SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 21: Favorites

Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts

SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 21 – Quick Summary

In SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 21, “NIGHTFALL / FIRST FIT OF JEALOUSY,” Sylvia Sherwood called Fiona Frost, code-named Nightfall, into her office to discuss her next mission. Nightfall was to assist Loid Forger, code-named Twilight. But Nightfall was ambitious. She wanted more than to assist on a side mission. She wanted to help with Operation Strix – with implications that caused Sylvia to express great concern. Just how ambitious is Nightfall? What is she planning to do? And how will Loid react when he finds out – because you know he will!

Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.

Favorite Quote from SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 21

Loid has it rough. And I don’t think it’s getting easier any time soon! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Nightfall thought she had Twilight all figured out. She sat there watching Yor and Loid, silently judging everything that Yor did. We had just learned that Fiona was deeply in “wuv” with Loid (which reminded me immediately of My Dress Up Darling). That explained why she had studied everything about him down to the slightest mannerism.

Yor placed a small pitcher of milk beside Loid’s coffee. Nightfall sneered to herself (her control of her expressions didn’t let anything through) that Yor should have known that Loid preferred his coffee black. She told herself that she would be a much better wife than Yor. 

Then Loid shocked her by pouring a lot of milk in his coffee.

Shocked, she wondered if he had changed his habit just to lean into his family image. But, no. Loid had a different reason.

He thought (11:51), “The milk helps lessen the damage to my stomach.”

The quote was funny and tragic all at the same time!

Favorite Moment from SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 21

That look is heart-breaking and terrifying all in one. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

SPY x FAMILY Mirrored My Own Life – A Little

I’d like to talk about how humor can set the stage for a powerful emotional punch. This episode did a particularly good job with that to humanize Fiona’s character. But it did something else, too, that struck me as effective – and painful.

Fiona/Nightfall is obviously a skilled spy. She’s smart, she’s strong, and she’s apparently feared for those things. But that’s not all. Did you notice how the men reacted to her as she left Sylvia’s office?

Seriously. How can you complain about back-stabbing in the same breath you’re back-stabbing? Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

They gossiped about her, saying she was so ambitious that she’d steal Twilight’s “glory” to get ahead. Even as they verbally stabbed her in the back, they complained she’d do the same to them. Another man backed away from her in fright. Even the narrator called her brazen and, most telling of all, “ambitious.”

All because she was as strong, efficient, and skilled as any of them. If any one of them had shown the same level of competency and “ambition,” do you know what they’d call that man?

Twilight.

Setup: Humor and Sympathy Set the Stage

I’m to the point in my Real Life Job that I’ve held positions from a commissions clerk to an AVP of System Solutions. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen just this scenario play out. I’ve seen women who exhibit the same competency as a man in the same position denigrated because of it. I’ve seen the word “ambitious” used as an insult, when in (sometimes literally) the next sentence, those same people would praise a male employee for the same thing.

Naive me voiced these observations to those folks. As you can imagine, that didn’t go well. But the less naive me, as I rose into a position of hiring people, remembered those observations. I resolved to do better. And do you know what’s really, really cool about it? By ignoring stereotypes and focusing on hiring skilled people, I gave the companies I worked for a competitive advantage.

By this point, I was torn between “If you mess with Yor I’m going to be quite cross with you” and “Man, she’s had to deal with a lot of crap.” Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

In the context of this episode, seeing how Fiona was treated almost offset my negative reaction to her. Why negative? Because she came out and said (01:15), “But if Mrs. Forger just happened to retire, that position would have to be filled, would it not?”

Threatening Yor is a fast-path to my bad side. At the same time I admit I wondered: even if Nightfall was an amazing agent, I could see no way she could best Yor in a fight. Drunk Yor almost took down Twilight, after all. Though of course Loid pulled his punches so he wouldn’t hurt his wife. He’s kinda chivalrous that way.

So I’m already sympathetic to Fiona. Then we got the whole sequence where Anya read Fiona’s mind to find she was in love with Loid. And not just in love. She was in “wuv!” Suddenly, her hatred for Yor made sense.

Delivery: Fiona’s Hidden Heart

But that’s not my favorite moment. That came when Fiona suddenly left. Loid, still mystified by the whole exchange, went out after her. It had started raining, and he used the excuse of offering her an umbrella. When he caught up with her, she kept her back to him. She mentioned that she had actually come to deliver a message about a side-mission for the two of them. That annoyed Loid, and he said (16:22), “Hey, you need to tell me important things like that first…”

She turned to give him a look (16:25). The rain had dampened her hair. It streamed down her face. But her expression in equal measures chilled me and broke my heart. The animation was particularly effective. Her eyes maintained their usual chill. But her lower lip betrayed her feelings.

The camera angles, the choice of colors, the rain, and even the muted ambient sound drove home her feelings of isolation and cold pain. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

She’s powerful, she’s intelligent, she’s rejected by those around her, and she’s desperately in love with Loid. Who is, after all, one of the few men we’ve met who could both accept and appreciate her.

And he’s with Yor. This moment hit me as hard as Sylvia casually mentioning the daughter she no longer had in episode 15. I might have complained that the previous three episodes didn’t give me this kind of moment, but you know what? I was just being greedy. And sometimes, these moments need time to build, and they’re most effective in the context of a previous lull. I just know that I feel for Fiona – and I’m looking forward to seeing what develops!

What did you think of Bond’s crime of passion? What were your favorite moments in this episode? Feel free to share in the comments!

SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 21: Other Posts

Other Anime Sites

• Reddit: SPY x FAMILY Part 2 – Episode 21 discussion
• I Drink and Watch Anime: Spy x Family episode 21 – The Spy Who Wuvved Me
• Lost in Anime: Spy x Family – 21

This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)

• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 13: PROJECT APPLE
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 14: DISARM THE BOMB
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 15: A NEW FAMILY MEMBER
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 16: YOR’S KITCHEN / THE INFORMANT’S GREAT ROMANCE PLAN
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 17: CARRY OUT THE GRIFFIN PLAN / FULLMETAL LADY / OMELET RICE♥
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 18: UNCLE THE PRIVATE TUTOR / DAYBREAK
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 19: A REVENGE PLOT AGAINST DESMOND / MAMA BECOMES THE WIND
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 20: INVESTIGATE THE GENERAL HOSPITAL / DECIPHER THE PERPLEXING CODE
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 21: NIGHTFALL / FIRST FIT OF JEALOUSY
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 22: THE UNDERGROUND TENNIS TOURNAMENT: THE CAMPBELLDON
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 23: THE UNWAVERING PATH
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 24: THE ROLE OF A MOTHER AND WIFE / SHOPPING WITH FRIENDS
• SPY x FAMILY Cour 2 Episode 25: FIRST CONTACT