The Forgers are on yet another family outing. Y’know, for the mission. It’s always for the mission. But seriously, I feel like Loid will never confront his actual feelings unless his family is in danger, both literally or figuratively. Of course, most people never want anything bad to happen to the Forgers and for good reason. They’re a cute, wholesome family even if they’re all lying to each other. Personally, however, I would like to see them put under a bit of pressure just to see what happens — just to see what comes out.

Maybe progress has been too slow, so WISE threatens to take Loid off of Operation Strix (though we kinda saw this in the movie and nothing came of it). Or maybe the Shopkeeper is finally suspicious of Loid and orders Yor to assassinate her husband. Last but not least, someone might now know about Anya’s special ability, so they’ll try to inform the authorities and get her taken away. Unfortunately, going down any of these routes might trigger the endgame, so to speak, and SPY x FAMILY is probably too popular to reach its conclusion anytime soon. Personally, I just wonder how much longer we can tolerate this holding pattern. At the very least, I want to know how the adults feel about each other. We already know Anya loves her parents, and they love her back. Who could resist adoring the little scamp? But when will Yor fall in love with Loid and vice versa? Loid’s probably the toughest nut to crack since he’s all about professionalism.

Will we finally see progress in Operation Strix? I certainly hope so. Unfortunately, this opening episode is basically a recap in disguise. After all, the last time you watched SPY x FAMILY might have been two whole years ago. So to help returning viewers get their bearings, we treat ourselves to two small, self-contained scenarios. In the first half of the episode, every member of the family gets to reintroduce themselves and show us what they’re capable of. Bond sees into the future, and lets Anya know about an impending disaster. Anya reads everyone’s minds at the park and hones in on a disgruntled construction worker. With his infinite talents and skills at his disposal, Loid proceeds to hot wire a piece of heavy machinery and engage the bad guy in a duel. Last but not least, Yor uses her superhuman strength and speed to save a random passerby and his dog. Then of course, she rewards her family for a hard day’s work with her amazing cooking.

Are we up to speed yet? Do we finally remember what the Forgers are like? I’m being a bit snarky, but I don’t actually dislike the episode. It’s cute, it’s wholesome, it’s kinda humorous. The action is well-animated as expected, and while the voice acting performances won’t blow your socks off, it’s still fun to hear all the familiar voices again. I still can’t believe Anya’s VA also plays Frieren from the hit anime Frieren. Basically, this has all the hallmarks of a classic SPY x FAMILY episode. But at the same time, we’re not advancing the story. This is what I mean when I say I hope that this season makes any progress whatsoever. I’m not sure it’s totally necessary to treat the audience as if they need a catch-up. We’re not that dumb and forgetful, are we?

The second half isn’t much different as we continue to reacclimate ourselves to the SPY x FAMILY universe. As a result, we get to see a few old, familiar faces — Handler, Nightfall, and Franky the informant — and again, learn the roles they play in this story. Handler is obvious: she hands out the missions. Nightfall is, well, still in love with Loid as usual. She’s kinda one-dimensional as a character. That one dimension can be really funny, but Nightfall isn’t all that interesting by herself. Nevertheless, I find it amusing that she shares a voice actress with Aira from Dandadan. Two whole examples are hardly indicative of a pattern, but it’s odd that Ayane Sakura has to play two equally delusional characters. Last but not least, we get to see that Franky is actually pretty capable. He only looks like a bumbling fool next to Loid, but you don’t get this far as an informant without the ability to defend yourself.

So what’s the big and serious dilemma this time around? A tragic dearth of strawberries. Yep, a bad guy is illegally restricting the export of strawberries, and a foreign minister might crash out if his son’s birthday cake doesn’t have strawberries on it. Basically, we might spark a world war over freakin’ strawberries. Still, this gets Nightfall in touch with Franky, because she needs a forger (not the one she wants), and the latter has the connections. I’m actually surprised that this is the first time they’ve ever met, but I guess this should make sense. He’s Loid’s informant, not hers. Well, this fateful encounter is a study in contrast. Outside of her crush on Loid, Nightfall is too serious. Meanwhile, Franky is too unserious. Naturally, this means they have to don disguises and pretend to be lovers in order to infiltrate a shady club. Everyone is shocked that Franky finally has some arm candy. Meanwhile, Nightfall is having the worst day of her life.

When the State Security Services goes after them, the pair (mostly Nightfall) gets to flex their skills. I bet fans will start shipping these two after this episode. But like I said above, this little incident mostly serves to get the audience up to speed on these characters and the dangerous world they inhabit. I’m just not sure it’s wholly necessary. To be fair, we do learn a thing or two, so it isn’t a complete loss. Nightfall is cunning in how she can manipulate people into working for her. She basically tipped off the opposition in order to scare the forger into being cooperative. Meanwhile, Franky sheds some light on why he continues to put himself in danger by working with Loid (other than the fact that they’re best friends even if they don’t want to admit it).

All in all, this has been a fun if superfluous opening episode to the third season. I don’t dislike it. In fact, I always enjoy seeing how Anya goes about saving the day. Like usual, she has to cook up a scheme that gets her parents — usually Loid — to jump into action. This time, she lies about how she wants to go home and study. Somehow, Loid buys it, because he always does. The uber spy who can normally read others perfectly has a weakness, and it’s his family. They can basically manipulate him if they were inclined to do so. Luckily, it’s usually just Anya trying to catch bad guys. I want more, though. I want these characters to move forward a little. If not the mission, then at least work on themselves and grow as characters.