Spy×Family

Episode 19

Anya's part of the episode may have been longer, but we can't discount Yor's. Not only do I relate really, really hard to her attempting to be efficient and having it bite her in the ass, but I just love watching her move. The scene where she catches the falling flowerpot is exquisite, and her turn as a school legend puts Hanako-kun to shame. And she even gets to reunite with Kiss Cow! It's short, but the whole thing is a show-stealer while also reminding us that Loid is the only one having trouble recognizing that the Forger Family is something worth fighting for. He'll get there, I'm sure, and his realization that Yor isn't somehow secretly out to get him or suspicious of him is perhaps a larger hurdle cleared than even he understands.

But really, the bulk of this episode belongs to George. That would be George Glooman, the lad with the unfortunately shaped head and what's either a monobrow or no eyebrows. George overhears his father discussing business and immediately leaps to the wrong conclusion: that the Desmond family conglomerate is forcing them into bankruptcy, which will naturally result in George being booted unceremoniously out of Eden College. George immediately begins taking out his fear and anger on Damian, with the result that a very shaken young Desmond ends up rallying the class to make George's purported last day at Eden perfect.

The major strength of this storyline, apart from Anya making it clear that she knows they're all overreacting, is that it so perfectly captures the way that kids interact with information that they don't fully understand. It's like how I thought that the “race for president” was an actual footrace the first time I heard about it when I was little – that was the only kind of race I knew, so obviously each candidate had to start from their home state and whoever got to the White House first got to be president. When George hears his father worrying about how to tell him something in conjunction with the name “Desmond,” he puts together what he knows about both things and immediately seizes on the thought that Desmond must be doing something bad that his dad is afraid of. Since the worst thing he can come up with is being forced out of life as he knows it, that's what he takes and starts running. It makes perfect sense if you're six, as seen by the fact that nearly all of his classmates buy right in.

It's hard to decide who causes the most secondhand embarrassment from the whole George fiasco – George having to show up at school after making everyone jump through hoops for a terrible eventuality that never materialized, or Damian doing that dance when Becky starts singing. (Or me, immediately expecting the kids to start singing the school song from Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun.) It's really sweet that everyone tries so hard to help George feel better, and it certainly shows that Becky isn't just a great friend to Anya, she's a good friend in general. The whole thing is cheesy in the best way, although it is a major plus that Anya is out of sync with the rest of the class because otherwise it would give you cavities. And that special bonus where Damian thinks Anya is defending him because she like-likes him and we discover at least one teacher is afraid of her just feels like garnish on an overall good episode.

But if you're in this waiting for more spy antics, don't fret – we'll be getting back to that plotline next week, and we're coming up on one of my favorite spy storylines from the manga pretty soon.

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Spy×Family is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.