It’s been a while since we’ve seen Yuri in Spy x Family. Not only that, but we also get to see Yuri walk away from Yor, which is the only way we can see anything coherent from that character. It’s great to not only get to know that character a little better, but also get another glimpse into the larger stakes of Spy x Family.
One of the more unusual aspects of Spy x Family is that it’s on one level a spy/political thriller that doesn’t present any aspect as inherently better or true or even truer. Ostania, where most of the action takes place, seems like an absolutely wonderful place to live. Sometimes they have some government practices that are a bit oppressive as we see in this episode. People threatening to go to the police is a clue that there is some form of abuse going on but from what the film allows us to see, people generally live happy and safe lives.
As for Westalis, Loid’s (or rather Twilight’s) homeworld. We don’t know much about it but it seems quite similar to Ostania in many ways. The only representatives of that nation we ever meet are presented as noble people but we know that they also have their share of criminals and bad guys. Really the important part in Spy x Family is not who will win the war but how we can avoid war altogether. And for that to be the goal, we can’t have a simple story of good and evil.
So episodes like this one, focusing on Yuuri’s questionable work for the government need to be careful. The State Security Service is an internal security branch that monitors the citizens of Ostania and does not except the use of questionable methods and violence to achieve their goals. It is strongly implied that although these methods may not be completely legal today, they are still accepted in Otabnia, which makes the public fear the SSS.
But the thing is, you can’t just paint Yuri as a total bad guy. And despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, he’s not an idiot who doesn’t understand his role in the grand scheme of things. So how do we reconcile that Ostania is not a bad place and we don’t want Westalis to take over, Yuri is not a bad guy but he also works for the secret police. There are decades worth of documents that have taught us to view any secret police agency with suspicion and outright hostility for the rest of time.
Well, I think this episode did pretty well. It shows us a world in which everyone has flaws. In which a thinker must adapt his ideals to harsh realities. I don’t think Spy x Family is going to be a gritty spy thriller where the political context is as important, if not more so, than the characters inhabiting it. But I appreciate that we get a glimpse of the wider world outside. It’s easy to forget that Yor and Loid are playing a very dangerous game.
The rest of the episode is a short Bondman skit that I don’t remember from the manga. It makes me smile. And three very short vignettes are rendered like pencil drawings. The different art styles are refreshing. Overall, this is a departure from the episodes we’ve seen recently. Now that I have a long view of the manga I know what the next big part will be and I’m looking forward to it but it looks like I’ll have to wait a little longer.