After the stealth journey across the luxury cruise ship the past few episodes, Yor is back to outright ass-kicking in “The Symphony Upon the Ship.” The assassins finally all close in on Yor, Shaty, and Shaty’s son during a large firework display. This provides great action sequences set against a magnificent animation landscape.
The confrontation on the deck of the ship sets the climax for this mini-arc in motion. Across four episodes so far, we’ve gotten the most out of Yor than we’ve ever had in the series. Seeing her in action is a real treat; as her various kills are paired up against a fireworks show that Loid and Anya are watching. Yet, it’s made even better in these episodes when she’s given the space to internalize her work as an assassin: Does she want to keep doing this forever?
Of course, it’s this question that ultimately distracts her during the fight. While the chaos of the action unfolds on the screens, there’s also quite a few moments where it gets quiet. These are moments of introspection for Yor; does she really do this to help her family anymore? Is she that patriotic for her country? Is any of this worth the risk not seeing Anya and Loid ever again?
These questions have been percolating in Yor’s mind this entire arc, and it comes to a head here. At the end of another assassin’s blade, Yor makes a stand. She’ll keep killing people if she has to, as long as her new family is safe. A triumphant call-to-action from Yor ends “The Symphony Upon the Ship,” leading us into another chapter of this story for Yor.
Loid and Anya take even more of a backseat this episode than they’ve had so far in these episodes. Despite Anya’s insistence on helping Yor, she ends up having too much fun while continuing to baffle Loid. It’s mostly comic relief, and that’s fine; their input in these episodes is best used in moderation. I do miss the missions at Anya’s school, and Loid’s many faces as Twilight, though.
After the end credits, a short story tag officially closes the episode out. “Sis’s Herb Tea” showcases the young sibling dynamic between Yor and Yuri. It’s not anything we have’t seen before, compared to the rest of the episode. However, with great action sequences and dynamic character work, “The Symphony Upon the Ship” is a great Yor-centric episode, even amongst the many Yor-centric stories of this part of the season.
Spy x Family Season 2 drops new episodes on Crunchyroll and Hulu every Saturday.
Featured image ©Tatsuya Endo/Shueisha, SPY x FAMILY Project
REVIEW RATING
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'Spy x Family': "The Symphony Upon the Ship" - 10/10
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Katey is co-founder and tv editor for InBetweenDrafts. She hosts the “House of the Dragon After Show” and “Between TV” podcasts and can be read in various other places like Inverse and Screen Speck. She wishes desperately the binge model of tv watching would die, but still gets mad when she runs out of episodes of tv to watch.
