind of meh. I didn't care about it and it made the final moments a little manic. Overall though, another solid addition to the Bebop canon.

See you, Space Cowboy.

Grade: B+

[Faye has just poured out her life story to Ein in front of the bathroom. Spike flushes the toilet and emerges from the bathroom stall next to Faye.]

Faye Valentine: [grumpy] "How long were you in there listening, Spike?"

Spike Spiegel: "Too long. Your story needs editing."

A nightmare jolts Faye awake and encourages her to tell the story of her life to... Ein. We learn that after an accident left her near death, she was cryogenically frozen and revived 54 years later when she could be healed. The large debt that Faye has been trying to get out from under the entire series is the bill that she owes the cryogenic company that housed her. We learn of a man named Whitney Haggis Matsumoto who promises to help her. The two fall in love but it's not meant to be when he is seemingly killed by insurance collectors and leaves Faye his debt as well. Back in the present, Spike and Jet have apprehended a confidence man who just so happens to be... Whitney Haggis Matsumoto.

Faye is not happy.

The most mysterious member of the "Cowboy Bebop" crew gets a little light shed on her backstory in this episode. We are more than halfway through the series and this is the first glimpse that we are getting about where Faye Valentine comes from. At the end of this episode, we don't know a lot more but I think that's OK. I think Faye works best as a character when she's more of an enigma, but this little detour definitely gives her a few more layers and a bit more depth. 

It turns out that Faye was put into cryogenic sleep 54 years ago. She was in an accident, which is not detailed, and is hurt to a point that she can't be healed, hence the cryogenic sleep. It turns out part of the reason that Faye is so in debt because of the bill that she owes the hospital. She meets a man named Whitney Haggis Matsumoto and they develop a close relationship and fall in love and then he is killed. He leaves her his debt, as well. 

Since her debut, Faye has kind of been this femme fatale wild card. A woman who has kind of inserted herself in this crew and Spike and Jet don't really know how to handle her. There are times when this more vulnerable side of Faye peeks out but she doesn't really show it to the guys. We saw it when she was with Gren and we see it here now. It's so telling that she only feels comfortable telling this story to Ein when she thinks that she is completely alone. She doesn't want to be vulnerable with these guys because she sees it as a weakness.

Faye and Whitney's relationship really shines a light as to why she kind of has this armor up. Whitney is the first person Faye really interacts with, who tells her about her past, how much time has passed and schools her on what the things actually are that she mis-identifies when she first wakes up, which is one of the funniest portions of the episode. You see a bit of the Faye we know when she runs from the hospital, but Whitney seems to really penetrate that armor from the moment that he carries her on his back. The montage of them getting to know each other is corny, mainly because of the song that plays, but also it does it's job well, giving us this backstory without lots of needless exposition. We love showing not telling. 

When Whitney "dies" and Faye is left with all his debt, you kind of see that armor really start to build. Imagine being asleep for that long and waking up to find everything changed and the one person you really trusted basically betraying you. This comes into even more focus when it's revealed the confidence man that Jet talks about going after in the beginning is Whitney who has made himself overweight for some reason. Faye is usually someone who is in control but you see that kind of slip and this anger that she holds at bay comes out. It's the reason that she takes Whitney, not because she still loves him, but because she is desperate to know more about where she comes from and her past. When he admits he doesn't know, you see Faye's heartbreak painted all over face, which is not something we are used to seeing.

The episode has the absurdity that we've come to expect from the show. I love the opening transition from Faye's cryogenic chamber to Ed and Jet finding the frozen, poisonous fish. Dr Bacchus and his nurse are more characters to add to the list of "Cowboy Bebop" one-off scene stealers. The reveal at the end that Jet added a zero to Faye's part of the bounty share is just a nice gesture that shows that even though they fight and complain, they all do really care about each other.

Sleeping Beast...

Grade: A-

Next up, we learn how Jet lost his arms and Ed goes looking for mushrooms.

What do you all think of these episodes? Were you happy to learn more about Faye? Let me know in the comments.