Lupin the 3rd: Part III 50
Lupin III Part 3 50
ルパン三世 – Part III Ep. 50

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Acting on intel from Fujiko, Jigen and Lupin manage to steam a top secret, brand new, fully armed, Soviet nuclear submarine named Ivanov. Word spreads around the globe as the Soviets mobilize to stop the submarine. While they track it, Zenigata attempts to arrest Fujiko in Amsterdam. She screams for help, pretending to be a victim of sexual assault. After she escapes, she gets word from Lupin about his successful theft.

Soon after, Zenigata gets cuffs on Fujiko. However, the Mossad try to get her to safety. They are thwarted by MI-6 agents. However, before they can make a pitch, the Korean CIA intervene. As Zenigata marvels at this turn of events, the KGB arrive and take Zenigata and Fujiko to be interrogated by the Soviet minister. However, the American CIA, looking like frat boys and sorority girls, rescue them and agree to Fujiko’s $10M price for the submarine.

Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon rig the submarine at an island before sailing to the Bermuda Triangle to find a sunken British pirate ship from the 1700s. Fujiko takes a yacht to meet them, unknowingly towing Zenigata in mini-sub. Meanwhile, the Soviets dispatch other submarines who attack. Their torpedoes reveal the buried gold, which gets blasted into a deep trench.

They regroup at the island with Fujiko, but come under attack. Zenigata clings to the sub while Fujiko gets a bidding war between KGB and CIA over the video comms. However, the Soviets won’t stand for it and attempt to sink their sub. The Americans counter. Lupin has Goemon cut the sub in half so they can escape. Fujiko is unhappy with this result, but shuts up when Zenigata comes riding in on a torpedo.

Thoughts/Review

And with Lupin the 3rd: Part III 50, this series is FINALLY over. Wow. I guess the writers decided to throw everything into the pot for this episode. Assuming Lupin could steal a massive, top secret, Soviet submarine, he and Jigen cannot crew the thing alone. A ballistic missile submarine is crewed by 140 people. Considering the complexity, Lupin would have needed 8-9 people just to get underway, and double that to go somewhere. And even then, they need to be highly trained.

Putting that aside, you wouldn’t want a giant, military submarine to try to find some sunken pirate ship. Heck, it takes years searching just to find these things. But ’cause “plot”, Lupin knows the exact location. About the only thing the episode got right was the ship had disintegrated and everything was buried in the sand/silt.

Regardless, Fujiko’s plan to sell the sub to some other country did make sense. However, the execution was trash. I couldn’t help but think of the brilliance of The Hunt for Red October as I watched this rubbish episode. Had the writers not turned the CIA agents into a combined fraternity and sorority idiocy, who’s people are only interested in partying, maybe things could have been done better.

I’m told that Lupin the 3rd: Voyage to Danger (Lupin III: Orders to Assassinate Lupin) remade this episode. I checked my old CAR review and well, the remake doesn’t seem to have thrilled me. I still own that DVD, so maybe I’ll rewatch it and torture myself.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Lupin the 3rd: Part III 50 with some final thoughts.

• I guess since this was the final episode, the production team decided to have Fujiko do a scene in her sexy panties and nothing else. 😑
• Goemon is a waste in the episode, used only to do the “wisdom of Solomon” move to cut the sub in half.
• Jigen doesn’t have much to do either other than tell Lupin about trouble coming.
• As to Zenigata…well, he’s used as buffoon material.

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 50 is another rubbish episode, filled with action, a naked Fujiko (and naked CIA chicks), and a story that COULD have been good in the hands of competent writers.