5 Point Discussions – Lupin the III Part V, 12: “The Extravagance Of Goemon Ishikawa XIII”

Goemon tracks down a woman wearing a million dollar necklace. But will he be willing to actually take it from her, or will he let his feelings get in the way of the job? Remember, if you like this article and 5 Point Discussions, please share it on Facebook or Twitter! It really helps. And if you’ve got any comments or questions, please hit me up @SageShinigami.

1. We’re right back into red jacket era for one more early era Lupin flashback episode, and this episode’s mission is kinda grimy. Chloe Cazal is a woman who was friends with a deceased millionaire, and had a necklace with a special gem inside of it bequeathed to her after he passed. The necklace was made by some nobles during the Russian revolution, and of course they want it back, so they’ve hired people to “take care” of Chloe, and in reaction she’s vanished.
Now it makes sense an average crook would try to steal it from her, but for an “honorable” criminal like Lupin it seems a bit…mean? Like, during this episode you get the sense Chloe leads a pretty crappy life: she’s on the run from people who wanna kill her for having an item of sentimental value from a dead friend, living in Belgium and running a crappy, unpopular hipster restaurant where she only sells items from “locally made” ingredients. She can’t even actually sell her wares without animals picking at it and stealing her food. She’s dealing with all that, and you’re still going to rob her?

2. Man, I didn’t realize people were so hard up in Belgium. Our three protagonists split up to go to different cities where they think Chloe might be: Belgium, where her parents used to live and run a bistro, in Geneva where her best friend lives, and finally in Sicily where the gang finds a hotel checked in using her name. Goemon is sent to check out the information in the hotel, and spends his entire time there getting freaking fleeced.

Chloe uses his samurai obsession to make money off photo ops, he works with a security guy briefly and eventually gets bribed into paying him just so he can get some sleep instead of having to watch Chloe all day, and the hotel he stays in eventually charges him so much money he has to work as a dishwasher just to pay his tab off. Only Goemon could spend most of his time as a thief and wind up giving most of his cash up.

3. It’s always nice to have your friends around to keep you on task. Eventually, Goemon realizes that maybe stealing from an actually decent human being is a terrible idea, and he decides against trying to rob her. But that’s when he starts falling asleep thanks to some drugged wine brought in by Lupin!
Now if Lupin had been there he probably would have gotten too close to the mission too, but since he hasn’t he has no problem snatching the necklace even against Goemon’s wishes. Good thing too, since right at that moment they get attacked by a group of particularly aggressive thieves and it’s only Lupin running away that saves Goemon and Chloe from being gunned down.

4. It’s almost out of place to see Goemon actively try to kill Lupin when just last episode they were palling around and so close they fought an entire army together, but here we are. Goemon is pretty ticked Lupin didn’t respect his wishes and stole the necklace anyway, so he gets with the security guy who’s been watching Chloe (and trailing Goemon himself) the entire episode and asks him to shoot Lupin down with a guided freaking missile. Lupin narrowly avoids it, but it still takes out both his and the other thieves’ cars, and it’s then you’re reminded that Goemon was once assigned to assassinate Lupin.

5. The real twist comes at the end, where we learn the whole thing was just a trick–Chloe Cazal was a much older woman, and she sold the stupid necklace back to the people who wanted it and went on vacation. While that was happening, her daughter Inez decided to pretend to be Chloe…’cause apparently no one had a picture of her…so her mother could enjoy her vacation in peace.
That’s a noble goal, even if I’m baffled that they couldn’t just say “We sold the stupid necklace” and be left alone.
Lupin the III Part 5 is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu.