REVIEW: ‘Spy x Family’ Season 2 Episode 8 — “The Symphony Upon The Ship/Sis’ Herbal Tea”

Tightly wound with tension that’s amplified through kinetic animation that brings to life the severity of Yor’s (Saori Hayami) situation, Spy x Family Season 2 Episode 8 is a standout installment of the series. As Yor continues to protect Olka and her young son while trying to get them to the rendezvous point, she also faces down a hoard of bounty-hunting assassins looking for a major payday. “The Symphony Upon the Ship” is a full Yor episode aside from a few moments spent with Loid (Takuya Eguchi) and Anya (Atsumi Tanezaki and then, later, Yuri, and it finds its strength in witnessing her development. Continuing on the thread introduced in Episode 7, she continues to engage in an internal battle over why she sticks with such an unforgiving, and violent career in an emotional, action-packed episode. 

Spy x Family Season 2 Episode 8 finds emotional weight as Yor deliberates over why she does what she does and for whom. The final answer is simple. Yes, she may never know if one mission may be her last, but she continues to kill for the sake of those who deserve simple lives untouched by the bloodshed she’s coated in by the episode’s end. It’s a messy, morally gray belief, especially as we watch her brutally dispatch other assassins with ease. The animation has made sure to depict her as a weapon in these moments, her eyes and facial expressions giving extra shading so that her looks adopt a greater fierceness that contrasts her polite disposition. She’s a weapon that has been trained over time to protect, maim, and execute. She might’ve begun it as a way to provide for Yuri, but now she does it to protect an ideal life for someone else who may benefit. Or, more bluntly, to ensure that her adopted family will maintain peace. 

It comes to a head when other assassins call her on her hypocrisy when she begins to argue there’s a difference between her actions and theirs. And while we, the viewers, are able to take a step back and recognize that assassins looking to kill a mother and her child are different than Yor’s work, she realizes they’re both killing for the sake of putting dinner on the table, so to speak. Spy x Family is often able to distract us from some of its darker attributes due to Anya’s presence and her days at school, along with her dynamic with Yor and Loid. “Thy Symphony Upon the Ship” is a stark reminder that she and Loid work in the shadows for a reason, often handed ruthless jobs that come with an expected body count. 

The series refuses to hold back on the violence, and while the direction largely follows the flow of the manga panels, it’s aided by terrific sound design that gives the moment of impact greater depth and purchase. We hear bones crunch and feel the disorienting sensation when Yor’s head slams into a wall. These deaths are brutal, with Yor even attacking one assailant in a style that mimics Toji against Dagon in Jujutsu Kaisen. The series maintains its levity, either with a pan to Loid and Anya watching the fireworks or with the Director’s repulsion to the mess Yor makes in her killing, but it doesn’t turn a blind eye to the actions taking place. 

The action is, quite frankly, superb. With a clean, fluid motion that maintains a necessary cohesion as we follow Yor through her battle, Spy x Family Season 2 Episode 8 is an excellent display of ingenuity through combat sequences. The fireworks backdrop doesn’t just allow for better, vibrant lighting and darker, textured shadows — it also allows for a playful contrast to Yor’s night versus Loid and Anya. While the latter two are getting to enjoy the light show, with the fireworks consuming them and the light reflective on their faces, Yor’s night is full of explosions of blood that splatter her face, and plumes of poison instead of smoke. It’s a clever way to marry what’s going on in the background with the main drama so that there’s never a loss of time and place. 

Spy x Family Season 2 Episode 8 is the strongest episode of the season thus far due to its electric, energized action and character development. While the story aboard the cruise ship seems to be wrapping up soon, its inclusion has been an exemplary means to demonstrate real, crucial growth in one of our main characters while also allowing the series animators to show off their considerable talents. 

Spy x Family Season 2 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.