Saga of Tanya the Evil Season Two, Episode Six, Decoy Review: Best Episode of the Show?

Upon starting Episode Six of Tanya the Evil Season Two, Decoy, I was quite excited to see where it would go.
The trailers teased that we would get the face-off teased between Tanya and Mikel, along with Zettour fighting on the front lines.
Well, after watching Decoy, I can say that it more than lived up to my expectations and may very well be my favorite episode of the show.
The episode begins by revealing Weiss thankfully survived his injury from the Federation mage, but said mage is now being yelled at by Mary Sue, who wants to hunt the rest of Tanya’s men down.
This and Mary’s actions later on in the episode continue to prove she has learned absolutely no patience from her prior battle with Tanya.
As for Mikel, I am surprised he seems so loyal to the Party, considering they sent him and his men to gulags.
Tanya is rightfully concerned about the Federation resorting to bringing these mages back, though she does have a funny reaction to Weiss’ injury, “How could you let someone from that volunteer army shoot you down?”
Way to be empathetic Tanya, although I suppose that is not in your skill set.
With Tanya’s forces surrounded, Zettour enacts the next part of his plan, changing the decoy from Tanya to himself.
Taking Grantz for protection, Zettour goes to rescue Tanya’s forces, hoping to draw the enemy to him, thus giving Tanya the chance to escape the encirclement and then team up to take their foes down.
Given Tanya’s past track record for misunderstandings, I would not have been surprised if she misinterpreted Zettour’s plan, leading to a military disaster.
If there is one skill Tanya does have, though, it is her military mind, and she quickly deduces Zettour’s scheme, going to aid him.
She also has Visha act as bait for Mary Sue by pretending to be Tanya.
While Tanya has a strong military mind, Mary Sue appears to lack a brain entirely, and I expect Tanya will use her recklessness to her advantage even more in the future.
Unfortunately for Tanya, Mikel is not Mary Sue, being smart enough to track her down, and so the anticipated fight between the two begins.
What follows is a fight with a great blend of 2D animation and CGI, with the latter going by so fast and being intercut with multiple 2D shots that it all flows together nicely.
With Tanya being delayed by Mikel, Zettour and Grantz find themselves on the ropes, and Zettour proves why he is the second-best character in the show, next to Tanya, demanding the Empire’s flag be risen so the enemy knows he is there.
He even goes as far to allow Grantz to help Tanya, leaving him defenceless.
Zettour reasons that if he, a high-ranking general is killed, it might shake the leadership up enough to show them how dire the war has become.
“The corpse of a soldier must be put to the best use it can,” Zettour says, with two head wounds. “That’s what war is all about.”
In the end, Grantz’s help allows Tanya to break through Mikel’s defences, forcing him to withdraw.
As for Zettour, he and Tanya end up back-to-back on the battlefield, gunning down their enemies in one of the coolest moments of the show.
For a moment, I thought Zettour was really about to die.
His death certainly would have been a wakeup call for the Empire.
But I am glad he is sticking around, and I hope we see more instances of him on the battlefield in the future.
Overall, Decoy was a fantastic episode and definitely the best of the season.
Hell, I would even argue it’s the best of the series so far, with its great action and epic moments from Tanya and especially Zettour.
I am very curious to see if any episode in the rest of the season can top this one.