The recently released show “Lupin” starring French movie star sensation Omar Sy is a dramatic and compelling story with a touch of humor in which the deceptive main character is sure to have the audience on the edge of their seats.
“Lupin” tells the story of a young boy named Assan whose dad is wrongly accused of stealing one of the most important pieces of jewelry in French history called the Queen’s Necklace, which had been a part of a wealthy French family for generations. The show moves into the present day, where Assan plans to steal the necklace to cope with his father’s death after having taken inspiration from his favorite book, “Arsene Lupin: Gentleman Burglar,” featuring the complicated Detective Arsene Lupin.
In the book, Lupin is a detective who hides his identity from everyone and uses his charm in order to get what he wants. While the book actually talks about Detective Lupin’s grand robberies, the show explains that Assan uses the book almost as a way to heal from his father’s death and to remind himself that he, too, must deceive all people in his life in order to stay self-reliant.
While the show juggles many aspects of both modern culture and the theme of the original book, it is fascinating to see the psychology behind Assan’s actions and how they relate to the detective in the book.
Although the show does an amazing job of tying in the modern with the old, they could have done a better job explaining the original plot of the book so that the audience could have had a deeper understanding of how Assan and Detective Lupin’s stories are similar. Overall, however, the show effectively modernizes and contrasts the two stories in order to produce a compelling story.
The show brings a nice touch of the past into the present in referencing Arsene Lupin. While the story of this detective is more of a French reference than an American one, being able to see how such famous books can be introduced into an exciting and suspenseful TV show is truly fascinating. It is also interesting to see how the book impacts Assan’s life and why this one story has such an effect on him.
While it would be easy to judge Assan as a criminal, it is compelling to see how the show goes into detail about why he is the way he is and how his past has shaped him to deceive everyone in his life. Assan is not just a criminal with no back story, and he does not commit the crimes he does for his own pleasure, but rather as a survival skill. The show explains how, growing up, Assan rarely had someone to look after him and that he had to learn independence and to trust as little people as possible. The show ends with an immense cliffhanger as Assan’s lies catch up to him and could very easily cost him one of the only people he cares about. The suspense with which the season ends will leave viewers excitedly waiting for a continuation.
Omar Sy is a famous French actor who has played many different types of roles but mainly focuses on comedic roles. Therefore, it was interesting to see him play a more serious character and see how well he fit the role of a more complicated character. Seeing him play this role showed how flexible he is portraying different personas, and this made me like him so much more as an actor.
Overall,the show nicely contrasts both the book and Assan’s story in order to create an intense and dramatic series.