Spy Classroom certainly has had its early episodes be more focused on a narrative, if the first three episodes are any indication. After all, they had shown the focus being the character of Lily, along with Team Lamplight and Klaus as they prepared for their Impossible Mission. It can be very easy to get the impression that the story is not as lighthearted as many were expecting it to be at first. Despite that fact, the recent episode manages to provide a look into each of the member's own peculiar personalities, along with providing a lesson in unifying them together as individuals and even friends.It is a simple episode that is a momentary reprieve from the plot, but provides some much-needed insight into the characters as well as their progression from the third episode.
Spy Classroom's 5th episode, "FILE: LAMPLIGHT DAYS" is a relatively simple episode. As it says on the tin, the episode seems to be focused on providing a more personal insight to some of the team members as well as showing their personalities in more detail as opposed to before. Whereas the first three episodes focused on the Impossible Mission as the main arc of the show, the fourth episode focused on Erna's own character backstory and point of view. The more character-oriented focus of that episode seems to be the main focus for the 5th episode as well.
An Unlucky Break
The episode begins to during the training prior to the impossible mission, where a wire trap sprung up in Team Lamplights' faces, although it was meant for Klaus. Despite the good attempt and constructive criticism from Klaus, this doesn't entirely bring doubts to the Team, especially Lily. Lily believes that working as a team grants them better chances at forcing Klaus to surrender, but three other members suggested that each individual member focus on their own areas of expertise and work independently to make Klaus surrender. Which doesn't entirely sit well with Lily, considering that her plan was to ensure everybody was on the same page as a team as opposed to being separated.
Regardless, the following scenes only serve to show a bit of lighthearted and even slight comedic moments between Lily, her teammates, and Klaus. From an attempt at using seduction to lower his guard, to Annette's traps springing and accidentally tangling Erna in them instead of Klaus. However, the main focus of this episode eventually is about Klaus's reluctance to eat together with the rest of the team, considering he's always eating alone. This little detail seems to be enough for Team Lamplight to convene, talking about their failed attempts at making him surrender, enough to make Lily come up with a plan on the spot along with convincing her team to work together for once.
The Initial Plan
First, the team begun to gather intel on Klaus as he goes on an errand for a mission. While the attempts to gather intel were excellently done, and impressive at that, Klaus had managed to give them the slip before they could follow him. Regardless, the team played the long game, by studying his behaviors and coming to the conclusion that Klaus could have some allergy to food products.
This would explain his prior behavior of not eating with the rest of the team, and so with this new piece of information Team Lamplight decided to form a brilliantly crafted meal that took the majority of their day. Along with a few pleasant scenes of the team bonding over cooking, the end result was a meal that surprised Klaus at first, making the team eager to see him surrender to what they thought was his allergens. At least, until Klaus began to eat and with no reservation.
At the end of it all, the team seemed rather frustrated, although Lily herself disheartened. However, this moment of frustration only lasted so long until they bonded even further during dinner. This led to them forming yet another plan, although what this plan is the audience doesn't know yet, and is left up to interpretation for the next episode. However, an important detail to consider is that Klaus's reasoning for not eating with the Team Lamplight is a much more personal one. According to him, dinner and meals are meant to be eaten with family, developing close bonds with them in the process and growing closer. However, ever since the death of Inferno, his team and 'family' in a sense, Klaus hasn't had the heart to be able to have dinner with Team Lamplight. Despite all that, the episode ends the next day with Lily doing requests for all the members early in the morning. However, what exactly is occurring is most likely to be left ambiguous and unanswered until the next episode.
The 5th episode of Spy Classroom focused more on the interpersonal relations between the team, as well as Klaus. Along with an interesting development and a lighthearted affair between the former-washout spies, we got a deeper insight into Klaus's own inner guilt and possibly saddened heart as a result of his team dying while he was away. It's pacing was well-done, and executed that it didn't skip any important details, along with giving each character a moment to speak their mind and show their personalities to the audience. This way, the episode manages to grasp the attention of the audience while providing some lighthearted fun and a deeper look into the motives and character of Klaus. Lily may have a plan for the next episode of Spy Classroom, however whether it will be a success depends on Klaus's ability to see it coming or not. Either way, the audience must simply wait for the results, with anticipation and a mixture of excitement most likely.