Spy X Family – 4 [The Prestigious School’s Interview]

This is it everyone. This is, for me, the perfect episode of SpyXFamily. It had everything. Layered jokes, wholesome family moments, good animation. There was even a one-off episode “villain” to watch be defeated. My opening review is: I loved it. Now lets talk about why.

Last week I said I didn’t enjoy episode 3, for what I thought were pretty good reasons. The jokes were simple and flat, the episodes plot was largely toothless and the only engaging bit was the wholesome family moments. Well I am pleased to announce that, as expected, SpyXFamily fixes all of those in episode 4. First and foremost among those being: The jokes. The best way I can put it is that if last weeks jokes were bland, one-off, ham & cheese sandwich’s this weeks were multi-layered, multi-meat subs. Even when repeated there was enough going on that you found different flavors, different things to enjoy, each time they came up. Have I confused you with my weird sandwich metaphor? You blame the dinner I’m eating as I write this then. To help illustrate what I’m talking about though, lets break down one of the jokes after the break.

Let’s take a look at a joke that happens around 5 minutes into the episode. A small child has fallen into a grate, dirtying himself and anyone who comes to help him. This is obviously a trap! The expected way to deal with this would be some super-spy move to get him out without getting dirty right? Instead *SpyXFamily subverts that, stepping right into the shit and ripping him out. We expected a joke and got a wholesome rescue instead. And yet… all of this was setup to establish the replacement clothes gag. Surprising not only us, but the Housemaster and his over the top reaction. This is then built on even more by thanking the kid, getting another reaction from him and establishing an adversarial throughline for the entire rest of the episode: Loid vs The Housemaster.

It doesn’t stop there though! As these two continue their unknown competition, the animals escape! This is setup as another test only to subvert that and get a reaction out of the Housemaster. You would expect this to lead to the Housemaster’s grudging respect for the Forgers, and it does. But SpyXFamily one-ups itself by, wouldn’t you guess it, doing the clothes gag again. With even the Housemaster being freaked out by this. On the surface this is no more than a repeating gag, like Yor’s affection for knives in episode 3. But where that was the same joke 3 times, this is the same joke with 3 separate punchlines. The punchline for each one occurring at a different point in the joke (Elegance, new clothes, absurdity). And the episode is filled with these kind of layers! That’s why they work so much better than last week’s fair.

This brings me to the second half of the episode, the wholesome heart of the series. My favorite part of episode 3 were the times we truly saw the “Forgers” as a family. Those cute moments at the photographer’s, or the old woman. Those kind of moments make up the entirely of the second half of this episode during the interview! Sincere, honest answers about each other and their feelings. The hidden heart that lies beneath the mission for Loid, Yor growing attached the first people outside her brother to really spend time and care for her. SpyXFamily even managed to slip in some more layered comedy with Anya’s telepathy for her answers, Loid’s debunking and the Housemasters own reaction. It wasn’t as complex as the first half but it brought some levity to a wholesome scene and primed us for Mr. Swan’s outburst.

Out of the entire episode though, the ending had to be my favorite part. Here we get to see everyone’s true feelings on the matter. How much Loid truly does care for this family, the kind of thing he could never have as a Spy. Anya’s sincere love for her lost parents and her desperation to keep what she has now. Perhaps what I liked most of all though was what this did for the Housemaster. Up until now he has been viewed as a bit of an Antagonist, an obstacle to be overcome. But here we get to see that he has his own morals, his own ideals, that he is willing to uphold. The Forger’s met, and even exceeded, all of his expectations. And in return they were insulted, as was the school he cares so deeply for. The only thing he could do was defend them.

I liked that.

The question now is: What is to come? I have an idea, a fair amount of school hijinks involving the Housemaster and other students. I expect the jokes in this environment to be about as layered and amusing as they were this episode to. The structure of the school, along with the mission and Housemaster’s eccentricities, lend itself well to that kind of comedy. Suffice to say that I’m really hopeful for what is to come.

And as for this episode? Well I already said it above: I loved it. This was the best episode of SpyXFamily yet. There was a perfect balance of comedy, family wholesomeness and plot progression. If every episode could be as well balanced as this, SpyXFamily would be one of the easiest 9 out of 10’s I have ever given (10 out of 10’s being reserved for my top 10). But what about you dear readers? Was this episode better for you, like it was me? Or was last episode more your speed? Let me know down below and I’ll see you next week!