Spy×Family

Episode 23

Is there anything worse than going through a whole big ordeal and realizing at the end that it was all for nothing? As of this past Wednesday, I can answer, “Yes, breaking your wrist and getting three pins in your arm,” but in terms of what Twilight and Nightfall go through in the underground tennis tournament, their response may very well be "no". As you may recall, the entire point of joining Campbelldon was to win it in order to easily secure a valuable painting with encoded information somewhere on it; the painting was in the hands of a less-than-scrupulous wealthy man. In order to win the game, Twilight and Nightfall did defeat some truly bizarre opponents, and in the final round against Campbell's own children, it doesn't feel like an exaggeration to say that their very lives were at risk. (Or they would have been, had they been anyone else.) Yet at the end, after not only defeating cheating players, a rigged court, and multiple snipers, but also outwitting the secret police who were also after the painting, it turns out that the secret information was actually just an old military man's obsession with mid-20th century idols. If that's not a slap in the face, I'm not sure what is.

It is not, however, without its meaning in the greater scheme of things. While Loid may be disappointed to discover that the reignition of a war refers to a fight between a husband and wife rather than the resumption of military hostilities, we can see that the story is working with something of an extended metaphor here. Fiona's entry on the scene and her determination to unseat Yor as Loid's wife isn't an exact match for an old guy creepily collecting photos of young women much to his wife's dismay, but it certainly causes some marital strife, or it would in a more traditionally formatted relationship. Both cases could be seen as allowing the wife to doubt her husband's feelings for her. Yor may not fully understand what Fiona's deal is, but she is more than aware that there is some sort of competitive edge to her every word and deed, and when that is paired with Yor's own insecurities about her domestic abilities (remember this takes place in a version of the mid-20th century, when women were expected to be domestic above all else), it's really not hard to make her question her role. It also probably doesn't help that Anya is fully aware of what's going on in Fiona's head and is reacting accordingly; Yor and Loid may not actually know what's going on, but they can tell that their daughter is upset.

This all comes to a head right around the time when Loid discovers the truth about the supposed state secret in the painting. Also in the old military man's diary is a snapshot of him with his wife and daughter, and that really gives Loid pause. Why this is he does not say outright, but there are a few ways that we can interpret it. It's certainly likely that Loid has seen many more dysfunctional relationships than functional ones in his career, and so to see tangible proof that despite his obsession with young women the old man really did love his family is both jarring and surprising for Loid. It also shifts his perception of the situation from some sort of marriage-ending squabble to what was probably an annoyance in husband and wife's relationship but not necessarily a deal breaker. It's also a reminder that families are perhaps more universal than he was really aware of before Operation Strix commenced, and it just may jiggle a little something in his brain that lets him know that Yor, Anya, and Bond mean a lot more to him than he is willing to admit. We can see this in his little stop by the bakery on his way home: he buys both apple and nut pastries, and if you recall, Yor loves apples and Anya loves nuts.

The Campbelldon story arc has proven to be an interesting blend of humor and spycraft, with a little bit of the all-important family angle thrown in as well. Fiona/Nightfall is still an incredibly annoying character, and I think we can all agree that she under no circumstances gets Loid, but her attempts to oust Yor may have done a little more for Loid's subconscious understanding of his family's importance to him than it at first appears. Yor's still clearly reeling from Fiona, and we'll see how her insecurities play out next week.

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