REVIEW: ‘Buddy Daddies’ Episode 4 — “What Will Be, Will Be”

Buddy Daddies has shown up each week with adorable hijinks of the two dads bumbling through parenthood and, well, hitman violence too. Last episode, the series showed its emotional core when Rei and Kazuki went looking for Miri’s mother, set on giving her back. But instead, Kazuki met Miri’s mother and made the choice to keep the child to give her a good life with parents who love when she laughs, instead of getting angry. At the same time, Rei bonded with Miri and decided to embrace being called Papa instead of pushing her away. In Buddy Daddies Episode 4, “What Will Be, Will Be,” the slice-of-life home life building continues with hitman jobs falling to the wayside, and that’s not a bad thing.

Buddy Daddies Episode 4 is easily the series at its most wholesome. Overwhelmed by Miri’s need to be involved in every daily activity and the chaos she causes while bored at home, Kazuki and Rei decide to enroll her in preschool. But getting Miri set up at school isn’t as easy as just making a phone call, nope. It involves registering in a government building, interviewing with schools, and buying all the right things for her first day. After pretty much-buying everything fashionable in a department store and hand-sewing in name labels on every one of Miri’s items, the family embarks on Miri’s first day, only to learn that expensive isn’t necessarily best.

While the episode itself manages to give screentime to everyone, we’re once again seeing just much Kazuki Papa cares for Miri. From staying up all night when Rei passes out mid-label sewing, to making a large lunch for his newfound daughter, and of course, forging every document the family needs to look like they’re on the right side of the law, there isn’t a hoop that Kazuki won’t jump through to give Miri a good life. Rei is closing in on the illusive genuine smile as he sees Miri begin to thrive, but it’s Kazuki who is keeping the family moving in the right direction even when they make mistakes.

I’ve praised Buddy Daddies for PA Works’ ability to balance the wholesome moments with the murderous ones, but this episode is just sweet, full stop. And you know what? That’s okay. While there have been and will continue to be undoubtedly similarities drawn between our little trio and the Forger family in Spy x Family, the series never feels like an iteration of an existing concept. Instead, the types of conversations that arise around the living situation of two papas and one daughter help make the story and everything around it different. They have to handle the parenting interviews. Differently, they have to work around their secrets with more nuance, and they ultimately are all in on the same lie they have to tell the teacher. Throw in the fact that Miri has no idea to know what her Papas are thinking or feeling, and the dynamic here is unique enough to stand out well outside the Forger family shadow.

At the end of the episode, Kazuki, Rei, and Miri aren’t just closer than before, but Miri is a solid part of their home and their family. With an end credits scene where she gets her own room, Buddy Daddies Episode 4 solidifies the family as a family, both to viewers and the world in the series. Miri has two papas who care deeply about her and everyone knows it, her teacher, Kazuki and Rei’s boss, and of course the most important person in all of this, Miri knows she is loved.

Buddy Daddies Episode 4 is streaming now on Crunchyroll with new episodes every Friday.