Although the script for the second season of the French series features sometimes obvious, unrealistic and clichéd dramatic solutions in its narrative, the saga of the unbeatable gentleman thief and master of disguise Assane Diop who plans to avenge and do justice in his father’s name, against Hubert Pellegrini, a powerful and influential French high society man, continues throughout the 5 new episodes charming, exciting, seductive and entertaining, and now even more electrifying and daring!
“Lupin” is an adventure, drama and action French series created by George Kay and François Uzan for Netflix. Starring Omar Sy, Ludivine Sagnier, Etan Simon, Fargass Assandé, Antoine Gouy, Hervé Pierre, Clotilde Hesme, Vincent Garanger, Soufiane Guerrab, Shirine Boutella and Vincent Londez.
The series revolves around the saga of Assane Diop, a charming and mastery of thievery who, since he was a child, has seen his life influenced by a book about a gentleman thief ” Arsène Lupin”, written by the French author Maurice Leblanc, in 1906, that his father had given him on his birthday. The series features a narrative divided between flashbacks and actions in the present to justify the protagonist’s actions.
In season 1, Assane has a plan to steal a valuable necklace that belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette, at Louvre Museum, infiltrating into the famous French Art institution, with a false identity at the social event promoted by the Pellegrini foundation. That is how he starts his plan of vengeance.
In part two, Assane’s son Raoul is kidnapped by Leonard, the hitman who does dirty work for the wealthy Hubert Pellegrini. With the help of hard-working police officer Youssef Guedira (Soufiane Guerrab) who is undercover trying to capture Assane, they chase Leonard’s car in a mind-blowing sequence that reminds me of many Hollywood action movies. The kidnapping is a plan devised to lure Assane, to an old and abandoned mansion in the Normandy countryside, an ideal setting for the henchman to catch Assane. Youssef quietly contacts Sofia Belkacem and asks her for assistance, but Assane ties him up inside the car after revealing that he knows Youssef is a police officer.
Assane enters the house, fights Leonard, and throws him out the window. However, Leonard sets fire on his car, with Raoul locked in the boot. When Assane realises what has happened, he becomes devastated. A moment later, police officers arrive and arrest him. Following the sequence of scenes, a wonderful plot twist in the story reveals that Youssef managed to take Raoul out of the car’s trunk before the car fully caught fire.
From this moment on, Assane escapes from the police officers again, in a very clichéd conflict solution, by asking the police to go to the bathroom – there’s a lack of creativity from the writers here – and continues on his hero journey to find his son. At this point, Raoul is under Pellegrini’s custody, as the innocent policeman Youssef brought Assane’s son to his boss Gabriel Dumont, the commissioner of the Paris police department, who is a corrupt man and aligned with the millionaire Pellegrini in his crimes. However, Assane is free again to save his son and pursue his goal of bringing justice to his father.
The great asset of the series is once again to explore the charisma of actor Omar Sy who is very comfortable in his performance as a fanatical man for the adventures of the master of thieves Arsène Lupin and with hungry for justice. It gives a natural tone to the character that mixes a good portion of factual real-life drama with superhero adventures.
Season two’s plot explores a dark side of Paris in contrast to the charm and beauty of the first instalment, making me recall the story of Batman and his Gotham City. The plot continues to show us through flashbacks how Assane became the great master of disguises and theft. The friendship between Assane and Benjamin (Antoine Gouy) is depicted in a lovely way. Benjamin is Assane’s best friend since secondary school and partner in crime. The character has his importance valorised in the narrative. Part of the genius of Assane’s actions has the ‘signature’ of the intelligent Benjamin, in a partnership that alludes to the story of “Batman & Robin”, including a French bat-cave. Besides, a new facet of Juliette (Clotilde Hesme), Pellegrini’s daughter and Assane’s romantic affair since adolescence is revealed: she is a victim of her father’s toxic relationship and interests. In my opinion, just Claire didn’t have an evolution in her trajectory, which is something I missed in the series.
Finally, the story seems to resolve itself, despite many setbacks, and Assane gets what he wants: Pellegrini exposed in public as a corrupt, manipulative and sociopath, capable of using people like civil servants, French police or the state itself to achieve its goals, at all costs whatever it costs and, also in prison paying for his crimes.
Although Assane seems to have achieved his goal of doing justice for his father, the second season ends showing that a big plot twist will come next. He is not interested in pay to the French Justice for his unorthodox actions to get revenge and be arrested, and the French Department of Police will have a lot of work to chase him. That’s the hook the third season might explore considering the streaming giant has revamped “Lupin” for another adventure.
Let’s see what will happens next!
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