It’s time to go over the busjacking incident in Spy x Family‘ Season 3’s exciting third season. This mini-arc spans from episode 43 to 45. In other words, it covers season 3 episodes 6 through 8. The busjacking incident had some thrilling, funny, and emotional moments. It was a great mini-arc, in my opinion. It seemed to promote the central theme of compassion and keeping an open mind rather than living based on hate and black-and-white thinking. This is a message we all need, I think – myself included.
- Episode 43: White Jealousy | The Eden College Busjacking Incident
- Episode 44: The Red Circus
- Episode 45: Take Down The Busjacker
Episode 43: White Jealousy |
The Eden College Busjacking Incident
Episode Rating: 7/10
Before we get to the busjacking, which starts at the end of this episode, we first have to talk about Loid’s misadventure with the directing doctor at his practice – Gerald Gorey, a complete scumbag with no self-awareness. He couldn’t stand that Loid was so popular at his practice after being there only a year. He hated Loid, which was a problem because Loid needed him to provide clients connected to politicians and VIPs. One after another, Loid dealt with Gerald’s attempts to sabotage him, from making him late to a meeting to giving him coffee spiked with laxatives.
Nothing satisfied Gerald because no matter what he did to Loid, the others in the office still saw Loid as the better person and gave him no grief. Gerald then started a plot to have Loid arrested for being a spy. Of course, he had no idea Loid was a real spy, and planted fake evidence to incriminate him. The night after Gerald made a report over the phone, two members of the secret police showed up. Or that is who it seemed to be. In reality, the two “men” were Franky and Fiona in disguise.
Loid outsmarted Gerald by planning this entire thing and playing along in a certain way. Though the men initially put Loid in cuffs, they listened while he questioned the fake evidence. The tables turned as it became apparent that Gerald had conspired against Loid. Rather than let the “secret police” drag Gerald away, Loid gave a ridiculous fake speech in defense of the director. He even offered to take the fall for Gerald. Acting moved by the speech, the “secret police” let both Loid and Gerald go free. The play-acting worked and Gerald finally no longer hated Loid, but felt indebted to him.
Now that he would be getting VIP patients from Gerald Gorey’s office, Loid was making major headway in Plan C of getting close to the Desmond family. Anya overheard this and decided to do her best with Damian. Much to Becky’s surprise, Anya confronted Damian the next day and demanded cakes. But by reading Damian’s mind, she quickly realized she should ask for more. She demanded that Damian invite she and her family to his house. While Damian blushed, his two cronies loudly objected on the grounds of Anya being a commoner. Meanwhile, Becky’s reaction was to warn Anya not to do things that would make her look like “some kind of hussy.”
Becky’s character is so frustrating to me. Her lines are not funny or cute, but sad and sometimes mildly disturbing. It’s not humorous that a six-year-old child is so indoctrinated into a culture of age-inappropriate sexuality. Many of the side characters in this series are annoying. I’m not a big fan of Fiona either, and Yuri is repulsive. People who say this series is 100% wholesome all the time are incorrect, as there are all sorts of issues that irritate me at times. No anime is perfect, though. I still love Spy x Family for the three main characters and the wacky adventure plots.
Before long, there was a school trip to a musuem. On the school bus, Damian complained about having to share with people who weren’t in his class. Anya and Becky were in nearby seats, having snacks. Naturally, Anya brought nothing but peanuts (two flavors!) and a little piece of Bond’s kibble. As the children interacted, the bus driver turned off the prescribed route and pulled over. Two strange figures boarded and when the supervisor – a round and balding older man – tried to stop them, they knocked him out with some kind of electric stungun or taser. Thus began the busjacking incident.
The perpetrator of the incident, the tall man in the beanie hat, is named Billy Squire. He is the leader of the remnants of an extremist group called the Red Circus. He seems utterly ruthless. He shot out the tire of the security car following the school buses. In addition to ruthlessness, Billy has heavy weaponry and two accomplices. What does he plan to do from here and will all the children be alright? To be continued.
Episode 44: The Red Circus
Episode Rating: 7/10
Eden College became aware of the two busjackings and reported them to the police while trying to stay calm and not to cause trouble for the school as a whole. Parents were not told the truth yet, so Yor had no idea what was happening. Loid was out of town for another spy deal of some kind and could not return immediately. So, sending Twilight was not possible. Still, Handler and the people at WISE were trying to do everything they could to save Anya and Damian. Meanwhile, the kids on the school bus were all terribly frightened of the Red Circus faction leader now holding them hostage.
Bill Watkins spoke up to encourage the other children, reminding them their fathers were important people who could pull strings to rescue them. Billy pointed a gun at the boy and told him to shut up, to which the kid quickly acquiesced. Undaunted, Anya tried to use her power to help the situation. She overheard the driver – Vadim – thinking about the route and location. Then Anya and Becky wrote a note for help, put it in a tin can with Becky’s student ID, and threw it out the window. In order to create a distraction for them, Damian stepped up to the plate, going to the front of the bus to complain.
While Damian was getting yelled at, Anya threw the tin can out of the bus, alerting people outside to their plight. Sensing that the kids were growing emboldened, Billy grabbed Anya and put what appeared to be a bomb around her neck. If she or anyone else tried anything funny again, Billy said, the bomb would blow Anya’s head off. Though Anya was terrified at first, she relaxed immediately after hearing Billy think about the fact that the bomb was a fake. Everyone else in the bus, however, was still terrified.
Damian bravely tried to take Anya’s place, demanding that the bomb be put on him. Billy responded by putting a second fake bomb around Damian’s neck. But as far as Damian knew, it was a real bomb, and he was terrified of dying if anything went slightly wrong. There was a very cute moment where Anya held Damian’s hand and told him it was alright and not to be scared. Damian pulled away blushing, but thanks to Anya’s intervention, he was okay again. Shortly after this, the bus ran over a spike trap and several tires popped. In seconds, the bus was surrounded by police.
(Side Note: This episode had some cool and humorous moments with Martha and Becky’s father, the leader of the Blackbell family. Mr. Blackbell was funny, and Martha is a great character. She’s strong, rational, and no-nonsense, but she’s also deeply protective of others. I admire those traits, and it’s rare to see an anime character who is a woman with those traits. Martha is very cool indeed.)
Billy made his demands to the police while holding Damian up for everyone to see. His demands were 1) to release all imprisoned members of the Red Circus, and 2) to be guaranteed a safe flight out of the Ostania so he can seek asylum in the country of Nortica. The police officer who heard the demands was willing to negotiate to save the kids. I don’t usually like cop characters, but this one clearly cared about the lives at stake. Unfortunately, the SSS showed up and was trying to order around the police officer. The SSS officer was clearly bad news for the situation.
Meanwhile, Handler got information from her informants about the location of the second school bus. She leaked the info the police, and the SSS heard of it in no time. Yuri heard the news and begged to be sent to that area to help secure the bus. I don’t care for Yuri, but it’s nice that he is looking out for his niece, even if it’s for the wrong reasons. I suppose I’m grateful to him this time. That’s all for episode 44.
Episode 45: Take Down The Busjacker
Episode Rating: 8/10
Martha and Mr. Blackbell arrived at the scene where the bus was surrounded by police. Henry Henderson was also there, since his class was the one on the bus. They negotiated to send some Blackbell rations and water to the kids. Henry volunteered to take the food and drink to the bus. Martha was wrong when she said Henry couldn’t do anything. His presence soothed the kids on the bus considerably. In addition, he traded places with Mr. Austin, the supervisor who had been knocked unconscious. The weakened man needed to go to the hospital, so Henry took his place as the new adult hostage.
At one point, Henry asked if Billy had children, which led him to reveal his tragic backstory and his motivation for doing all this. Billy Squire had one daughter – Bridget, or Biddy for short – who was murdered by the government of Ostania. Biddy was a bright and compassionate young woman attending university. She joined a student activist group called the Red Circus. Despite her father’s warnings, Bridget believed strongly in the ideology of the group, which was standing up to the inequality and authoritarianism of the country. Bridget said she was even willing to die for the cause. Though that was her right as an adult, it makes sense that Billy was worried.
Billy’s concerns were well-placed. If we needed proof that the Ostanian government is fascist, this episode certainly provided it. The government suppressed the student group with violence, probably during a protest. Many Red Circus members were killed, including Bridget, and the rest were imprisoned. Ostania also wanted Billy arrested since he was the father of Bridget. Needless to say, Billy was devastated and lost his reason for living. (His wife was either dead or out of the picture, since he raised Biddy alone.) Joining as a faction leader, Billy turned the Red Cricus into a legitimately violent group and planned the busjacking.
Elsewhere, Yuri tracked down the second schoolbus. Then he and a few other secret police members charged in using lethal force. They killed all the busjackers at that location – I can’t remember if it was three or four of them. Anyway, the children in that bus were saved. Around the same time, the cop from last episode got orders to hand over authority of the situation to the SSS. With no choice, the cop complied. At once, the merciless SSS commander announced that Billy’s comrades were dead and gave him until dawn to surrender. But in reality, he was sending in a small force to take the bus by force that night, regardless of the risk to hostages.
When the announcement came from the SSS, Billy’s resolve wavered. Vadim could tell. Anya overheard Vadim thinking about his plan to blow up the entire bus with the bomb in his bag. She also heard the thoughts of the SSS force members, and realized they would charge in at any second. If Anya didn’t act quickly, the secret police would attack and Vadim would set off the bomb, killing everyone around. Bravely, Anya went to the front of the bus. She couldn’t think of anything grand or courageous to say at that moment, so she insisted that she was hungry again and wanted more snacks.
After Billy yelled at Anya to shut up, the little girl boldly declared she was not afraid. This reminded Billy of his own daughter when she also said she was unafraid to die. Sensing his resolve wavering further, Billy tried to let Anya alone leave the bus, but she wouldn’t leave. She insisted that she was hungry and that everyone was in a pinch. Billy had been under a lot of stress, so perhaps it makes sense that his thinking wasn’t very rational. Humorously, he thought that Anya was serious and may be starving. In fact, maybe all these kids were hungry and underfed, neglected by their parents.
As the last of his rage and determination died, Billy beheld a vision of his daughter standing behind Anya, looking as stubborn as ever, though faded and ghostly. He remembered the time Bridget came home covered in cat scratches. She had been feeding the strays and holding back the bigger ones so the smaller ones could have their share of the food scraps. Billy chastised his daughter for using their pantry food on cats, and she reminded him that he was the one who raised her like this. Billy raised his daughter to be compassionate and to stand up for those in need.
This memory solidified in Billy’s mind what he needed to do. If he caused the deaths of these chiildren like Anya, he would be killing his daughter all over again. Vadim and the other hijacker protested, and Vadim pointed a gun at Anya. Henry stood in the way, so he would have to get shot first. But Billy took the gun from Vadim, grabbed his bags and the bomb, and walked out of the bus. He surrendered and was arrested. Vadim wasn’t ready to go down quietly, however. He rammed the bus into some police vans until it wouldn’t move further. Then he grabbed Anya to use her as a shield while he ran.
The sociopathic SSS commander gave the order to shoot Vadim even if the child was hit. Fortunately, Martha stopped the soldier from shooting and used a taser on Vadim, subduing him. Thanks to Martha’s quick work, Anya was rescued. And now that Vadim, Billy, and the other busjacker were arrested, everyone was safe. Becky was immensely relieved to see Anya alive. Thus, the busjacking incident of Eden College was resolved. It was not a happy ending for Billy, since he would likely rot or be tortured in a fascist prison. Still, if he had killed children, he doubtlessly would have felt even worse.
To restate, I think this was an excellent mini-arc that highlighted the theme of compassion over hatred. It also had some great comedy. That’s all for today, so take care of yourselves until next time!
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 