It’s been three years since the last time we saw Omar Sy in Lupin, but we give the show’s creator, George Kay, credit for only returning when there’s a good story. And in the fourth season, Assane Diop has to use all of his thieving skills in order to go straight.
LUPIN PART 4: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A shot of a prison. In side, master thief Assane Diop (Omar Sy) is working out. Two corrections officers approach him and ask him how he managed to get crooked entrepreneur Hubert Pellegrini (Hervé Pierre) out of France four years earlier.
The Gist: Assane has been in prison for those four years, and he’s about to be released due to exemplary behavior. He tells Youssef Guédira (Soufiane Guerrab), his friend and a Paris police detective, that his plan is to leave the world of high-stakes heists behind and take his son Raoul (Etan Simon) to Senegal to meet Assane’s family, as he promised Raoul before entering prison.
A few days before his release, though, a cyberattack that is designed to look like it came from Assane and his Lupin persona tells everyone in Paris that two museums will be robbed at the same time. To keep an eye on Assane, the prison’s warden puts him in a straightjacket and in a special plexiglass cube. But the lights go out, Assane supposedly disappears, and the robberies go off as expected.
In the process of chasing down who they think is Assane, Youssef’s partner, Captain Sofia Belkacem (Shirine Boutella), is severely injured. This makes Youssef determined to go after Assane. But Assane insists he didn’t do it, telling Youssef all the ways this copycat assailant pulled off the thefts, including making it look like he escaped.
In order to clear his name, Assane escapes for real and goes to the one person who thinks might have some information: Pellegrini’s daughter Juliette (Clotilde Hesme).
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As we said when this show debuted, Lupin reminds us of Money Heist, but with a more personal angle.
Our Take: The first new season of Lupin since 2023 has Assane assuming his Lupin persona in order to clear his name, instead of pulling off a complex and showy heist, like he usually does. It’s an intriguing story, given the idea that Assane seems to be truly on the road to leaving the criminal world behind and getting to know his son, but he still has to use his copious skills in order to get to that point.
What will be interesting is to see how Assane tries to rebuild things with Raoul, who lives with his mother (and Assane’s ex) Claire (Ludivine Sagnier), who is now dating Assane’s longtime friend Ben (Antoine Gouy). That is going to be Assane’s motivation to likely bend and break the law in order to clear his name. But going back to the daughter of his archenemy is also going to make this season intriguing. Assane has to find out who implicated him but somehow figure out how to not land back in prison for another decade, and get Raoul back on his side he can fulfill his pre-prison promise to his son.
But what has always been one of the best aspects of the series, aside from Sy’s performance, is the cleverly complex heists that are planned and executed. We’re curious to see if this season culminates in a heist that outs the copycat.
Performance Worth Watching: Omar Sy is always charming as Assane, but he also carries the weight of what Assane’s chosen profession has done to his personal and family life, just under that charming exterior.
Parting Shot: A drone, supposedly controlled by the copycat thief, follows Assane around after he escapes. When it gives Assane an earpiece so the copycat can talk to Assane, the copycat says “Lupin vs. Lupin; now that’s a game I like.” Assane replies, “No. Believe me, you won’t like it.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. Lupin continues to be propelled by Omar Sy’s charms and its complex and audacious heist scenes. But the story that’s driving the new season is intriguing because Assane has to apply all of his skills in order to leave behind his life of crime.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.