Who is Faye Valentine? Since her introduction way back in “Honky Tonk Women,” we’ve learned almost nothing about who she is or where she comes from, save her claim that she is descended from the Romani. Although, seeing as how she is a bit of a liar and a cheat, and that she made the claim as part of a desperate plea for freedom, the truthfulness of the claim has always been in question. What we know about her now is that she is a cynical, hypocritical woman who will screw over even her friends in an effort to avoid being screwed over by them first. Is this a defense mechanism, resulting from a terrible experience? Or is she just ruthless? What is her “true self”? What if she didn’t know herself?
The first half of “My Funny Valentine” is an extended flashback, resulting from Faye telling Ein a story about her past. Thinking she is alone with a dog that can’t repeat what she’s about to say, she launches into a tale of woe about how she was cryogenically frozen for nearly 100 years and awoke without any memories of who she was. She awakes to find a strange world in which she has no friends, outdated knowledge of social norms and technological advances, and mountains of debt. Whoever had her frozen assumed that she would be able to foot the bill for the expensive procedure upon awaking.
Fortunately, she meets someone who will guide her through this strange new world(s): Whitney Haggis Matsumoto, an attorney assigned to her case to help her pay off her debt. When her new life as an indebted outcast seems (justifiably) overwhelming, Whitney is there to reassure her that she’ll find a way to get by. He acts like a prince from a fairy tale to her (appropriate, as his pet name for her is Sleeping Beauty), comforting her, buying her clothes, and showing her the ins and outs of her new society. We are shown these acts in montage, while a half sappy, half sweet song plays, and with each passing scene, the two look more and more in love. But then tragedy strikes, and Whitney dies saving Faye’s life. Making matters worse, Faye inherited all of Whitney’s debt.
Without a safety net or guide, Faye had to find a way to get by, and the lying, cheating cynic that we have come to know is the result. Faye’s personality in the flashbacks couldn’t be more different from her in the present; she is physically and emotionally frail and can barely believe what is happening to her. At one point, she even exclaims that she is simply dreaming. In the three years between then and now, Faye has turned into a very capable person who approaches the world with a “seen-it-all” attitude and assumes that everyone is out to exploit her in some way.
When the tale comes to an end, Spike walks out of the bathroom, revealing he’d heard the whole thing, and he obviously does not believe her. But then Jet appears after capturing a bounty head whose M.O. was acting as a Don Juan type to con women: Whitney Haggis Matsumoto. Faye begins to question him about why he did what he did to her and who she really is. To this day, she still does not remember who she was before being frozen, and the question still eats away at her. When a police ship arrives to pick up Whitney, Faye shoves him into the Redtail in order to have more time with him to get the answers she needs. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have them; the gate accident destroyed numerous records, including her hospital documents, so no one knows who she really is. She briefly reverts to her immediately-post-unfreezing personality, breaking down crying that she doesn’t have a past, and thus no identity.
The idea of whether our memories make up who we are is remarked upon in the episode, and it’s a very interesting question. Faye seems to believe that because she doesn’t know who she was before a certain date, she has no identity, but she doesn’t realize that she has created a new one. She may not be the person she once was, but her post-unfreezing memories have created a lean, mean, bounty hunting machine. Her past is only 3 years long, but a firm identity has been created. While it’s hard to say whether we are our memories or not, they undoubtedly help create who we are, as we learn from our experiences and base our actions on our triumphs and our mistakes. Faye learned very quickly that people exist who will try to take advantage of her, and she adjusted her attitude accordingly.
Up next: Jet narrates, saying that the next episode is depressing and won’t interest children, women, or young men. But older men will be right at home watching Bebop’s most noirish episode yet.
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