"Mona Lisa Smiles Twice" note Original air date of December 24, 1979.
The Mona Lisa is going overseas, sent under the security of international police protection lead by none other than Inspector Zenigata. Lupin I failed to steal the painting once upon a time, and the good inspector has a feeling his longtime nemesis aims to succeed where his grandfather failed.
Sure enough, Lupin and company strike at the painting's temporary museum home in the Middle East. Using a comically giant balloon shaped like a woman, it draws Zenigata and the guards out to gawk before the blimp springs a leak and sends knockout gas everywhere. Landing on the roof, the gas-masked Lupin, Jigen and Goemon emerge from the balloon; while Goemon holds off the alert guards on the inside, Jigen breaks into the main security rooms and directs Lupin around the museum's carefully placed trap floor. Lupin successfully navigates the room and snags the painting, but on his way back over, the pattern of safe spots on the floor changes, triggering a massive trap door in the floor. It's only through some clever acrobatics and a last-minute rescue from Goemon that Lupin manages to keep from falling into Zenigata's prison and hold on to his precious date. The three manage to elude the guards and the groggy inspector, finally escaping with the painting via a zip line from the museum roof.
Examining their prize, Lupin leaves in to give Mona Lisa a kiss, but quickly spots that the painting they went to so much trouble has an issue. Although it's the same painting from the Louvre they say days before, it's also an excellent fake. He surmises the museum won't put the real one out anymore since it's been such a high profile target for crime over the years. Indeed, Zenigata has managed to keep the theft a secret and is nervously seen handing a Mona Lisa back to the Louvre's manager. He quietly tells the man about the fake contents, but the manager seems remarkably unconcerned by the news.
Indeed, that night, the manager calmly returns the fake Mona Lisa back to its spot in the Louvre's halls as if it were the real one. Lupin appears and confronts him about the fake painting, wanting to succeed at stealing the real one where his grandfather failed and ordering the manager to reveal where the real one is hidden. Bemused, the manager takes Lupin into the basement and reveals that he has an entire room full of fake Mona Lisas! Lupin is even more astounded when the man confesses he is obsessed with Mona Lisa and did all of the fakes himself. The problem comes is that the manager has done so many fakes, he can't remember which one of the paintings in the room is the real thing.
Lupin tries to find the real one, but the manager shrugs; as far as he's concerned, the fake ones bring as much pleasure and joy as the real one, so they're both worth the same. In the end, Lupin can't bring himself to disagree; he shows the rest of the gang the multitude of Monas hung on every available surface in a Louvre gallery, with the manager sitting on a chair midst all of them and framed as a work of art himself.
This episode features examples of:
- Butt-Monkey: For the internationally renowned head of security for the Mona Lisa, Zenigata goes through some rough treatment, getting his face needlessly pinched and pulled on, accidentally falling into his own trap for Lupin (requiring him to apply a giant block of ice to his butt as a result), and then being knocked loopy by Lupin's gas.
- Companion Cube: Lupin refers to the Mona Lisa as if it were a real woman throughout the episode. Indeed, leaning in to steal a kiss from the painting is what causes him to examine it closely enough to realize it's not the real thing. The manager of the Louvre treats her the same way, calling it his "daughter" and making Lupin more than a bit sympathetic to him in the end.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: When going to check on the Mona Lisa, Zenigata accidentally sets off the museum security system by stepping on the wrong part of the floor.
- Implausible Fencing Powers: Goemon blocks the bullets of the guards in the museum. There are so many that even he gets overwhelmed and has to flee.
- Latex Perfection: Used by Zenigata of all characters; he switches places with one of his underlings and then interrupts the painting's handover in France by ripping both of their disguises off to make a point: security can't trust anybody. It backfires when the rest of the security team decide to test that concept on Zenigata's own face... with pliers.
- Qurac: The unknown country that the Mona Lisa gets displayed in. Whatever it is, they threw a huge amount of money towards the painting's security, complete with a custom trapped room to display it in and an army of guards to protect it.
- Rock–Paper–Scissors: Lupin and Goemon play this to see who gets to view their stolen prize first. Lupin manages to psyche out Goemon and win the round.
- Trap Door: One that takes up almost the entirety of the Mona Lisa's display room overseas. It accidentally drops Zenigata in a deep pit, and even Lupin himself struggled not to fall in.
