‘Spy x Family’ review: Yor dodges assassins on “The Fearsome Luxury Cruise Ship”

We’ve got a three-parter on our hands with this week’s Spy x Family episode, “The Fearsome Luxury Cruise Ship.” Yor continues her undercover mission protecting Shaty and her son from assassins. The mission is taking place on a cruise ship, which Anya and Loid are also on for some vacation time. 

At the end of last week’s episode, Yor and Shaty’s relaxation on the deck of the ship unfortunately put them in hearing range of a bug, which picked up their conversations. Not their fault, but they should definitely know better than to be talking about the mission out in the open. 

Their discovery leads to some of the coolest action on Spy x Family so far. There’s not just one assassin after Shaty — there’s quite a few already on board the cruise ship. Yor and her team are able to dispatch the ones they come in contact with. Because they want to remain anonymous, these action sequences are subtle yet precise, creating the perfect amount of tension. 

The other tension comes from Loid and Anya’s presence on the ship. As Yor takes Shaty and her son further below deck, she worries about running into her family while she’s on mission. Anya worries about this too, convinced that if Loid were to find out about Yor’s actual profession, the Forger family would be no more. Never mind the fact that Loid would be helpful in this situation, Anya does an incredible job of overwhelming Loid with parental fatigue. Even though Loid has noticed the assassins on the ship, his preoccupation with taking a vacation and keeping Anya happy takes him out of the action-adventure part of these episodes. 

“The Fearsome Luxury Cruise Ship” ended on another cliffhanger, this time with Yor facing down a hulking assassin. It’s been fun getting to see Yor take the lead in the action for these episodes. So far this season has put a lot of focus on other characters while Yor has mainly stayed on the sidelines. Though she is considering retirement from Thorn Princess, she’s good at what she does. Still, these episodes have done a remarkable job at balancing Yor’s job as an assassin with her internal struggles about what that job actually entails. 

It would be cool to see Yor and Loid team up, but it still be too early for them to learn about each other’s secret identities. At least Anya is aware of what Yor is going through right now; perhaps she can meddle in the affairs of assassins once again.