Welcome to Anime Rants with 7Mono! This post is a bit longer than usual, but I wanted to go ahead and wrap up Spy x Family Season 3 as quickly as possible. The last three installments were about the Wheeler Situation. A dangerous mole in the WISE agency, Winston Wheeler, was about to give secret files to the Ostanian government. This was a fairly exciting and entertaining way to end the season.
Note: Episodes 48 to 50 correspond to season 3 episodes 11 to 13.
Warning: Spoilers
- Episode 48: Extreme Level 3 Situation
- Episode 49: Battle to the Death in the Sewers
- Episode 50: A World Where We Cannot Survive
Episode 48: Extreme Level 3 Situation
Episode Rating: 8/10
The episode starts with Yor waking up still half-drunk and trying to piece things together. She remembered that she wanted to find a gripe with Loid to seem more normal. So she told Loid that she was dissatisfied with everything about their life. To make things even worse for Loid, Yor said that just as Yuri burst into the townhouse uninvited. Apparently, the injury on his shoulder was already healed (not very believable) and he wanted to see Yor as soon as possible. Hearing what Yor said, Yuri growled at Loid and tried to get involved in their squabble. He also suggested divorce. Finally, Yor told Yuri to get out of the way, and he retreated to the couch, deflated.
Before Loid could figure out what the hell was up with Yor lately, a sudden phone call rang out. It was Fiona, and she had a message for Twilight encoded as a patient chart in need of attention from Dr. Forger. There was an emergency and he needed to get to the office ASAP. Loid apologized to Yor, thinking that Operation Strix was suddenly in danger because of something he’d done wrong. But he had to go, so he hurried out the door. Yuri said that call was suspicious and that Loid was probably cheating. He convinced Yor to join him in following Loid to work.
Halfway through tailing Loid, Yuri saw a colleague from the secret police give him a signal: the signal of a sudden emergency. With many shouted apologies to his big sister, Yuri ran off to meet up with the other officers. Now alone, Yor saw Loid go into his office and decided to return home. By then, she was finally sober and probably hungover. She realized that looking for gripes was stupid. Thankful that Yor had stopped following him, Loid reported to Fiona, who told him about the emergency.
WISE had finally identified a mole in their agency named Winston Wheeler. Before he could be captured, he disappeared and stole several important files, including some information about Operation Strix. If the files were handed to the secret police by Wheeler, the lives of many WISE agents would be in danger. Twilight’s job would be to impersonate Wheeler to stall the secret police while Fiona and another agent went after the real Wheeler. Meanwhile, the news that Yuri got was about the same situation. He was supposed to help make contact with Wheeler and acquire the files.
The secret police were not the only ones who had a mole. WISE had their own double agent “digging tunnels.” His name was Jeffrey. Unfortunately, he was caught because of an information trap set for him. Winston Wheeler was told to wear a green tie with a jewel on it. No information was specified about the color of the jewel. But the colonel of the secret police told each of the officers that Wheeler would have a jewel of a certain color. Jeffrey was told “yellow.” Once the mole leaked that information to WISE, their fake Wheeler (AKA Twilight) would wear a green tie with a yellow jewel. This would expose the fake Wheeler and reveal WISE’s mole at the same time. With Twilight in this grave danger, the episode ends.
After the credits, there was a short mini-episode about Anya going to the zoo with Becky and Martha. I enjoyed the cute moments as well as the more serious moment toward the end. The girls saw a sign that said there was a very scary creature right ahead. So, Anya and Becky proceeded into an open cage and looked around, finding it empty. Martha then read the sign on the outside of the cage: this exhibit was for humans. Humans are scary creatures who are prone to violent tribalism, and we shouldn’t forget we’re animals. It’s important to teach children what we know about reality, even when the facts may make us feel upset or insecure. Anyway, good mini-episode.
Episode 49: Battle to the Death in the Sewers
Episode Rating: 8/10
Because of the trap, things were playing out like the secret police wanted. They realized Twilight was there in disguise and closed in around him. Loid didn’t manage to buy much time for the others, but he escape. He quickly switched disguises and fooled the police into thinking he was Yuri Briar. The resemblence was eerie. He even had the same shoes and hat as Yuri. In that disguise, he ran into the sewers. Meanwhile, Jeffrey was captured by the secret police leader, the guy with the cigar. We never find out what happened to Jeffrey (at least in this season), but it’s likely that he was executed by the Ostanian government. This could happen to Twilight, too.
As for the other WISE agents, they cornered the real Winston Wheeler and got the stolen data from him. This was thanks to the distraction created by the older WISE agent and the sharp eyes of Fiona, who spotted Wheeler in disguise. However, Wheeler escaped and fled into the sewers. Fiona gave chase. Speaking of the sewers, Yuri was there now, trying to track down Twilight. When the two of them clashed, they were both surprised and hesitated for a second before trying to shoot each other. Yuri’s shot hit Loid’s right arm, giving him a significant injury. After both guns were knocked away, Yuri and Twilight continued fighting with their fists.
Yuri was extremely tough and just kept taking Twilight’s hits. At last, Twilight hit the younger man over the head with a crowbar and he finally went down. Then he realized he had the perfect opportunity to kill Yuri, eliminating a serious threat to Operation Strix and a member of the Ostanian Secret Police. After some hesitation, Twilight dropped the weapon and walked away. He didn’t kill Yuri. It was definitely an act of mercy, but it might come back to bite him later. As for Yuri, he was seriously wounded, but he would be alright. We saw him being helped out of the sewers by another secret police operative – a young woman named Chloe.
After fighting Yuri, Twilight’s next obstacle was Wheeler, who ran into the sewers with Fiona in pursuit. Wheeler got the jump on Twilight and almost caved his head in with a brick. Luckily the spy managed to dodge and the fight began. Twilight was at a disadvantage against Wheeler because he was already wounded. He also let his guard down too much. Wheeler won the fight and knocked Twilight out cold. Before he could unmask the fake Yuri and prove he was Twilight, Wheeler was interrupted by Fiona.
She was supposed to react like Twilight was Yuri Briar, but she was unable to do so because she was so worried about her precious senpai. As ordered by Wheeler, she dropped her gun. But when Wheeler ground his foot into Twilight’s back, something in Fiona snapped and she went into a berserk physical attack. She shouldn’t have been heavy or strong enough to win with force alone, and yet her strike was mighty enough to break Wheeler’s blocking arm and throw him off balance. Fiona is not in a mood to be fucked with, and the episode ends here.
Episode 50: A World Where We Cannot Survive
Episode Rating: 8/10
As the narrator explained, Fiona went into an adrenaline rush and overcame her body’s natural strength inhibitors. When she hit Wheeler, she broke her own arm in three places and dislocated her shoulder. Fiona also broke one of her legs kicking the shit out of Wheeler. Finally, she KO’d him with her dislocated arm, knocking him unconscious against the sewer wall. Mindlessly, Fiona prepared to head-butt her enemy, an act which might kill them both. Loid woke up around that time and told Fiona to stop. From there, they tied up Wheeler and went on their way through the sewers and met up with the older WISE agent.
Fiona hoped to heaven that Twilight didn’t hear the crazed speech she gave to Wheeler during their fight. While Wheeler used solitude and lack of trust as his strength, Fiona said that her strength came from thinking about Twilight all the time. I’m assuming Loid didn’t hear, but we don’t know 100%. Anyway, Fiona was now unable to walk with her broken leg, so Twilight carried her while the older WISE agent carried the unconscious and bound Wheeler. It was embarrassing but also thrilling and gratifying to be carried by her crush. Fiona thought her heart might explode. It was a surprisingly sweet moment.
I find that after this season, I am much closer to actually enjoying the character of Fiona. I never liked her because she was so one-dimensional and only ever focused on Twilight. I still want better character writing for her, but I love her determination and courage. I wish there weren’t so many female characters who could be summarized only by their desire to be with a man. However, I also love characters like Yuno from Future Diary or Mikasa from AOT even though they are also obsessive over a man. They are both extremely interesting psychologically and grow over the course of their stories. They are also both very strong and bad-ass.
Fiona follows the same rough patterns as those characters, so there’s no reason I should continue feeling annoyed as long as she continues maturing as a character. In addition, I think Fiona’s voice actress, Sakura Ayane*, did great. While we’re on the subject of Fiona, the damage to her bones and muscles was not as bad as the doctors first feared. She had broken bones, but would make a full recovery and be able to work again. Handler (AKA Sylvia) came and delivered this good news to Fiona in the hospital the next day.
When they were done talking, there was a wholesome moment where Sylvia patted Fiona on the head and told her she did a good job capturing the target. She also warned Fiona not to push herself too hard – “not even for his sake.” Fiona blushed tomato-red as she realized that Handler must know her feelings about Twilight. As she walked away and left Fiona, Sylvia thought to herself that her subordinate was very cute. I agree – Fiona can be really cute. And Syvlia herself is one flaming hot lady. I am seriously thinking of shipping Sylvia x Fiona. I know the ship won’t sail and the show will probably suggest Franky x Fiona down the line, but I don’t care. I want a yuri fanfic with Handler and Nightfall, lol. Let me know if anyone finds a decent one.
Anyway, let’s get back to Loid. He went home and talked to Yor right away even though he was exhausted and had literally been shot. Yor explained and apologized about the gripe issue. When Loid asked her to handle tomorrow’s chores, she was happy to feel useful and supportive. She said that maybe what she wanted all along was for Loid to depend on her a little more. Yuri briefly interrupted the couple and there was a close call where he almost detected the fact that Loid’s right arm had been shot. Luckily, Loid covered the injury with fake skin, and it fooled Yuri. Yor then kicked Yuri out for the night.
There was a brief scene of Loid showering. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate this bit of classic anime fan-service; but it was actually, genuinely, the story that was mostly on my mind. Loid spared Yuri’s life and now Yuri has suspicions about Loid. This episode was titled “A World Where We Cannot Survive.” I’m not 100% certain why, but my guess is that it’s referring to the act that the fake family and the mission are in jeopardy. Things can’t go on like this forever. One mistake could lead to complete destruction.
The episode started wrapping up and Loid spent the next day resting in his room. Yor and Anya played at home with Bond. Franky stopped by, too. The townhouse was chaotic for a while until Franky left and Yor and Anya fell asleep in the living room with Bond. (Anya was having wild dreams which you can see after the credits.) Speaking of Bond, it was a little sad that he didn’t get an episode this season. However, season 3 was great overall. I expect it will fall in the lower 8/10 or higher 7/10 range once I write my review for Spy x Family Season 3. Note that it may be quite some time before I get around to it, though. I’ll see you next time on Anime Rants!
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
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