Imagine being so good at your job that even when you are sitting in prison, people still think you are out there robbing museums. Must be quite the reputation, no?
Welcome to the world of Assane Diop, the gentleman thief who has made a career out of fooling the police, charming his way out of impossible situations and reminding us that sometimes, the smartest person in the room is the one nobody is looking at. Only this time, the joke is on him.Netflix's Lupin returns with Part 4, and Omar Sy's ridiculously charming thief is in trouble.
Someone is stealing in his name, borrowing his tricks and turning his carefully cultivated reputation into a weapon against him. Imagine working so hard to build a brand, only for someone else to hijack it.
The audacity!The French crime thriller has always understood the joy of a good con. The disguises, the elaborate escapes and the satisfaction of watching Assane pull off something everyone else considers impossible are central to its appeal.
Part 4 introduces an opponent who knows his playbook and raises the stakes. The premise is a clever reversal of the show's familiar formula, even if the execution occasionally gets carried away.
The story picks up four years after Assane surrendered to the authorities at the end of the previous season. Having behaved himself in prison, he is finally close to freedom.
His ambitions are refreshingly simple: reunite with Claire (Ludivine Sagnier), reconnect with his son Raoul (Tho Christine) and finally take him to Senegal, as promised. No more robberies, elaborate disguises or run-ins with the police.
Just a father trying to get his life together. Surely, that cannot be too much to ask?
Apparently, it can. Days before his release, a series of museum robberies rocks Paris, with the criminal claiming the identity of Lupin.
The real Assane is behind bars, but the crimes are convincing enough to put him under suspicion. His reputation, which has helped him get away with almost everything, has suddenly become his biggest liability.
For once, the man who usually controls the narrative must figure out who is exploiting his methods and why.The heists remain a major attraction, with inventive disguises and ambitious set pieces. A sequence involving the Eiffel Tower and a ruby delivers the kind of big-screen spectacle the show clearly wants to be known for.
However, some plans demand an extraordinary amount of luck, precision and conveniently timed interventions. The spectacle is entertaining, but the plotting occasionally stretches credibility a little too far.
That is also where Part 4 stumbles. In trying to go bigger, Lupin sometimes loses the nimble storytelling that made its earlier instalments so enjoyable.
More elaborate schemes cannot always compensate for a story that feels a little too pleased with its own cleverness.Thankfully, Omar Sy remains an absolute delight. There is something wonderfully effortless about the way he plays Assane.
The smile, the swagger, the twinkle in his eye when he knows something everyone else doesn't. He can make a ridiculous plan look perfectly reasonable simply by standing there and looking pleased with himself.
More importantly, Sy never lets Assane become just another smug genius who is always right. There is warmth beneath the mischief and vulnerability beneath the confidence.That vulnerability matters because Assane's biggest mess has little to do with a stolen jewel.
It is his family. Claire has her own life to navigate, and Benjamin (Antoine Gouy), Assane's closest friend, complicates matters further.
Raoul is older now, and the distance between father and son cannot simply be erased with a grand gesture. Assane may be able to fool an entire police department, but winning back his family's trust is an entirely different operation.
There is no disguise for that, unfortunately.This is where the series finds some of its emotional heft. Assane's criminal life began with his father being falsely accused of stealing a valuable necklace.
Now, he faces an accusation that threatens to define him in the eyes of those he loves. The parallel gives the season more depth, exploring how prejudice, public perception and a convincing lie can become more powerful than the truth.The supporting cast does its job, with Sagnier lending Claire's predicament emotional weight and Soufiane Guerrab returning as investigator Gudira.
But this remains Sy's show, and he is easily its biggest attraction.Created by George Kay, Lupin continues to reimagine Maurice Leblanc's iconic gentleman thief for a contemporary audience. Part 4 is once again stylish, slick and entertaining, even if its ambition occasionally outpaces its storytelling.
It remains the kind of series you can happily binge, with Sy's magnetic performance and the family drama providing plenty of reasons to stay invested.As for Assane Diop, he may have met his match, but he has not lost his charm. And honestly, if someone this good-looking and clever is going to steal something, we might as well watch.- Ends