"Lupin," Part One

I've seen the first five episodes, half of the first season of the new "Lupin" series, created by George Kay and starring Omar Sy. It's my first foreign language series in a while (not counting anime), but it's also very familiar territory. "Lupin" is following in the footsteps of "Sherlock" and the other Steven Moffat retoolings of classic characters. Sy plays Assane Diop, a charming professional con-man who takes inspiration from Maurice LeBlanc's beloved literary gentleman thief, Arsene Lupin. And so there are capers, and misdirections, and disguises, and clever reveals all over the place, along with a lot of allusions and references to the original Lupin stories.

"Lupin" is not especially smart or well-written, but it is terribly charming and looks terrific. Likewise, Assane Diop may admire Arsene Lupin, but he's not Lupin, being prone to mistakes and bad decisions, and he often gets by on pure charisma and confidence. His various cons and thefts are all being carried out in order to fulfill a larger purpose: finding out why his father Babakar (Fargass Assandé) was framed for the theft of a necklace by his boss, Pellegrini (Hervé Pierre), when Diop was a child. Diop also has an ex-wife, Claire (Ludivine Sagnier), and teenage son, Raoul (Etan Simon), he's trying to do right by. And after the first daring heist, involving a theft from the Louvre, Diop also has the police trying to catch him, with the investigation lead by Captain Laugier (Vincent Londez).


"Lupin" largely rests on the shoulders of Omar Sy, who is physically about as far away from the classical Lupin character as you can get, but also absolutely irresistible in the part. He makes all the ridiculous gimmicks and disguises work, and puts some underdog heart into the story, enlivening the old heist and caper tropes. Because Assane Diop is so fallible, it introduces some real tension and suspense into what are pretty predictable scenarios, like an interrogation and blackmail attempt that goes totally sideways. Though I'm fairly sure that our intrepid hero will outwit everyone in the end, I also have no idea what twists and turns are coming next, and that's always fun. Not having much knowledge of the original source material, I'm enjoying staying spoiler free for the duration.



As with all series like this, however, I'm worried that "Lupin" may overstay its welcome. At five episodes, I was already getting a little restless toward the end, and finding out that the first season was actually twice as long was a little discouraging. I think my biggest issue is with the overreliance on flashbacks, where young Assane is played by Mamadou Haidara. There's simply not as much going on there, except to reveal how Assane Diop met and formed many relationships that are important to the present day story. They eat up a lot of time, and rarely offer up much important information, so they feel like filler. I think it's pretty telling that one major character has gotten next to no attention at all, despite probably being the secret big bad of the series.


What deficiencies there are in the writing and performances are smoothed over by the slick-looking production, full of beauty shots of Paris, snazzy action sequences, and a very quick pace. Louis Leterrier was recruited to direct the two most action-heavy installments, including the first episode with the big Louvre heist. I expect that some viewers will be a little disappointed that not every episode is so spectacle-heavy, but the story is strong enough, and Omar Sy's performance is magnetic enough that I was entertained the whole way through. And I'll likely finish out at least this season, whenever the rest of the episodes are released.

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