SxF remains content to play around in its world rather than leap into any new big story arc, and there’s nothing more playful than a segment that’s all about Bond, our big lovable borfer. He starts getting premonitions about his untimely demise, and learns that Yor forgot to buy dog food, so she’ll try her hand at making him some food.
The result of that hand-trying could well be life-taking, so Bond escapes the house and wanders the city trying to pick up Loid’s scent. If Loid is coming home late due to his work, Bond resolves to help him with that work so he can come home early…and feed him.
Loid is initially shocked when Bond shows up, especially on his own (and it’s odd that we never cut to Yor looking for him; surely she could outrun him). Loid’s mission is to steal a vial of truth serum from a lab that just so happened to run the animal experiments Bond was involved in.
Believing Bond wants revenge (not just an edible dinner), Loid allows Bond to help out. Bond proves useful both in being able to find a deserted path to the lab room, alert Loid when people are coming, and aid in the incapacitation of said people when they come in.
It’s cute, and I love Bond’s design and his “borfs”, but if there’s one major takeaway from his segment, it’s that I might be one of the rare people who prefer the dog in smaller portions. The remainder of the episode checks in on Damian, who was absent last week.
Fresh off being praised by his father for the first time, Damian is determined to study hard and gain more Stella so his dad will praise him more. The studying leaves him sleep deprived, and for his lateness he’s sent to the dorm mother for chores.
His friends want to go to the movies with him, but when it’s clear he can’t go, they intentionally get in trouble so they can serve their punishment with him. Henderson notes that this is a most elegant demonstration of friendship; Ewin and Emile aren’t just toadies and suck-ups.
When he sees how much fun they’re having, Henderson assigns them a new “punishment”—going on a nature research trip with the groundskeeper (or “custos), Mr. Green. It starts with a harrowing canoe trip across “rapids” and down a “towering” waterfall.
But neither turns out to be what it seems when Mr. Green stops paddling, and when after falling overboard Damian learns the water is only knee-deep. Emile and Ewin propping him up in the water at the cost of their own lives was another sign of how much they care for him.
The purpose of the trip is made clear when Mr. Green provides the basic tools for fishing but has the boys actually catch the fish for their picnic. And while the freshly-caught, freshly-grilled fish is tasty and rewarding, Damian can help but feel like he’s wasting time.
However, Mr. Green impresses upon both Damian and the others the importance of “spacing out” while on the journey to academic achievement. All Damian was doing was grinding himself down into a sleep-deprived wreck; it’s not a winning strategy for becoming an Imperial Scholar.
Instead, Damian occasionally has to have days like this, when he and his friends were just hanging out and goofing around on Eden’s very beautiful grounds. I’ll admit, I missed Loid, Yor, and Anya a bit in this segment, but it was a fun enough diversion, and Damian never ceases to entertain with his tsuntsun moments.
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