This session while humorous marks the end of a chapter in Bebop. Faye decides to go in search of her home. Ed claims to know where the fountain is. Side Note: It is called the Merlion fountain and it is located in Singapore. Faye promises Ed something good in return for showing her where it is.
Ed stops at an orphanage she used to live in before she became the famous hacker Radical Edward. The Nun there tells Faye that Ed wandered in one day and then left, just like a stray cat. Ed receives a picture of her father, Appledairy, who has been looking for her for seven years.
When they get to the Merlion statue, Faye meets a woman in a wheel chair, who was her old classmate, Sally. Sally is shocked that Faye looks exactly the same as when they were classmates. Faye tells her she is a ghost from the past, perhaps in an attempt to break ties since she does not yet remember her childhood.
Jet is angry when Ed and Faye return and gripes about it. They say nothing to him, and he realizes something is up. He thinks that if he cooked something for them to eat they might feel better. He definitely shows he cares about people through food.
Faye takes a shower and her memories come back to her. She rushes out to go back to the Merlion to see her old home. She bumps into Spike, and instead of yelling at him, she apologizes. Spike is shocked by her behavior, and realizes that something about her has changed.
Faye tells Ed that she is going to find where she belongs, "Belonging is the very best thing there is." Ed takes what she said seriously. Perhaps Ed thought that belonging was the "something good" that Faye had promised her.
Jet musses, "A woman's heart is as fickle as the skies of Ganymede." In fact, Faye is going to discover her old self. It is something she must do now that she has her memories back. When she gets to her old home, it is gone. She traces an outline in the dirt of where her bed used to be. She realizes her place of belonging is gone and nothing of it remains but her newly found memories.
Ed hacks the Bebop computer to display a bigger bounty on Appledairy so Spike and Jet go after him. While Spike is in the middle of fighting, Ed drives the Bebop up to him. "Françoise!" cries Appledairy. Appledairy asks Ed if she wants to come with him, but then another meteor strikes and he takes off before she can answer.
Back on the Bebop, Ed gives Spike the pinwheel she got from the orphanage. She leaves, in search of the place that she belongs. She realized she does not belong with her father, or with the Bebop crew, but somewhere else. She has to go in search of that place, no matter what, because she knows when she finds it, it will be "something good." Ein leaves with her. Of course, one day Ed might come back to visit the Bebop, just how she visited the orphanage after a few years. She does act like a stray cat.
Jet cooks the eggs they got from Appledairy and tells Spike that food is ready. He sees Spike smoking, staring out the window where Ed wrote "bye bye." Jet and Spike then pig out on the eggs. They are sad that Ed is gone but don't know how to deal with it, so they binge.
Comment by DonO on 8:33 pm 12 Feb 2009:
I just finished Cowboy Bebop and it has thrown me into a loop. What is the symbolism behind the pin wheel that ed gave Spike? Spike was the only one who received a present before she split. Did she feel that Spike needed one to remind him? Is it the wind spinning the wheel that represents the end and beginning of a cycle? Is it the wheel dancing in the wind? The simplest of pleasures that Spike has been missing and Ed revels in. Also, when Ed and Ein decide to set out together, they head in the direction of a falling meteor. Ed's dad was mapping the new formations formed by the falling meteors. If she follows the meteors, Ed knows she'll find her father.