Spy x Family Part 2 Episode 23

Match Point

In Spy x Family Part 2 Episode 23, the Campbell siblings break out all the stops to defeat Loid and Fiona. But, no matter what the Campbell siblings do, Loid and Fiona have the skill to turn it around on them.

At first, the siblings have their henchmen manipulate the surface of the court to trip up the spies. When that doesn’t work, they resort to raising and lowering the net depending on who’s hitting the ball. And then they throw in some strong wind gusts in an attempt to blow the ball off-course.

None of this works against the WISE agents. So, the siblings resort to more extreme measures. They instruct a sniper to target their opponents. The sniper can’t actually kill the spies, though. That would only expose the Campbell’s cheating. For this reason, the sniper shoots rubber bullets painted the same color as the court.

Of course, even the inclusion of a sniper isn’t enough to stop Loid and Fiona. So, as a last resort, the siblings also have two other people start firing rubber bullets at the pair. I like how this tennis match was somehow the most action-packed scene of the entire season.

But, let’s go back to the rubber bullets for a moment. I thought it was a pretty neat detail for them to be the same color as the court. However, it’s also funny that the siblings went into that much detail to try to hide their cheating.

With all the crazy stuff happening on the court, it would have been obvious to anyone watching. And yet, they made sure the rubber bullets were the same color as the court. Though, even if people noticed, was anyone really going to call out the Campbells for cheating?

Spoils Go to the Victor

Since Loid and Fiona won the Campbelldon, they got to take a piece from Campbell’s art collection. And, naturally, they chose the painting Lady in the Sun because that was the target of their mission. This painting allegedly holds a secret that could start a war.

But, after they choose Lady in the Sun, Campbell informs them that he can’t give them that piece. Toward the end of the tennis match, he learned of the secret the painting hides. And so, he’s planning to hand it over to the government.

This doesn’t stop Fiona and Loid from getting their hands on the painting, though. Loid uses one of his disguises to replace the painting with a fake and take the real one himself. But, that still leaves Fiona to select a different piece of art as their prize.

So, what does Fiona choose as the prize? She picks out a few expensive rings and a gaudy vase that definitely looks cursed. The appearance of the vase itself could be as far as the gag goes. But, I’m hoping that it’s going to come up again later in the series.

Neither Fiona nor Loid actually likes how the vase looks. It’s creepy. It looks like a ball of human body parts and even has an eye. But, they decide to give it to Sylvia Sherwood as a gift. So, it’s possible that we’ll get to see it again, even if only as a prop on Sylvia’s desk.

Alright, but what about the secret message hidden in the painting? Well, it turns out there really was a secret message. However, it wasn’t quite as important as WISE believed. It revealed that the former colonel had a thing for taking photos of young actresses.

Yor vs. Fiona

At the end of the episode, Fiona challenges Yor to a tennis match. She wants to defeat Yor, thus proving that Yor isn’t fit to be Loid’s wife. Because, you know, that makes sense to normal, rational people.

The thing is, Fiona vastly underestimates Yor’s physical abilities. It’s true that Fiona is probably the better tennis player of the two. But, that doesn’t mean she stands a chance against Yor’s brute strength. And what I thought was funny was that Loid tried to warn Fiona about this before the match began.

He said something along the lines of, “Fiona, don’t.” And at the time, it seemed like he was trying to tell Fiona not to go all-out against Yor. However, after the match, it’s revealed that Loid meant, “don’t challenge Yor. She’ll destroy you.” And he didn’t mean Yor would destroy Fiona in tennis. He meant physically.

Yor’s first attempt at serving results in her racket dicing the ball. And her second attempt results in a serve faster than the speed of sound that shatters Fiona’s racket. It seems that Loid should have brought Yor as his tennis partner to the Campbelldon.

But, my favorite thing to come out of this scene is the knowledge that Loid knows what Yor is like. He knows she’s a freak of nature. He doesn’t know that she’s an assassin. But, he knows that he likely wouldn’t stand a chance against her in a fight.

And this is Loid we’re talking about; the guy who can do anything.

It makes you wonder what he actually thinks about Yor. What kinds of explanations does she give for her strength? Does he believe what she says? Is Loid being held against his will by Yor? Does he fear her?

Conclusion

What do you think of Spy x Family Part 2 Episode 23? Did you like the detail of the rubber bullets being the same color as the court? Do you think we’ll ever see the cursed vase Fiona took again? And, what do you think Loid thinks of Yor’s brute strength? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 24 is available now.