The Target’s Second Son
Episode 7 of Spy X Family begins with Loid giving the audience a brief overview of his overarching mission regarding Donovan Desmond while making breakfast. However, he’s stressed about the situation since Anya’s already thrown a wrench into his “friendship scheme.” This is because Anya’s earned one demerit to her school record and has formed a terrible first impression on Donovan’s son Desmond. During breakfast, Anya apologizes to Loid for fighting with another student, but Loid reassures her and himself that it’s best to move forward. Before Anya departs for school via the bus, Loid tells her that she must apologize to Damian for punching him. She promises him that she will, and the bus leaves. When Anya arrives, she notices Becky coming out of a fancy vehicle. Anya approaches Becky, and the two ask questions to get to know one another. Their encounter with Damian and his friends at such an early hour does not please them. Becky grabs Anya before she can apologize and tells her to ignore Damian and his friends. During this time, Loid is on the roof spying on Anya to make sure she apologizes to Damian. He also worries about Becky’s involvement, but ultimately tosses those worries aside. We transition to Anya and Becky in math class while the other students gossip about Anya and the brute strength she displayed. Clearly, their friendship is blossoming, as Becky tells Anya not to pay attention to what the other students say. We then pan over to Damian, who reintroduces himself through an inner monologue. In his head, he recalls how he was a privileged boy who was never hit or humiliated until he encountered Anya. He briefly stares at Anya but stops when she looks back at him. Becky wakes Anya up by the end of Math Class after she dozed off during class. Anya slightly references her father’s plan, but Becky relates it to school. Becky tells her that she’ll have her back, and that it will be fine, and Anya agrees. While disguised as a janitor, Loid responds, “No, it won’t be fine,” and this alerts Anya. In retaliation, Loid inserts “sorry” messages into Anya’s workbooks, several bushes, and other places to remind her of what she needs to do. Although it’s in good faith, this adds more pressure on Anya. It isn’t until she sees the message on her omelette at lunch, that she decides it’s the right time to tell Damian. Becky tells her she doesn’t have to, which infuriates Loid resulting in him faking an announcement to get Becky far away from Anya. Becky leaves, giving Anya a chance to approach Damian and his friends. Although Damian’s friends try to belittle Anya, Damian decides to face her alone. However, he runs into a minor dilemma. Damian discovers that he has some hidden feelings for Anya, but doesn’t know why. Anya reads his friends’ rude remarks about her body, social status, and other things. This causes Anya to cry as she’s trying to apologize to Damian. While Anya apologizes, Damian’s feelings for Anya skyrocket as he starts to admire her modesty, causing his face to turn bright red. He tries to deny the apology his own way, but when Anya’s eyes start perking up, he becomes overwhelmed by her looks and rushes out of the room. Everyone’s left confused about the whole matter. We transition to the Forger household, where Loid is helping Anya with her math homework. Flustered over Anya’s failure, Loid tells Anya that she must finish her work, or he won’t let her watch her favorite spy cartoon. Anya stresses over the scenario and has a difficult time concentrating as she’s reading Loid’s mind as he’s trying to help her finish her work. She tries to read Yor’s mind, but Yor’s assassin-like mindset scares Anya, causing her to stumble on the floor. She tries to pick herself back up, but she overhears a rude remark from Loid in his head, leading her to rush to her room. Loid and Yor have a small chat about Anya, where Yor tells Loid that Anya needs to enjoy school and love learning. This convinces Loid that he’s been overworking Anya too hard, resulting in him calling for a break. Loid tries to get Anya out, but she doesn’t come out. Yor tells Loid that Anya’s sulking. The two decide to chat about Yor’s brother Yuri as it relates to the situation. We learn that Yuri was intelligent and loved learning and being praised by Yor. This gives Loid the idea that he needs to praise Anya for her efforts, big or small, in hopes of getting her to develop self-motivation. He also learns that he needs to work on becoming an ideal father for Anya, and thanks Yor for helping him come to those conclusions. He asks Yor to help with Anya’s studies, Yor accepts but tells Loid that they need to take their time. Loid agrees and ponders how important patience is to his overarching mission. He decides to check on Anya, only to discover her sleeping after undergoing an intense homework session. Loid places her in bed and asks himself what it’s like to have a real family. After the ending theme sequence concludes, we get a first look at Yuri’s character, all grown up compared to his little incarnation in Yor’s flashback. He runs into Dominic, who tells him how the party went with Yor. Yuri’s left speechless when he finds out that Yor ended up marrying the boyfriend she told him about over the phone in the second episode.
The Episode Review
This episode of Spy x Family hammers down on the troubles behind living up to one’s expectations and exceeding them. Although Anya only needs to apologize for her actions, Loid’s urgency to complete his mission adds more pressure to an already simple task. Although it provided some humorous bits, Loid’s many attempts to get Anya to apologize were somewhat overwhelming. Otherwise, I feel the lessons learned in this episode were spot-on and par for the course. We see Loid struggle with maintaining his fake fatherly persona and wanting to improve. We see Anya struggle in school via classwork and establishing brighter relationships with herself outside of Becky. It’ll take her a while to rekindle some goodwill with her other classmates. I’m excited to see what she’ll do to gain Damian and the other’s friendship. Yor continues to be the series’ star in my eyes regarding her motherly personality and kind-hearted nature. However, I’m curious when the series will challenge her, as she’s having the easiest time fitting into her fake role. It also feels like her assassin lifestyle has vanished completely, which is a bummer. In future episodes, Yor should be embraced with some struggle, but for now, it’s always a delight to see her help others. Nevertheless, a great episode with impactful life lessons.
