Jet and Faye:
The Old Married Couple that aren't Married or a Couple

An essay by Karen

Ah Faye... the woman to whom Jet refers to as "walking trouble", "the woman", "babe", "that minx", and my personal favorite, "that wench".

When Faye decides to stay on the Bebop (CB # 4), Jet acts as though she were some plague forced upon him and it's only a foolish sense of chivalry that keeps him from tossing her out into deep space, as he often threatens to do. However, it's obvious that if Jet REALLY didn't want her on the ship, he could easily toss her out, either by literally kicking her out or simply not feeding her:). However, it's clear that there are definite advantages to having Faye around. First of all, Faye is a good pilot with a ship more heavily armored than both Jet's Hammerhead and Spike's Swordfish, and is a good marksman as well, two skills that are very useful in the space-bounty hunter profession.

In addition, even though it's never explicitly stated in the series, it's always good to have a member of the opposite sex as a partner, in case they ever need to apprehend a bounty head in the ladies room or nail salon:).

However, instead of telling Faye that she's a good addition to the crew, Jet prefers to act aloof and let her do what she likes, and if what she likes involves partnering up with Jet, then so be it. Still for about half the series he treats her as sort of a sub-partner, letting her do the dirty work but rarely listening to her opinion on anything, probably due to the streak of chauvinism he has. To his credit, by the end of the series he regards her as a full partner... with conditions of course.

In the beginning, his relationship with Faye is one of convenience as well, since their personalities clash violently-Faye thinks with the mind of a con-artist, and Jet thinks as a police officer. This leads to many conflicts as to whether to do things 'by the book' or to stretch the rules of fair play so that they can make more money. In time though, their squabbles take on the character of an old married couple who know each other's vices rather than any genuine animosity between them.

Part of this growing closer is due to the fact that Jet is the first on the Bebop to see through Faye's facade, and that her Femme-Fatale act is really just a self-defense mechanism. While he never confronts her about this directly, he will talk about it when she's not around to hear. In CB #15, Jet comments to Spike "Are you really fooled by her because she acts all tough?" Later, he tries to figure out what prompts Faye to do, and not to do, what she does (CB #18). Towards the very end of the series, he is baffled by her, never sure if he's going to get a reprimand from the hustler who can take care of herself, or the lonely young girl who doesn't understand why nobody seems to care about her.

Whatever form their relationship took, by the end of the series the two have become close friends.