An Unwavering Trajectory
Episode 23 of Spy X Family continues where we left off in episode 22. Loid and Fiona battle the Campbell children during the Campbelldon underground tennis tournament. The Campbell children are infuriated with Loid and Fiona’s skill level. Loid compliments Fiona’s tennis skills as she smiles. Fiona wants to force a prolonged tiebreaker to spend more time with Loid. However, she knows this would make Loid upset with her. Mr. Campbell is furious by his children’s performance. His son orders one of his men to shoot Fiona. Loid picks up on his son’s signal to the person and pounces on Fiona to avoid her getting hurt. Loid informs Fiona that the Campbells hired a man in the air ducts to shoot her. Loid shows her the person’s painted bullet that struck him. However, he has a bulletproof vest underneath his attire to protect himself. Fiona’s impressed at Loid’s preparation, while Campbell’s son’s surprised he’s unharmed. Fiona suggests filing a complaint, but Loid says it’d be in their best interest to continue playing. Loid argues the bullets the man fired have low velocity, so shifting their stances and dodging will help them. He urges Fiona to read their signals. Loid and Fiona continue the match and dodge the air duct shooters’ bullets gracefully. Loid notices the ball boy’s in cahoots with the air duct shooters as the boy tries shooting a bullet at Loid. Fortunately, Loid counters his attack. Despite this inconvenience, Loid remains confident. To Mr. Campbell’s displeasure, Loid and Fiona win the tournament. Campbell’s son approaches Loid and shares his grief for losing. Loid gives him some encouraging advice, which moves Campbell’s son and himself. One of Mr. Campbell’s men whispers something into his ear as Loid and Fiona ask for the Lady In The Sun painting as their prize. Mr. Campbell says they cannot have that painting but offers to swap it with something else. Fiona whispers to Loid that the State Security Service possibly informed Mr. Campbell of Fiona and Loid’s true identities. Mr. Campbell escorts Fiona to another room filled to choose another prize. Fiona explains that Loid had to leave for a moment because of his hangover. Fiona checks her bag and overhears Mr. Campbell discussing that someone is coming in ten minutes to retrieve the Lady In The Sun painting. Fiona and Loid (disguised as one of Mr. Campbell’s men) head to their vehicle. Loid removes his disguise and asks Fiona what she chose. Fiona reveals she chose a strange pot and some awful-looking rings. In the car, Loid reveals that he stole the Lady In The Sun painting. He pulled it off because Fiona had a fake copy of it in her bag, and she left it in the room for Loid (under disguise) to successfully swap it. Fiona wonders has a hunch the code written on the State Security’s copy will have them embarking on a tedious search quest. Loid plans to send the painting to the Analysts at HQ immediately. Loid asks Fiona to drop him off near a corner. He doesn’t want his neighbors to conjure the wrong idea about his connection with Fiona. In her mind, Fiona wishes she was Loid’s pretend wife and not Yor. She drops him off at the park, where Anya, Yor, and Bond are playing together. Fiona exits her car after noticing Yor and approaches her, to Loid’s dismay. Loid and Yor greet each other and discuss their different experiences for today. In her mind, Fiona argues that she would have helped Loid become a more efficient Tennis player faster than Yor. Fiona challenges Yor to a one-on-one tennis match. Fiona tells Loid in coded dialogue that she wants to see if Yor’s athletic enough to assist in Operation Strix. Yor’s confused about the scenario but wants to accept Fiona’s challenge. Meanwhile, Anya ponders how her life would be if Fiona became her mother instead of Yor. Before they begin, Fiona asks Yor to come at her with her best performance. Yor throws the ball into the air and swings. It falls to the ground, encouraging Fiona to find Yor inadequate. Seconds later, the ball shatters into bite-sized pieces. Anya sends Bond to give Yor another ball. Yor promises herself not to use too much strength to hit the ball. Yor apologizes to Fiona, who cannot believe what happened to the ball. Yor serves the ball, and Fiona’s bewildered by its intense speed and power. Fiona plans to use her love for Loid as energy to send the ball back to Yor. However, her efforts are thwarted when her racket breaks from the ball’s intense speed. Yor rushes toward Fiona and asks if she’s okay. Fiona tells Yor she admits defeat but asks for a revenge match sometime in the future. Fiona gets into her vehicle and departs, swearing she’ll get the last laugh. At the park, Loid tells Yor not to worry about Fiona’s feelings. The Forger family head home to rest for the day. In the morning, Loid meets Handler, who tells him the analyst found what they were looking for with the Lady In The Sun. Loid asks Handler about Fiona’s whereabouts. Handler says Fiona went to the mountains to practice her swinging speed. Handler hands Loid Zacharis’s diary that they uncovered from the location they discovered using Lady In The Sun’s code. Zacharis hid a stash of photos from young theatre actresses, upsetting Loid. We received intel that Zacharis’s wife disapproved of his hobbies and wanted him to throw every photo away. He couldn’t let go of his rare photographs, so he hid them inside the diary and put the book in his depository. He also kept his continuous visits to the theatre a secret from her. Loid gives Handler the diary back and notices a photo sticking out. The photo has Zacharis and his family on it. Zacharis had taken his secrets to his grave, according to one of Handler’s men. Loid’s thankful this didn’t lead to anything too troublesome. At the Forger household, we witness Yor looking out in the distance with a cold stare as Anya plays with Bond. The episode concludes with Fiona humorously training in the mountains.
The Episode Review
Spy X Family gives fans an exhilarating and hilarious spectacle this week with episode twenty-three. Many of Yor’s fans will be thrilled to see her put Fiona in her place. Fiona now understands Yor’s dormant strength, and the rivalry between the two characters could lead to more hilarious antics. Although I wasn’t pleased with Fiona’s characterization at first glance, she’s starting to grow on me. At the same time, I’m hoping the series gradually shows her progressing out of her romantic shell. As stated in other reviews, this is a route I’d like Yuri to adopt and traverse too. Fans will love seeing both characters move forward with their lives instead of lingering over Yor and Loid’s shoulders. I’m excited to see what other hilarious mischief Fiona will wind up in later in the series. This episode’s animation was another aspect worth noting. Wit Studios and Cloverworks gave fans something immaculate with Fiona and Loid versus the Campbell children. The match was intense as Loid and Fiona’s movements carried power and elegance. It looked stunning in motion. The same can be said about Yor’s tennis match with Fiona. These exaggerated actions are one of Spy x Family’s most enjoyable aspects. Overall, this was a fun chapter. It had rough patches, and the Zacharis reveal felt too comical for my taste. However, it presented viewers with charming and adrenaline-pumping visuals and match-ups to keep them invested. Hopefully, the next episode can deliver equal momentum and give us something that can push the story forward.
