“Spy x Family” Episode 16 ends with Franky and Loid toasting each other’s company and their rocky relationships due to their work. Franky was trying to pursue a girl while Loid helped him out with the conversation starters, and Franky did his best to muster all the courage and ask her out, though he got rejected later. Loid then cancels his plans with his family and puts his recent mission on hold to console his friend and help him get over his broken heart.
Spoilers Ahead
Episode 17: Recap And Ending Explained – Did Anya Win Over Damian?
Episode 17 revolves around Anya’s life at Eden. Anya had failed to grasp Damian’s attention in “Spy x Family” Episode 15, as she had not named her dog yet. Anya’s little mission included getting Damian to accept her as his friend and getting him to ask her to visit his house, making it easier for Loid to get closer to Donovan Desmond, Damian’s father. However, Anya failed to follow through with her mission previously; after naming Bond, she renewed her efforts and approached Damian yet again, only for him to ignore her and walk straight past her with his friends. A flabbergasted Anya bent down to retrieve the picture of her family she had purposefully dropped so that Damian would see it and she could get the chance to boast about her dog. Before she could tuck it back into her pocket, her friend Becky took it from her to take a look at it. Becky Blackwell fell in love with Loid after she saw his picture. While the girls chased each other around, it seemed that Damian had his mind on their antics while his friends complained about the girls having fun while they had so much to study for the exams. This is not the first time Damian has shown signs of having a crush on Anya. Later on, the Headmaster, who was demoted to their class teacher, announced that they would have an art and craft period where their crafts would be displayed for the higher-ups to judge. He divided the class into groups while adding both Damian and Anya to the same group. Damian was hell-bent on securing a first place to win praise from his father, while Anya simply wanted Damian to acknowledge her as his friend. While he started making a Griffin fashioned after the Desmond Crest, Anya made a caricature of her dog to show Damian that she had, in fact, finally named it. Damian teased her for her little caricature, which in no way resembled a dog, and then started focusing on his project. Anya, using her telepathic abilities, read Donovan’s mind where he was praising Damian for his art and concocted a mission to help him and get half the credit so that Loid gets to carry out his mission. Damian accepted her help even after she messed up so many times. Although he scolded her for the mess-ups, he still went with her plan of pairing her caricature of a female Griffin she fashioned out of the artwork she had made of Bond with his messed-up Griffin. This points to another sign that Damian is harboring a little crush on Anya. To everybody’s pure shock and surprise, Anya and Damian’s artwork won first place.
The Headmaster had rushed in to placate Damian after Anya messed up his art project for the nth time. He could understand his frustration and maybe also had a little insight into Damian’s family issues. He suggested that Damian not rush ahead and focus on his current capabilities. This advice certainly hints that perhaps the Desmond brothers’ issues with their father were known to the Headmaster. After the results were out and while Damian and his friends were spending some leisure time back at their dorms, Damian’s phone call to Jeeves, the family butler, indicated that Donovan was a rather absent father and Damian was trying to win his attention in any way possible, albeit in vain.
The rest of the episode gave us an insight into what a day in the life of one of the top spies can be like as we followed Sylvia Sherwood, the Handler of WISE, on her daily visit to the pool. She has set a simple schedule to confuse the spies from other countries trained to keep an eye on her. This repeated schedule makes the lookouts bored and lazy after a while, which is when she slips out in disguise and meets up with Twilight to discuss the ongoing threats and events. However, Loid simply gushes about Anya’s accomplishments, which makes her a little puzzled. The episode ends with a flashback from Yuri and Yor’s childhood, where Yuri, ever the siscon, eats whatever Yuri makes, no matter how unpalatable it is. The camera then pans to Yuri after he has eaten Yor’s cooking in “Spy x Family” episode 16, looking the worse for wear.
Episode 18: Recap And Ending Explained – What Happened To Daybreak?
The episode begins with an announcement of the commencement of the midterms after two weeks. Stella Stars would be an award for the two students securing the highest marks in the four subjects, while Tonitrus Bolts, equivalent to a Troll grade in Harry Potter, would be given to those who fail. To secure a position among the Imperial Scholars, Stella Stars are a must; therefore, as studying is not a strong suit of Anya, who relies on her telepathy to cheat, it is important for her to not get a Tonitrus Bolt. Anya confidently fails the History revision test and is rewarded with extra classes while Damian scores a high grade; thus, Anya makes up her mind to cheat off of Damian in the coming exams. While returning home, Anya notices the moon and goes on to reveal her weakness. Her telepathy skills have a big weakness, which was named Eclipse by the scientists. She is unable to use her powers every month, only on the days of the new moon. Coincidentally, the date of the new moon clashes with that of the exams, making it impossible for Anya to cheat. Anya has to study; fortunately for Loid, Yuri makes a visit, so Yor asks him to tutor Anya. Yuri, unable to ever say no to his sister, immediately accepts but later realizes that Anya is Loid’s, the person who stole his sister away from him, daughter. Anya makes a good impression on him by starting off the lessons with praise for Yor. She at first cheats off of Yuri’s memory after he gives her a worksheet, but quickly remembers her predicament and sets on studying the right way. Yuri inspired Anya to study by talking about how helpless he felt when he was unable to help Yor in his childhood, so he studied to make sure Yor never had to lift a finger later. Now his skills are all being put to use as he is a member of the Secret Police; however, he still considers himself not enough as Twilight had clearly beaten him to rescue the Prime Minister and hijack the terrorists. After hours of studying, Yuri gives up in frustration and sets out to study on his own to be better than Twilight. Till now, he has no idea that Twilight and Loid are the same people. Anya remembers her feeling of helplessness while trying to read the clock or while thinking about how to defuse a bomb. If she had known that she would have been able to help Loid succeed in his mission, too, these thoughts would have really pushed her to study on her own.
After Anya took the exams, Loid knew her capabilities, so he set out to replace the sheets so that the mission was not sabotaged by her failing the exams. Because if she receives a Tonitrus Bolt, she won’t be able to be an Imperial Scholar; receiving further Bolts would result in expulsion. So, Loid sets out for Eden only to meet a new flashy spy who goes by the name of Daybreak. Apparently, he was hired to change the answer sheets of another student. This turned out to be Damian, and Daybreak was ordered to make sure Damian failed his exams. There were many times Daybreak almost sabotaged his mission and was saved by Loid, who was disguised as a teacher in Eden. Daybreak managed to knock him ‘unconscious’ (Twilight was only pretending) to finish his work and started to build castles in the clouds while trying to compare himself to Twilight and the work he would get after this job. Ever the showoff, he was about to leave his signature when Loid just couldn’t take his shenanigans any longer. He shouted at Daybreak for his stupidity and took a step back to maintain his disguise and composure, but Daybreak simply asked him to tell everybody of his work, and he left. Loid then focused on his work and saw the swapped answer sheets from Damian. Thus, he set it right and went on to look at Anya’s paper. Her marks surprised him, which is why he returned home instead of switching her sheets. The next thing we know, Anya passed her exams, albeit barely, but she did it by trying her best to study even though she hated it. She ranked 213th, while Damian ranked 11th overall. “Spy x Family” Episode 18 ends with the cutaway to Daybreak being fired from his job due to his failure to carry out his mission, which was ultimately sabotaged by Loid because he couldn’t have anybody sabotaging Operation Strix. All his castles came crashing down. Poor Daybreak; his career was over before it even started.
Final Words
Both the intro and outro songs of the episodes were really great. Anya is really trying her best to help Loid in her own way. Even though she has her faults, she is doing her best, and with that, she is at the top of my list of adorable kids from anime, just below Kotaro Kashima, from “School Babysitters.” 10/10 would recommend watching that series for its wholesome moments. Back to Anya, due to her lovable antics, we can see she is well on her way to becoming her Daddy’s Princess. Just the way Loid starts gushing about her gives off the fact that he is proud of her, even though he won’t admit it. As for Damian, his absent father has really made him fight and vie for his attention in any way possible, making him a very relatable character for my fellow people-pleasers. His drive to be the best stems from this very reason. Honestly, because of his situation with his father, at first, I thought that maybe it was his father who sent Daybreak so that his son does not disturb him with his little wins at school every time; however, to the Desmonds, image is everything, and again Daybreak is an amateur spy who has just started his career, the Desmonds with their money could clearly afford a more experienced spy like Twilight. Well, it seems to me that the Desmonds might just have a new enemy, and the only way to know about them is to watch the next episode.
See More: ‘Spy x Family’ Episodes 19 & 20: Recap And Ending, Explained – How Did Anya Get Loid in Trouble?
