Lupin

⭐⭐⭐⭐ based on 2 reviews.

tl;dr: A highly enjoyable, solid thriller with some great twists and a brilliant lead actor. Definitely recommend watching with subtitles rather than dubbed.

Part One

Spoilers Ahead: My reviews are not spoiler-free. You have been warned.

We started watching Lupin with my parents at Christmas and kind of forgot about it for a bit, but once we jumped back in it didn't take long to round things out. Not that things round out much at all; that's one heck of a cliffhanger! Still, so far I've really enjoyed the suspenseful plot, the twists and turns, and the way our titular wannabe has been both running circles around the cops whilst still running into his own barriers. There have been some seriously dark moments and real thrill rides, all of which has been backed up by some clever plot devices and an excellent leading performance from Omar Sy.

I don't really have anything bad to say about the show. It leans a little heavily on the audience simply not knowing Lupin's plans for some of the twists, but they tend to be well enough done that I don't mind. I also imagine a lot of it is pulled from the original source material and modernised, but I don't know the books so can't really comment on fan service moments. I guess my only note of warning is that the English dubbing is pretty poorly done; watch it in the original French with subtitles to actually get a true sense of the emotionality of some of the scenes, and for Sy's true performance to shine through. But do watch it; Lupin is a lot of fun!

Part Two

Spoilers Ahead: My reviews are not spoiler-free. You have been warned.

Part one left us on quite the tense cliffhanger, and I felt that part two did that justice. I'm not 100% sure how the grande finale truly leaves things – will the prison sentence stick without any key witnesses? Was Julia just a pawn or did Lupin actually care for her? Will he end up exonerated or have to remain a fugitive? – but they've already announced a part three, so I guess it's not all neat and tidy.

Still, I felt like the second season had a little more weight to proceedings, and a little less reliance on cheap sleight of hand. Schemes like the faked art robbery were genuinely clever, and I really liked the increased focus on the various relationships: his fence, Benny; the ex-wife and son; and even the one competent cop, all became a little more fleshed out and interesting.

So much so in the last two episodes that it dramatically improved the season overall. Don't get me wrong, some of the moments around the kidnapping were a lot of fun, and the repercussions were much higher, but it felt a little less smooth somehow. That pivoted in the finale two episodes, particularly with the escape plans with Benny, and the ultimate twist-reveal about the accountant, all culminating in a really satisfying final episode. I'd be happy to get more Lupin, but I hope they move on to a different villain, or at least a slightly different angle. As it stands, though, we've had a really fun two-part tale.