Lupin the Third PART4 03 Review
Lupin the Third (2015) episode 03
Lupin III / ルパン三世

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Jigen gets caught and interrogated by MI6 agent Nix as Lupin manages to steal the Marie Antoinette necklace at San Leo. Meanwhile, Crown Prince James from Great Britain arrives at Rebecca’s family hotel where he is greeted by her. He’s there to inspect the fragment of the necklace that was discovered the day before, but he’s willing to spend time with Rebecca at her request. Meanwhile, Fujiko tells MI6 what Lupin is after and that he’s stealing the necklace for her. Nix gets instructions from his boss, then successfully tracks Lupin as Lupin attempts to escape with the necklace. Lupin is surprised by Nix’s skills, but when Lupin releases a smoke bomb, Lupin discovers Nix’s echo location trick and manages to elude the MI6 agent long enough to reach Jigen.

When Nix arrives faster than Lupin expected, Lupin has to do some talking and fighting, but loses. Nix is not impressed that Lupin is doing this theft for Fujiko. Nix agrees to allow Lupin and Jigen to have a last cigarette and gives them 30 seconds. Just before he pulls the trigger, Nix gets a report that Prince James is under attack and he’s ordered to the hotel as MI6 is no longer concerned over the theft. The “attack” was a fireworks ruse. Afterward, an angry Rebecca calls Lupin to scold him since he’d sent her a letter, saying she needed to protect the prince since he was coming after him and as such, she was ready to fight him, not serve as a decoy. Their conversation is captured by Nix, who changes his opinion of Lupin and gets orders to keep the thief under surveillance. At Fujiko’s residence, she and Lupin share a glass of champagne.

Thoughts/Review:

Wow. Lupin actually runs up against an opponent that is his match.

I’m glad Nix is not some over the top, traditional bad guy, but is instead a top notch MI6 agent who’s in Italy with other British agents on a mission. I could really see Nix being played by current James Bond actor Daniel Craig. I like that he’s good at his job, highly dedicated to Great Britain, and is on a mission.

I presume Nix’s echo location ability is based on some kind of bionic implant, much as his ability to dodge bullets. I hope this gets addressed more since he’s obviously going to be around for a while. I really wish it had been addressed a bit more here on whether this was a technological or natural ability of Nix. (This is a Lupin III series, so I presume technology, but one never knows.)

In all honesty, Lupin should have been shot in this episode. The only reason he wasn’t was because Nix showed great restraint, even though he had a kill order. In some ways, this was almost off-putting because by not being serious when he’s shooting at Lupin, then not actually shooting Lupin when he has endless opportunity, it comes off as a convenient way to allow Lupin to win. However, in the end, I decided that while Nix is hard as steel, he’s not a cold killer and he kinda liked Lupin, thus why he didn’t just blow Lupin’s brains out.

Speaking of convenient, I liked that the episode acknowledge that things were very convenient for Lupin to have escaped being killed by Nix during Fujiko’s conversation with Lupin at the end of the episode. I loved how evil tobacco is credited with saving Lupin’s life. I also liked how Lupin tells Fujiko he was happy to die for her (or at least, that’s the implication). I loved how Lupin referred to Fujiko as his own Marie Antoinette, especially considering how Lupin is still married.

I couldn’t help but love how Fujiko referred to Lupin as her own Count Cagliostro. Sure, in this context, she’s speaking of the real, historical person and not the fictional one from Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the writers had that movie in mind when they decided to include reference to the real Cagliostro in this episode. What would have made this moment by Fujiko awesome would have been a casual nod to the fictitious Cagliostro as well, but I suppose that would have violated copyright or something.

Looking back on things, I’m not sure why MI6 were so hot to get the necklace, then apparently after realizing Prince James was OK, decided to just let Lupin have his loot. In reality, it seems like they (combined with the Italian police and Zenigata) would still be after Lupin. MI6 would also nail him for his actions against Prince James.

While mentioning Zenigata, he was MIA in this episode, as was Goemon. That wasn’t a problem because there wasn’t anything for Goemon to do. I guess there just wasn’t time to work in Zenigata since this kind of caper would be natural for him to be involved in. The captured Jigen is only there to show how dangerous Nix is. As for Fujiko, her sole purpose is as a plot device to get Lupin going after the necklace as a present for her. I did like how the two were pretty cozy at the end of the episode.

As for Lupin’s other woman, I’m glad Rebecca came back and the subject of her still being Lupin’s wife came up. (Apparently, she’s not willing to get a divorce.) She only had a limited role in being Lupin’s unwitting pawn, but I still like her. I guess she’s not just some spoiled ojousama type as she seems to have some sort of managerial role in her family’s luxury hotel business. I’m hoping she has more of a substantial role in future.

Finally, this episode begins to lay out more of the foundation for the overall story arc that will play out in the series — the Italian Dream.

In the end, Lupin the Third PART4 03 was a very enjoyable and good episode that relies on convenience to allow Lupin to win, but acknowledges this. I am very happy with the way this series has gone through three episodes.