diff --git a/google-cloud-firestore/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/firestore/FirestoreSpy.java b/google-cloud-firestore/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/firestore/FirestoreSpy.java
index d987aaffc..690de890e 100644
--- a/google-cloud-firestore/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/firestore/FirestoreSpy.java
+++ b/google-cloud-firestore/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/firestore/FirestoreSpy.java
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ public final class FirestoreSpy {
       streamRequestBidiStreamObserverCaptor;
 
   public FirestoreSpy(Firestore firestore) {
-    spy = Mockito.spy((FirestoreImpl) firestore);
+    final FirestoreImpl firestoreImpl = (FirestoreImpl) firestore;
+    spy = Mockito.spy(firestoreImpl);
     streamRequestBidiStreamObserverCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(BidiStreamObserver.class);
     doCallRealMethod()
         .when(spy)
diff --git a/google-cloud-firestore/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/firestore/it/ITQueryWatchTest.java b/google-cloud-firestore/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/firestore/it/ITQueryWatchTest.java
index 2fecdd30a..00341372d 100644
--- a/google-cloud-firestore/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/firestore/it/ITQueryWatchTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-firestore/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/firestore/it/ITQueryWatchTest.java
@@ -382,10 +382,12 @@ public void restartAfterFailedFilter() throws Exception {
           .modifiedIdsIsEmpty()
           .removedIdsIsEmpty();
       listener.lastDocumentIdsIsAnyOf("doc1", "doc2");
-      BidiStreamObserver<ListenRequest, ListenResponse> watch =
-          firestoreSpy.streamRequestBidiStreamObserverCaptor.getValue();
 
       // Trigger existence filter mismatch, thereby invoking retry behavior.
+      // Prompting Firestore to send filter mismatch is difficult, so we hack
+      // in the response. All we are concerned about is invoking retry.
+      BidiStreamObserver<ListenRequest, ListenResponse> watch =
+          firestoreSpy.streamRequestBidiStreamObserverCaptor.getValue();
       watch.onResponse(filter(0));
 
       setDocument("doc3", map("foo", "bar"));