Lupin the Third PART4 07 Review
Lupin the Third (2015) episode 07
Lupin III / ルパン三世

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Nix gets put on a new case in Italy regarding tourist being targeted. He heads home to his wife and daughters, one (Bridgette) is a big Rebecca fan. Meanwhile, Lupin and Jigen discuss their next heist over an extra cheesy pizza while Rebecca, who’s in Rome with her butler on  business, is bored with things. Bridgette encounters Rebecca in the building and in the bathroom, asks for Rebecca’s autograph. Instead, Rebecca draws a picture on the girl’s backpack. She leaves her makeup case in the bathroom, so Bridgette takes it to return it. Outside the building, two men promise to take her to the Dream of Italy who kidnap her instead. Elsewhere, Zenigata is on Lupin’s trail as Lupin and Jigen rob a jewelry store. With the cops at Lupin’s car, they steal the car belonging to the kidnappers, whom had gone to get supplies.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and her butler are tracking the makeup case, which would expose Rebecca as a thief. While this is going on, Nix goes undercover to purchase a young girl, only to find Bridgette on the menu. He loses it and kills the criminals as his boss activates an assassination squad. Lupin and Jigen discover Bridgette in the trunk, only to have Nix show up in a mask, shooting. Thinking this is the kidnapper, they try to get Bridgette to safety as Rebecca arrives and gets targeted. Lupin and Jigen get Bridgette to an abandoned building, where unbeknownst to them, Rebecca has her butler get the girl out for a shopping spree. When Lupin realizes they are up against Nix, he and Jigen come out to talk things through. Nix is stunned with Rebecca shows up.

Jigen realizes Bridgette is Nix’s daughter after Rebecca says the girl is safe. Nix calms down and the assassination squad to take him out stands down. Nix gets Rebecca to sign an autograph for Bridgette. Lupin and Jigen are dismayed when they discover a puzzled Zenigata with the police, wondering why Lupin would abandon his haul. At their hideout, Jigen laments the loss of the jewelry, but Lupin thinks they may be onto something better, based on Nix’s reaction to the phrase Dream of Italy. Elsewhere, Rebecca and her butler are researching the Dream of Italy, not knowing the MI6 has them under surveillance. Nix’s boss orders Nix to quickly take care of things if the pair learn too much.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, this series just keeps getting more interesting, more so since there’s an overall plot at work here.

While Fujiko and Goemon were absent here (it has been a while since we’ve seen him), Rebecca and Nix easily filled that space. It was fun seeing Nix react to Rebecca (who’d been with Prince James in their previous encounter) and having those two then mix things up with Lupin. I expect we’ll see more of these three coming together as the series progresses.

As to Rebecca, I’m glad the stuff about her being married to Lupin is on. I liked that she was showing affection for Lupin, but I would have loved it if she had tried to kiss him, just to see his reaction. He wants a divorce, but Rebecca is a babe, so who knows exactly how he’d react to her attempting to kiss him.

I’m curious to know what her connection to the Dream of Italy is. Things have been set up so that Nix goes after her and her butler. I can see this bringing Lupin into the mix to defend her.

As for Nix, I’m guessing that whatever body enhancements he’s undergone have made him unstable. The fact that MI6 was prepared to kill Nix with a sniper team says a lot about how dangerous they see their agent.

That being said, I liked seeing Nix as a family guy. I totally dug how the thing that set him off was his daughter being kidnapped. Totally understandable response, though his wildly shooting at Lupin and Jigen when he thought they were the kidnappers shows how erratic he can be when not in control. He could have shot his own daughter.

As to Nix’s case, that was rather confusing. It started out as being something about tourist being targeted for apparent kidnapping, but then turns into Nix being undercover, looking for an underage girl to buy (apparently).  I guess this street gang are selling sex slaves, but there just wasn’t enough information given there.

Last episode, I didn’t notice any references to Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro. For this episode, when Lupin and Jigen were making their escape from the jewelry store while being pursued by Zenigata, I was immediately reminded of Lupin and Jigen escaping with the loot after knocking over the casino in Castle of Cagliostro. I love these nods to that great movie. ^_^

Finally, I got a kick out of the confused Zenigata. He’s made a career out of knowing his opponent, so when Lupin apparently abandons his loot, well that just is mind blowing.

In the end, Lupin the Third PART4 07 was an enjoyable episode, bringing Rebecca, Nix, and Lupin together while laying the groundwork for the overall story arc. I’m really loving this new Lupin III TV series.