Mid-Season Madness
Episode 5 of Lupin begins with news breaking about Fabienne’s death. Speaking to Ben, Assane blames himself for getting her involved. Wondering whether to quit or not, Ben reminds him he has a wife and child – his priorities should lie with them. Given Assane made a promise to Raoul, he decides to drop this for now. Back at the police station, Guedira continues to research, putting all the pieces together alongside Assane’s face. Although Guedira isn’t officially on the case, he’s determined to figure out the truth. Pellegrini has his thug tail Assane but our gentleman thief quickly figures it out and evades him, hurrying to the rooftops. He salutes the thug and makes it to Raoul for his birthday, where he hands over a top hat as a gift. As we cut back in time to 2006, we see Claire in therapy talking about Assane and his job. Or, well, her lack of understanding surround exactly what he does. Claire starts to doubt herself and isn’t sure whether Assane is her soulmate or not. Given she’s pregnant, it just makes things that much more difficult. 2006 Assane is a master conman – disguised as a gentleman – encouraging a wealthy lady to hand over her valuables after fooling the police outside. He promises to take them down to the station and eventually takes off. This brings him to Benjamin where he hands over the prize. Ben is thoroughly impressed with his spoils but Assane is distracted. In fact, he’s distracted by Juliette who arrives and heads into one of the rooms nearby. Assane follows and the two flirt together, confirming they’ve been involved in an affair together. Assane decides to break things off, claiming he loves Claire. Thing are tense between him and Claire though, until she reveals that she’s pregnant. Assane can hardly disguise his smile, as he tells everyone in the restaurant he’s going to be a Dad. Back in the present, Raoul and Claire take off with Assane as part of the former’s birthday celebrations. After snapping a selfie together on the train, Assane spies Pellegrini’s thug behind them in the carriage. Assane leads the man up the carriage away from his family, eventually locking him in a storage room, and heading back to his family. Unfortunately it’s short-lived given this thug returns and sits next to Raoul. Realizing they’re in trouble, Assane does his best to hold his nerve. In fact, he drops a message for the Captain under the Paul Sernine alias, thanking him for the pen. It’s enough for the police to rally, finding the train and arresting Pellegrini’s man, who Assane frames with a diamond in the pocket. Bumont quickly dismisses this though, allowing the man to go free while Assane slips away. Assane and Claire get talking about their future but unfortunately lose Raoul down by the beach.Given he’s wearing a top hat, the horrible irony here is that the kid is taken using the exact same method Assane has been using to evade capture. As part 1 of Lupin comes to a close, Raoul is bundled into the car by Pellegrini’s man while Guedira finds Assane and calls him “Lupin.”
The Episode Review
Season 1 of Lupin comes to a dramatic mid-season closure with lots of questions hanging over this one. The cliffhanger here isn’t too annoying, especially given we know part 2 has already been green-lit and will come in the near future. For the time being though, Lupin delivers an exciting 5 episodes of heist thrills and espionage action, leaving the door wide open for where this second half may go. Assane’s character is well written too and although the middle chapters are a little slow and the police officers sadly under-developed, there’s enough here to enjoy nonetheless. Although none of the episodes match the brilliance of that opening heist at the Louvre, the rest of the season has been a solid and enjoyable watch nonetheless. If the second part is as solid as this one, we could be in for quite the ride!
