Lupin III/Recap/S2/E69

"The Woman the Old Man Fell in Love With", with the English title "Zenigata Getcha into My Life". Released in 2006 by Geneon on Volume 13: All's Fair in Love & Thievery.

Zenigata is enjoying a peaceful morning recovering from a hangover. Aside from a news report on the death of millionaire Pomade Jaws, nothing eventful happens until Zenigata spies a note scrawled on the back of his beer can: "Where's Lupin?" A gun is placed to his head by a mysterious masked intruder, but when challenged, the intruder can only produce another note threatening to kill him. Zenigata kicks his empty beer can away, distracting the intruder long enough to subdue them; he pulls off the mask to discover a beautiful woman! Before he can get any information out of her, a barrage of bullets comes through his hotel room door. He manages to escape out of the window with his mystery guest.

Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon are on vacation nearby when their peace and quiet is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Zenigata, the mystery woman, and several men armed with heavy weapons chasing the two of them. Zenigata, after entering the house via jeep, tells Lupin that he and the woman are being chased by the mafia. Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon promptly load the two of them into a hidden helicopter and escape out of the house's roof. As they fly away, Zenigata introduces his companion as Mrs. Laura Jaws, widow to the late Pomade Jaws. He threatens to arrest Lupin unless the thief agrees to help him and Laura out.

At another safehouse, Zenigata fills the gang in: Laura is being chased by Al Cabane, head of the New York Mafia. Cabane, after the death of Pomade, made off with the millionaire's vault, which contained high-level, possibly scandalous secrets of movers and shakers around the world. However, the mobster discovered the vault was sealed and could only be opened by a voice print, specifically Laura's; Cabane now needs Laura's voice so he can open his stolen prize. In addition, if the vault is opened with Laura's voice alone, a bomb Pomade had planted in her heart will explode, and now that Cabane has managed to off Pomade, even a recording of Laura's voice puts her at a significant risk of death. Lupin agrees to help Zenigata and Laura destroy the safe, teasing the detective about his new girlfriend.

Back in New York, Cabane is furious to hear Lupin is now involved. After taking medicine for his chronic stomach disorder, he comes up with a plan. That night, Lupin, Jigen and Goemon break into Cabane's headquarters and pick up the safe, only to be stunned by an electric shock coming from it; alas, Fujiko has been hired by Cabane to protect the safe against Lupin. The captured gang is promptly loaded into a junked car that is stuffed into a car crusher. It emerges seconds later, the tattered red sleeve of Lupin's jacket poking out.

With Lupin gone, Fujiko brazenly heads for the hotel to inform Zenigata, and demands he hand over Laura; if she's not out in five minutes, Cabane's gang will open fire. Zenigata instead presents Fujiko with a slimy frog, her biggest fear. She faints, and Laura and Zenigata flee, just missing Cabane's men, who backtrack and chase them into the sewers under the hotel before losing them for good. Meanwhile, another mysterious figure drags the unconscious Fujiko away.

Cabane is furious that his men and Fujiko have failed again. After another stomach flare, he literally sits atop the vault itself to keep it safe. He later dozes off, and Fujiko (who now has remarkably hairy legs), takes the measurements of the vault before slipping away.

Zenigata and Laura take shelter in some nearby woods, Zenigata giving her his coat to keep warm. While she huddles by the campfire, Zenigata wonders if Lupin is really dead, and then decides he doesn't need the thief's help and will take matters into his own hands to save her, because he can finally admit he's fallen in love with her. Laura overhears his rambling, and is clearly touched. The two continue their trek through the wilderness, but while climbing a cliff, Laura slips and falls to the bottom. Injured, Zenigata carries her to a nearby barn, where she regains consciousness. Zenigata warns her to remain silent, but Laura is too upset. She tells Zenigata they should give up, and all but confesses she loves him as well. As they lean in to kiss, Zenigata suddenly lands on a pitchfork, but when he angrily pulls it up, he finds a microphone attached to it. Yanking on the cord, he exposes one of Cabane's men and a tape recorder. The mobster fires a shot at Zenigata to keep him away; the detective dodges, but then looks back, horrified; the shot has hit Laura instead. As the mobster drives away with the precious voice recording, Laura dies in Zenigata's arms.

Jigen and Goemon, along with a captured Fujiko, catch up with Zenigata, resolutely carrying Laura's body down the road. They apologize for being unable to nab the mobster who killed Laura in time, but offer the grim detective a chance for revenge against Cabane.

Back at his headquarters, the gloating Cabane gives the tape of Laura's voice to Fujiko to play. However, the playback doesn't open the safe. The reason becomes seemingly apparent when Jigen and Goemon call out from the construction site across the street...with a safe of their own! Furious, Cabane and his men tear out of their headquarters and across the way, only to find that that safe is a fake front. They hurry back down and find Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, and Zenigata on the first floor of the construction site with the safe and the tape. It turns out Lupin (as Fujiko) slowed down the frequency of the tape just enough so the safe didn't recognize the voice, but there was no noticeable distortion.

Driven into a furious rage, Cabane has yet another stomach attack. As he pours his medicine into his mouth, Lupin manages to slip in a tiny device among the pills...specifically, a replica of the bomb that had been planted in Laura's heart. He then turns over the safe and recording to Cabane, and the gang and Zenigata depart so Cabane can open his prize. The tape plays Laura's last words to Zenigata, and the detective walks away in tears as the building behind him explodes.

Walking past Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon, the thief kindly offers to set up Zenigata with another girl when he's ready, but Zenigata will have none of it. He tells the thief to go home and get ready, because when the next day dawns, he will be back to his old self and on the hunt for Lupin and his gang as usual.

This episode features examples of:

 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Zenigata and Laura's escape route.
 * Almost Kiss: Laura and Zenigata. Unfortunately, Zenigata sits on a pitchfork. And then It Got Worse.
 * Bait and Switch: Zenigata is going to escape in a speedy red sports car...er, slow squeaky bicycle.
 * Bound and Gagged: Fujiko, after Lupin catches her following her treachery.
 * Car Meets House: Zenigata crashes his jeep through Lupin's vacation home.
 * Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Anyone who thinks Zenigata a mere bumbling fool had better watch this episode.
 * Darker and Edgier: Zenigata falls in love, and then she's killed before his eyes. Poor Pops.
 * A Day in The Limelight: This episode belongs to Zenigata.
 * First Name Basis: In the Japanese version, Zenigata spends most of the episode calling Laura "Mrs. Jaws." When she finally speaks, it's to tell him to call her Laura.
 * Friendly Enemy: When the mob's after him and Laura, who does Zenigata naturally turn to for help?
 * Ignored Vital News Reports: Zenigata greets the news of Pomade Jaws's death with a big "meh." Two minutes later...
 * I Shall Taunt You: Goemon, sitting atop the fake safe, to drive out Cabane.
 * Latex Perfection: Lupin for Fujiko. Though he did forgot to shave his legs.
 * Luminescent Blush: Zenigata, after Lupin teases him about being in love with Laura.
 * Mafia: They're after Laura to make her open her husband's vault.
 * Meaningful Name: Laura Jaws, who must remain silent.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Al Cabane is pretty damn close to Al Capone.
 * In the English dub, the voice of the news anchor sounds a lot like NBC's Tom Brokaw
 * She Who Must Not Be Heard: Forced upon Laura by circumstances.
 * Stun Guns: One is planted in the safe to keep Lupin from making off with it.
 * Survivor Guilt: If Zenigata hadn't dodged, the bullet wouldn't have hit Laura.
 * Unflinching Walk: Zenigata, as Cabane gets his just desserts.
 * Why Am I Ticking: Laura had a bomb unknowingly implanted in her heart by her late husband to keep her from stealing his secrets. Gee, what a sweet guy.
 * You Are Too Late: Jigen and Goemon, who didn't arrive in time to save Laura from the mobster.
 * You Must Be Cold: Zenigata kindly offers his coat to Laura, telling her he's far too warm.