But why did you suddenly become crazy in love with him? Well, at first, I thought I would give up on him already. But have you ever heard of this “forbidden fruit is always sweeter”? Damn it. Back then, it seemed as if I was haunted by black magic. Imagine this. When I walked, whatever I did, and wherever I went to, I thought of him.
Damn. Episode 9 really shows the dynamic between Lupin and Fujiko. They genuinely love each other, even with all the betrayals in their relationship. Until now, that bond seemed mostly one-sided, with Lupin constantly going back to Fujiko over and over. Here, however, we see Fujiko kill someone she genuinely loved without hesitation when he was going to shoot Lupin.
I think Fujiko’s relationship with Poon provides another insight as to why she keeps betraying Lupin. She’s terrified of falling in love with someone only to be pulled away from them. All it took was one screw-up on a mission for Poon to be ordered to kill her. Even though he didn’t go through with it, they were doomed to never be together again after that.
She and Lupin court death on a regular basis. She probably feels the need to push him away whenever they become too close, as shown at the end of the episode, when she ditched him before they could have sex and was later seen crying on the pier alone. Maybe there’s a part of her that feels that Lupin would be better off without her, but she can’t help going back over and over again to one of the few people who can keep loving her after all she’s done. It doesn’t excuse what she does, but it sure as hell explains it.
Both Lupin and Fujiko are deeply-flawed people, and I think that’s why they work so well together. They accept each other as they are, good and bad.