Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to Spy x Family in a moment of crisis, as Loid faces off with a bomb-laden dog in a dark alley! Is this the end for Loid, or perhaps just for this poor pooch? How will we resolve this encroaching calamity!?

Well, I’m guessing Spy x Family isn’t the sort of story to either shoot or explode a dog, so I imagine we’re in for some quick thinking and dazzling acrobatics from our resident Bondman. Either way, I’m eager to reach the climax of this arc, which has so far served as the fulfillment of one of Spy x Family’s most alluring promises: the entire family in battle array, employing their powers in unison to accomplish some grand objective. Anya’s certainly settling into this mode well; the acquisition of a big floofy dog has vastly enhanced her reconnaissance abilities, not only through its apparent precognitive powers, but perhaps more importantly through its ability to move much faster than Anya’s tiny little legs. Seeing the whole family in action has been a delight, and I’m eager to see how we turn this attempted bombing into some improbable bonding exercise. Let’s get to it!

Episode 15

Ooh, I love this. The unusual degree of narrative continuity across this arc demands something of a recap, but rather than vocally explain the story up until now, we instead get a wordless visual recap of the characters’ journey to this moment, complimented by a restless big band groove. The necessary recap is thus made genre-appropriate and genuinely fun, like we’re watching a montage of how the heist really went down

I love the consistency of implied perspective across this new OP. In cut after cut, we are framed as if from the perspective of one or another member of the family, staring across at some other member of the family in one of those moments where you realize anew how much you care for someone. This OP does a miraculous job of capturing the process of actually becoming a family

“A New Family Member.” Looking forward to Anya officially inducting this dog into her secret spy organization

And Loid impresses as always, using two shots to free the dog from its vest, then blocking the attack with one arm while flinging the vest into the river with the other. That’s our guy!

Great use of these cloudlike post-production filters as Loid rises through the dust, with the light from behind him catching on the smoke and creating a sense of volume while also making him seem more menacing. This production is generally quite impressive when it comes to the interplay of lighting and filters, as clearly demonstrated through the feigned glare and other traditional photography effects in the second OP

“Now people are falling from the sky!?” And Yor just kicks his speeding vehicle off the side of the road. Almost starting to feel sorry for this terrorist; no one is truly prepared for the Forger clan

I like the framing as Yor calls in this terrorist’s position. After all this drama, the arrest of mastermind Keith is basically an afterthought to her, an inconvenience preventing her from attending to the more important duty of finding Anya

“I’m sorry all this happened while I was on the toilet.” Loid suffering through that frustrating superhero conflict of always seeming to run away when the going gets tough

Whereas before Loid might have considered Anya’s actions in terms of how they affected his mission, it’s all familial concerns now: first chastising her for again running away, then admitting relief that she wasn’t hurt

Adorable sequence of Loid politely thanking the dog, to which it actually responds with an embarrassed blush

Having seen her family saved by this dog’s intervention, Anya is now rightfully protective of Mister Dog, and demands to keep him in turn

“If you don’t let me keep Mister Dog, I’ll go bad and stop going to school!” Bless you Anya, using every lever in your arsenal to protect Mister Dog. If Loid knew everything, he’d probably be proud of her; this whole arc’s use of dogs as innocent accomplices to terrorism essentially reflects Loid’s own shifting moral calculus, as he loses his “for the greater good” implacability and begins to prioritize individual lives. In the long term, it feels like Loid’s character arc is eventually going to rob him of his suitability as a spy, as he comes to find the people near him more precious than the mission, and expresses himself too earnestly to remain “the man with a thousand faces”

Handler backs down at Anya’s threat. Mister Dog is saved!

“There were a lot of other Mister Dogs. Are the officers going to be mean to them?” Yep, Anya is really embodying the far end of Loid’s journey, wherein every life is precious and worth fighting for

Handler assures Anya they’ll be well tended, before revealing that “I also had a daughter her age.” Between this and that prior interrogation scene, we’re getting a much clearer image of who Handler is as a person. She clearly despises the senseless violence of war, but rather than turn away from it, she has chosen to make herself the most effective possible instrument of preventing conflict. She’s chosen the hardest road: staring at the void while refusing to become numb to it, and still ending every successful mission with a genuinely relieved “thank god that didn’t become violent.” It’s a road that’s likely too difficult for Loid, and I imagine at some point she’s going to realize she has to let him go

Her body language throughout this epilogue makes it clear that she’s also come to appreciate the Forgers’ genuine mutual concern. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out when either she or Loid has to choose between the family and the mission

“This field trip does not end until we return home. Please keep your guard up.” Another convincingly childlike Anya gag; kids are always picking up specific phrases and running with them

“Today I defeated a bad guy and protected the peace of the country without anyone knowing!” In spite of the more morbid nature of Yor’s work, her perception of her own life is far more childlike than Loid’s. I’m still not sure if that’s an intentional characterization choice that we’ll actually explore eventually, or just a technique intended to soften the contradictions of her character role versus her job

Aw jeez, even the scene just introducing this dog to the family is gonna tear me up. We flash between the years of abuse he’s suffered through, the Forgers reflected in his eyes, as he goes through that heartbreaking behavior pattern of all abused animals, when they’re uncertain if they can now express their desires or if they’re just going to be punished again. Through this sequence, he is instantly aligned with what the Forger family means to all of its members: a sanctuary from what war has made of their lives, and a place where they are truly valued for themselves, and not just for whatever skills they possess

That edge of the past’s scars really helps make the poignancy of these family moments shine. The author is perfectly aware that such happiness as the Forgers share is a rare and valuable thing, a port to be treasured in a world of chaos and injustice

Anya is disappointed to learn she can’t brag about her top secret world saving mission at school. The spy life isn’t all glamor and glory, Anya!

Saving the world once has apparently gotten her hungry for more, so she’s redoubling her commitment to the Friendship Scheme

This family arc had me forgetting how good Anya in Mission Mode at school is. She tests her dog gambit with Rebecca before going for the kill with Damien

Anya is stunned by Damian’s lack of interest in her fluffy dog. Some remarkable expression work here for her shock and despair; the show can at times have difficulty conveying the impact of Anya’s minimalist reaction faces, so the use of speedlines and the blurring effect on the linework are appreciated

When his friends praise him for his pinpoint destruction of Anya’s happiness, Damian realizes he may have made a mistake

Anya asks Rebecca for dog naming tips. Anya, Rebecca named her dog “Weasel,” you want no advice from her

Anya asks Loid for dog naming advice, and he predictably offers precisely the kind of advice that would be useful for training an attack dog: as few syllables as possible, big vowel sounds, easy to say and to understand

Lots of great mid-distance cuts of Anya being a gremlin as the family heads to a dog park. I particularly like this sequence of Anya throwing her shoe for Mister Dog, only to go hopping on one leg to retrieve it herself. It’s a playful improvisation on the standard shorthand of cutting rapidly between character positions to essentially summarize a sequence of movements, here augmented with the goofy character-reflective detail of Anya hopping on one leg

Loid’s admonition to “take care of this dog until the end” prompts him to reflect on his own hypocrisy, and how he’ll eventually abandon this Forger ruse. He’s now reached the point of genuinely feeling guilty for having to prioritize the mission over his family, even though the family was initially no more than a prerequisite for that mission

After Mister Dog rescues Anya’s gloves from a pitbull, she recognizes his fundamentally Bondman-like nature, and dubs him Bond

And Done

Well, I didn’t think this family could get any more adorable, but the introduction of Bond has clearly proven me wrong. Anya has earned herself a partner in crime, and it’s an enduring delight to see the two of them tend to their spy missions together. I particularly loved how well both the final scene with Handler and first scene back at the apartment tied Bond’s journey in with this story’s core themes, emphasizing both the cruciality of personal acts of kindness in spite of the demands of the greater good, as well as how Bond is essentially another kind of war orphan, and thus perfectly suited for the Forger’s family of misfits. Congratulations Anya, you’ve finally made your family complete!

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