English Dub Review: Lupin the Third: Part V “Who Has the Black Notebook?”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

We pick up right where we left off with Lupin and Jigen hanging around Gaston’s grave. An old man recognizes our guys and introduces himself as Camille Bardot, a retired member of law enforcement who developed a late-in-life friendship with Gaston. Over drinks, the gang learns that Mr. Bardot has a photographic memory. No, better than that, he actually has total recall of anything he sees, even if it’s only for a few seconds.

Before they can learn more, the quiet little bar gets shot to pieces by automatic weapons and even small projectiles. Luckily, Jigen is able to disrupt the explosives in midair; otherwise the bar—and everyone inside—would have been destroyed. This full-on assault was ordered by Guilaume, the head of the DGSE, and is carried out by a man named Jose, a former undercover officer who worked for Bardot before getting in too deep.

Lupin, Jigen, and Bardot exit the bar and drive away only to be confronted by a masked sharpshooter. Camille, a lawman to the end, takes a bullet straight to the chest before shooting down the assassin. He survives into the night, despite massive damage to his chest and stomach, and with his dying breath admits that he and Gaston copied the black notebook years ago, page by page.

Book in hand, and wearing heavy disguises, the boys travel back to Paris. There, Lupin dresses as a doe-eyed girl who learns that Albert is dating a photographer named Tickey. The disguise-palooza continues when he takes the face of Tickey to switch Albert’s gun with a fake. Finally, Lupin arranges a meeting on the Newfoundland Bridge. Albert confronts his old acquaintance and demands the black notebook which Lupin cockily refuses to give up. Mocking him by using the voice of the late Gaston, Albert draws his gun and shoots Lupin twice in the gut.

To Lupin’s surprise, the bullets are real because Albert must’ve seen through his scheme and switched back to a real gun when nobody was looking. After swiping the book, Albert drives away, leaving the master thief in a thick puddle of his own blood.

Our Take

While the gun battle and the cat-and-mouse chase were exciting, this was primarily an exposition episode. However, in most cases, the exposition didn’t feel as if it were the information we needed. We learned the notebook is a forgery, but that doesn’t change the stakes. The DGSE still wants it due to the sensitive information within, and Albert’s game remains cloaked in mystery. We’re also given another dead body to pile on top of Gaston’s but even though Lupin had a relationship with the latter, we as an audience lack emotional investment in this story’s version of Lemmon and Mattheu.

The last episode left us with two burning questions. Who is Albert and what occurred between Lupin and him in the past? Having a week to sit on these questions gave us an appreciation for well-written suspense, but after the second week of no answers, it feels like the writers are unnecessarily teasing us. The one-upmanship game between the two parties isn’t as interesting as it should be. Without knowing the parameters of their relationship, it’s hard to really get invested in the struggle. While we do care about Lupin, this entire story seems a little one-sided.

As it is, Albert’s an interesting enough character and his similarities to Lupin are worth noting. Both of them are masters of disguise, they’re both deliberate/calculating, and they both enjoy stealing but not as much as the thrill of the chase. Obviously, Albert has a much higher professional profile than Lupin, but that reflects desire more than practicality. With all that Lupin has stolen over the years, he too could live a life of luxury. Instead, he chooses a low-key lifestyle where he can avoid unwanted attention whenever he wants. Albert, who chooses a life of ubiquity, is still able to work outside the law, but he lacks the absolute freedom and anonymity that Lupin often enjoys.

The first two episodes of this arc have created the perfect powder keg that has yet to spark. All the necessary pieces are in place, and our hero even finds himself in jeopardy as the plot begins to crescendo. Next week, I’m expecting a lot of big scenes and revelations that will help explain what this arc is really about as the plot takes shape. The key players will also be expected to make important choices. It’ll be fun to see how Lupin handles being vulnerable after having the world on a string all season long. For the entire series, really.