Now that we’re past the dog arc, we return to the mundane chaos this family often finds themselves in. When Yor walks in with cuts all over her hands, I think the initial expectation is that she’s taking on a very dangerous assassination job. Made even worse with the way too over the top dramatic music playing along with her statement of possibly losing Loid and Anya… Only for it to be about Yor trying to learn how to cook.
It’s episodes like this where I just feel like this works so much better in manga form. Like sure, it’s always nice to see the characters animated and voiced, but it always makes the pacing of a series feel like it stops and goes. Especially when they throw the short chapters into the series. It just feels like it doesn’t quite work to me. Especially since I feel like Spy x Family feels like it’s produced in a way for a more action-based series rather than a comedy one. Which is probably why these episodes tend not to work for me all that much and why I feel like the Dog Arc worked way better in this format than other episodes.
In any case, while this episode felt really slow, we do still get a lot of insight and perspective on Yor. It’s funny how the fact that she believed she was the one who sent Loid to the bathroom for the majority of the day was what brought on this newfound determination to be a better wife and mother to the forgers. But it’s also sad because she still is in the mindset that she needs to earn her place in the family. I’m actually surprised that ended up going to Camilla of all people to learn how to cook. Though it was mostly her boyfriend who offered Camilla’s help in the first place. To which I’m actually surprised that Camilla even decided to help her considering their terrible relationship. Especially with what happened at the party in the episode where Yor debuted. Though it was most likely because of her boyfriend. Who can I just say is just way too good for her? He’s so nice and is able to pick up on Camilla’s insecurities and reassure her.
Yuri makes another appearance and while he’s extremely weird, especially when it comes to his sister, I still enjoy seeing him since he does bring in a fun dash of comedy. Of course they’d bring Yuri in to be the taste tester since I’m sure they’d have their fair share of stomachaches after trying Yor’s food a few times. Though whether it was a smart decision to leave the taste testing up to Yuri is… debatable. Especially since he grew up on Yor’s terrible cooking so it wouldn’t be surprising that his taste buds were destroyed. I remember laughing really hard when he’s just eating and barfing at the same time in the manga. And I do admit just seeing it in animation got a few chuckles out of me. Though nothing can beat that cut from Dominic and Camilla eating Yor’s cooking to on the floor.
It’s very odd to me that Yor just was not getting the cooking despite Camilla’s teachings. Though we didn’t really see how Camilla was teaching her the first couple times and maybe wasn’t being the best teacher at the start. Though I admit that it was very sweet that she kept helping Yor try to cook despite getting fed up on multiple occasions. Not to mention when they were making the stew Yor’s mom made when she was still alive, Camilla figured out what was missing and used her own ingredients to get it to how they remembered it. Despite their terrible start, I do hope that they can be on more friendly terms if not friends. Though it was interesting to note how Camilla felt like Yor was just robotic when she first met her as Yor most likely would just do as she was told and didn’t know how to socialize. It’s kind of sad thinking about it as she wasn’t able to really socialize with others outside of her family until meeting Loid and Anya. And I think it shows that being part of the Forger family has changed her in a positive way.
Though I think the biggest change was how Yor’s perspective started shifting from just seeing the Forgers as a cover to keep her from suspicion to actually viewing them as family. At the start it did seem like a very surface-level care towards them but it she has grown attached to them enough where seeing them smile over a meal she cooked gave her so much happiness. And that’s incredibly heartwarming, especially when she starts crying out of pure happiness. This family has become so real to her that she wants to be able to do more for them not for the sake of hiding her assassination job, but because their happiness makes her happy. It’s goes along with how she went from being a “robot” as Camilla put it to someone who is showing much more emotions because she’s not someone who is just going through the motions to see normal anymore.
…Even though it ended with her sending said family to heaven with the dessert she made. Seems like she can follow instructions if they are put in a way she can understand and is able to replicate… she just just can’t experiment properly lol.
The last part of the episode comes from an extra chapter in the manga that honestly, I didn’t really pay that close attention to because Franky’s love live isn’t particularly interesting. Especially since it’s hypocritical of him to pursue a relationship despite him being the one to warn Loid about not making any close connections to other people. Anyways, he’s trying to whoo this girl he finds attractive and enlisted the help of Twilight. And while Twilight has enlisted his help on several occasions, it was mostly for work purposes, not explicitly personal reasons. And when Twilight refused initially, Franky tries and blackmail him into it by threatening to sell his information to the Secret Police. Which… Bruh, YOU CAN’T EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT. The look on Twilight’s face just screamed he would END him if he went through with that threat. As much as the two work together, Twilight was not about to risk his cover being compromised.
I’m not going to go that much into Twilight trying to help Franky in wooing this girl, since it doesn’t go anywhere in the end. Though it was pretty hilarious how Anya teared up for his rejection lol. What was interesting to me was despite the two seemingly having a professional relationship, you can tell that Loid and Franky are the closest things they have to friends, even if they deny it. Strictly business partners don’t go out drinking together to cheer one of them up. That’s more akin to friends. And while they keep claiming that having deeper relationships with others would jeopardize their positions, it feels like the two have already developed a deeper bond with each other. I’m not sure if this friendship would end up putting them at risk in the future, but I feel like it’s something to keep in mind. Though I’m sure if one of them were to get captured or anything, the other would let the other go to protect themselves… or they would prove me wrong by going the distance to save the other.
Though I will say it was hilarious to see Twilight dress up as the girl to try and prep Franky to ask her out.
For the most part a very chill episode with some introspective on some of the characters. I definitely enjoyed the first half of the episode more than the second half. Though it’s probably because Yor is just a more interesting character overall with her internal struggles. Next episode looks like we’re going back to school with Anya so I’m sure there will be more laughs in that one due to Anya’s shenanigans.
