At first, we found entertaining these grandiose stunts in the most beautiful corners of the capital, the disguises galore, these larcenies with ingenious scenarios that the gentleman burglar, who is inspired by the hero of Maurice Leblanc, always succeeds, with phlegm and smile. We know that all this is not very realistic but we let ourselves be taken by the incredible plot at the frantic pace and by the charm and charisma of Omar Sy. This time, it works at first, then we saturate, quickly, at the end of the first episode.
Is Part 3 of "Lupin", which will be released on Netflix on Thursday, October 5, one too many? Maybe. "The bigger it is, the more it passes," slips Assane Diop, from the first part, after stealing an extremely priceless black Tahitian pearl of inestimable value with disconcerting ease. This time, it's so big that it doesn't work anymore.
Petty theft follows each other and resembles each other
What do we find in this new season? Assane Diop is forced to live in hiding, far from his family. His ex-girlfriend, Claire, and their son Raoul live a hell, hunted by the paparazzi and monitored by the police. The hero foments a big blow, the theft in a jewelry store of the place Vendôme of the famous black pearl. Because Assane is fed up, he wants to flee, with his loved ones, to go far to be forgotten. Only, his relatives refuse to follow him for a life on the run. Then a key figure in the hero's life bursts in, after an absence of twenty-five years. Assane must change his strategy.
Petty theft follows one another. And they look damn alike, in the long run, finishing to tire us. We are lugged to city kingpins, with poker games, big calibers and armored van robbery. Then we go to the theft of a bracelet set with diamonds during a reception in a magnificent castle. All punctuated by flashbacks where we dive into the middle of the 1998 World Cup to discover important moments of Assane's past.
However, after two seasons, we knew the tricks of the series with Omar Sy. We were proud of our French fiction, which generated 76 million views in the first month for Part 1, quickly becoming one of the most viewed non-English programs in the history of the streaming platform. North and South America, but also Russia, India, Vietnam, the Middle East, Bangladesh and Qatar had succumbed to the charm of our "made in France" hero. Behind, it is the sales of the novels of Maurice Leblanc who knew a new youth with 100,000 copies sold of the "Gentleman burglar", republished in the wake of Hachette. In 2021, the year of release of the first season, attendance at the writer's house, in Étretat, had multiplied by ten.
Flat dialogues and caricatures
The "Lupin mania" was in full swing. And Omar Sy became more than an actor, a friend, almost, that we took pleasure in meeting in the evening in his living room. In this third salvo, the spectator always finds himself in the role of the accomplice, when the police question. This proximity with the star character is pleasant and we always take a malicious pleasure in following the classiest of burglars in his stalkers.
Read alsoLupin season 3: Netflix hijacks the ads of Rolex and Hermès... without jewelry
But indigestion comes quickly. And we are tired of clichés about journalists ready to do anything for a scoop, scripted laziness that wants to make us swallow snakes. Deja vu, flat dialogues. We liked the freshness of the secondary characters, like Benjamin (Antoine Gouy), the friend of Assane and Géo Trouvetout fanciful, or the lieutenant Guedira (Soufiane Guerrab), kindly naïve. But even they, in wear, have become caricatures.
The images show us a postcard Paris, with Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower galore, Place Vendôme, sumptuous mansions. We understand that the series aims at export, but we saturate with these drone views that show us this fantasized Paris from every angle, like "Emily in Paris". Will the international public be more forgiving?
Editor's note:
2.5/5
"Lupin, season 3", French police series by Georges Kay, with Omar Sy, Ludivine Sagnier, Soufiane Guerrab, Shirine Boutella, Antoine Gouy, Mamadou Haïdara... Seven episodes of 50 minutes.
