Series / Lupin (2021)

aka: Lupin

"Arsène Lupin is more than a book. It’s my heritage. My method. My path. I am Lupin."

—-Assane Diop

Lupin is a Netflix-produced French crime thriller series created by George Kay and François Uzan and directed by Louis Leterrier, Marcela Said, Ludovic Bernard, Hugo Gélin, Daniel Grou and Xavier Gens. It began streaming on on January 8, 2021. Upon its release, Lupin became Netflix' most successful non-English-language series of all time, maintaining this distinction until Squid Game came out later that year.

The show stars Omar Sy in the role of Assane Diop, a professional thief whose father Babakar, an immigrant from Senegal, died by an apparent suicide in his prison cell after his employer, the wealthy and powerful Hubert Pellegrini, framed him for the theft of an expensive diamond necklace that once belonged to Marie-Antoinette.

Twenty-five years later, Assane, inspired by his love for Arsène Lupin novels after Babakar gifted him one for his 14th birthday, uses his charisma and his mastery of thievery, subterfuge and disguise, as well as some help from his antiquarian best friend Benjamin, to get revenge on the Pellegrini family and to find proof of his father's innocence. However, Assane struggles to balance his quest for vengeance with his duties to his estranged wife Claire and their young son Raoul. And to complicate matters further, a shrewd police detective—who is also a huge fan of the Lupin stories—has begun to connect the dots regarding Assane's activities.

In addition to Sy, the series stars Ludivine Sagnier as Claire Laurent, Antoine Gouy as Benjamin Férel, Soufiane Guerrab as Detective Youssef Guédira, Shirine Boutella as Lieutenant (later Captain) Sofia Belkacem, Hervé Pierre as Hubert Pellegrini, Clotilde Hesme as Juliette Pellegrini, and Etan Simon as Raoul Diop.

A second season was released on June 11, 2021, and a third came out on October 5, 2023.

It is not related to Lupin III, although they share the same inspiration.

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Lupin provides examples of:

# to D

• The '90s: The flashbacks to Assane's youth take place in 1995 (and, in Part 3, 1998). The cars seen in the streets, the fact that francs (rather than euros) are being used as currency, Benjamin's shaggy hairstyle and Claire's double-denim outfits are all era-appropriate. In Part 3, the 1998 World Cup, which France famously won, is also a plot point.
• Accents Aren't Hereditary: In the flashbacks, Babakar has an accent typical of French speakers from West Africa, but Assane just sounds like an average kid from the Parisian banlieues, even though it's implied that they had both moved from Senegal not too long before 1995.
• Actor Allusion:
  • There are a number of possible references to Intouchables, the film which first made Omar Sy (as Driss) an international success:
    • Assane's dancing to the Four Tops in his apartment seems to be a nod to Driss dancing to "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire.
    • In Intouchables, Driss steals a Fabergé egg from Philippe, his wealthy employer. In Lupin, Assane repeats the feat while scamming a rich older woman.
    • There's also a scene in which Fabienne states that Hubert Pellegrini is "untouchable."
  • Assane's final disguise as a fireman looks a lot like Omar Sy's Bishop get-up from X-Men: Days of Future Past.
• Adaptation Amalgamation: The show mixes and matches elements from different Arsène Lupin stories rather than making any attempt to adapt them directly. Justified in that it's not a true adaptation but rather the story of a man who is inspired by the Lupin books.
• All for Nothing: Assane's decision to appear on The Other Edition. Not only does it fail to take down Hubert, it also leads to Fabienne's murder and more indirectly to every major problem that Assane faces from there on out.
• Alternate Universe: The first two parts of the series are set in 2020 (as seen on various newspapers and with a mention of Raoul's birthday on December 11, 2020), but there isn't a single visible sign of the COVID-19 Pandemic (restaurants are open while they weren't in France back then, and no one wears a protective mask), which 2020 will be forever associated with. It would probably have been too impractical to include it in the plot, and half of the series was filmed before it broke out.
• Anachronic Order: The present timeline is regularly intercut with flashbacks which contextualize the events occurring currently, or represent analogous situations which Assane remembers in order to figure out the best course of action.
  • The flashbacks in Part 3 take a slightly different approach, following a linear storyline in which Assane joins a boxing club. It's not until around two thirds of the way through the season that it becomes clear exactly how this is relevant to the present-day events.
• The Annotated Edition: Assane gives Raoul his old copy of the Arsène Lupin book, which has his own notes scribbled all over it.
• Apathetic Citizens: While Assane and Claire's backs are turned, Raoul gets abducted by Léonard. From a crowded beach, in broad daylight. And none of the many people standing near him seem to have noticed or cared, aside from Guédira.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Played straight with Hubert Pellegrini, but downplayed for his wife and daughter, who respectively come across as being Weak-Willed and a bit snobby but generally well-meaning.
• Artistic License:
  • Raoul's fourteenth birthday is established to be on December 11th, 2020. However, this fell on a Friday, and December 11th is not typically part of the Christmas holiday as observed by French schools, which means that Raoul would have had to have skipped school in order to take a day trip to Étretat with his parents. No indication is given that he did so.
  • The Wikipedia of the show's universe apparently has some very lax editing standards, given that Assane is able to create entire detailed entries for nonexistent people such as Paul Sernine. Were this Real Life, something like that would have been removed immediately.
  • Had Guédira actually read all of the Lupin stories as he claims to have done, he'd have been well aware that the Significant Anagrams "Luis Perenna" and "Paul Sernine" are both canonical aliases of Arsène Lupin—which is to say, he shouldn't have needed to put any effort into decoding them. The series likely ignores this to give him his first "Eureka!" Moment.
  • In episode 3.04, Claire goes to the library to find the Arsène Lupin book Edith au Cou de Cygne ("Edith Swan-Neck"). There is no standalone Lupin book with this title; rather it's a short story which was published in the 1913 anthology Les Confidences d'Arsène Lupin.
  • The extent to which people are depicted as being reliant on print media seems rather fanciful for a show which is unambiguously set in The New '20s. This is especially noticeable in Part 3, in which the characters routinely seek out physical copies of newspapers and books when they could easily have found the information they were looking for online—particularly when one considers that the Arsène Lupin character has been in the public domain in France since 2012.
• Artistic License – Biology: Assane and Claire's conversation on "Raoul's bridge" in the 2006 flashback suggests that they are aware that their unborn child is going to be a boy. However, it's strongly implied that Claire had discovered that she was pregnant very shortly before revealing it to Assane, meaning that it would have been too early for the baby's biological sex to be determined.
• Artistic License – Geography:
  • The series suggests that there are train connections directly from Le Havre to Étretat; these were discontinued years before 2020, when Parts 1 and 2 are set.
  • The various journeys taken between Paris and Normandy seem to last anywhere between two and seven hours, given the depicted sunset and sunrise times. An actual car ride from the middle of Paris to Étretat would take around three hours.
    • The sun should have been starting to set at the time of Raoul's kidnapping, given that it happens in the middle of the afternoon in northern France, less than two weeks away from the winter solstice. However, in the series, there are evidently several more hours of full daylight following the abduction.
  • In Parts 1 and 2, Benjamin's antique shop is located in the flea markets at Saint-Ouen, a suburb just north of Paris. However, right after he flees the shop when he and Assane are found out, he's suddenly walking around Bercy, a neighborhood in the southeast of the city.
• Artistic License – History: The Marie Antoinette necklace doesn't look like its historical counterpart (which has disappeared, but copies have survived).
• Artistic License – Law: Because Hubert's confession to all of his crimes was clearly coerced under duress by Assane, it would almost certainly be considered inadmissible as evidence in Real Life.
• The Bad Guys Are Cops: Over the course of the series, we learn that there is an alarming amount of corruption in the Paris police department, starting straight from the top. However, Laugier, Belkacem and Guédira avert this trope.
• Balkan Bastard:
  • Bogdan, the thug who threatens Assane in prison, seems to be one of these.
  • The name of the sex trafficker whom Assane accuses Dumont of having accepted bribes from ("Damir Cilic") indicates that he's of ex-Yugoslav ancestry.
• Batman Gambit:
  • The Marie Antoinette necklace heist has Assane expecting his gang to betray him and turn all the police attention on themselves like thugs of their kind usually do, thereby allowing him to steal the necklace under everyone's noses while throwing the fake one on the ground.
  • Assane understands Juliette's nostalgia for their old fling well enough to know exactly what to do and say to her so that she'll fall further and further into his arms and turn on her father.
• Bear Hug: Assane often gives these to his family.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Can apply to the major female characters in the series.
  • Juliette represents beauty: a tall, sophisticated heiress who clearly invests a lot of time into looking her best, but who tends towards naiveté and thus gets taken for a ride—both literally and metaphorically—by Assane.
  • Claire represents brains: an unassuming yet quick-witted single mother who is an Excellent Judge of Character and, being one of the very few people who truly understands Assane, is even able to get the better of him on occasion.
  • Belkacem represents brawn: a tough, Tsundere-ish Action Girl who makes up for her relative lack of cleverness with her tenacity and grit.
  • Part 3 introduces new female characters in Manon and Fleur, who can be grouped under brawn and brains respectively.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: At the beginning of Part 3, Claire ruefully tells Assane that the only way he would be able to make things right for her and Raoul would be to turn himself in to the police. By the end of the season, that's exactly what he's done—except by that point Claire is devastated by the decision.
• Becoming the Mask: In Assane's words, "I am Lupin."
• Betty and Veronica: Claire is the caring and down-to-earth Betty to Juliette's more ostentatious and outgoing Veronica. Since Claire is blonde and Juliette is brunette, they also qualify as Light Feminine and Dark Feminine. Fittingly, Juliette is drawn to Assane's more roguish side, as opposed to Claire, who fell for Assane when he described himself as a "gentleman."
• Big Bad Ensemble: Hubert Pellegrini, his associates, and the police all function as antagonists in the series, although (aside from Dumont) the last of these may be more accurately described as Hero Antagonists, since their main desire is simply to do their job by capturing a notorious criminal. And by the end, the three-officer unit of Laugier, Belkacem and Guédira have pretty much crossed over into being protagonists, as they're the ones who wind up taking Hubert and Dumont into custody.
  • Keller and his crew fulfill this role in Part 3.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Guédira, when he saves Raoul from getting burned alive by Léonard.
  • Guédira, Belkacem and Laugier when they arrest Dumont while allowing Assane to walk free, for the time being at least.
• Big Damn Reunion: These seem to happen around Once a Season for Assane, Claire and Raoul.
• A Birthday, Not a Break:
  • Apparently, Babakar died around the time of his son's birthday. After the funeral, Assane finds the present (an Arsène Lupin book) that his father had intended to give to him.
  • Poor Raoul gets kidnapped and nearly killed on his fourteenth birthday.
    • His fifteenth birthday doesn't seem to have been that great either since it occurred two days after Assane's funeral.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • The ending to Part 2, which has Assane, having seen off both Hubert and Dumont, finally reuniting with his family but telling them that he needs to leave town for a while to keep them safe.
  • Part 3 has one as well. To summarize: Assane turns himself in to the police in return for his family's safety and Benjamin's release. Although she's now free from media harassment, Claire is distraught that she, Raoul and Assane will once again not be able to be together. Oh, and Assane's old friends the Pellegrinis are back on the scene in a major way. Plus, it's vaguely implied that Mariama is not quite what she seems. The only characters who really get a happy ending are Manon and Bruno, who decide to re-open Keller's old boxing club, but without the toxic masculinity and with a Lupin-inspired theme.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: Sure, Hubert Pellegrini is a completely unrepentant Jerkass on every level, but Assane has certainly done questionable things as well...
• Black and Nerdy: Assane is a Lupin-loving nerd, and it seems like Babakar was a fan of the stories before him. Raoul may count, too, although he's mixed-race since his mother is Caucasian.
• Black Is Bigger in Bed: A young Juliette invokes this when seducing 14-yea- old Assane when he comes to the house of the Pelligrinis...even though the thing she ends up saying is that she heard that Black people "can't swim well."
• Book Safe: When he was 14, Assane hollowed out the Bible he was given to hide Arsène Lupin novels in it.
• Boring Insult: After Assane breaks off his and Juliette's affair in order to commit to his relationship with Claire, Juliette complains that Claire's name is boring, and that this means that her personality must be boring as well. Later on, when she and Assane meet in the present day, Juliette insinuates that Claire's life is dull and unfulfilling.
• Brand X:
  • "Deli + Eat" stands in for Uber Eats.
  • Dumont's Siri/Alexa-like virtual assistant is called "Circe."
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Assane, during the period in which he thinks that Babakar was truly responsible for the necklace theft.
  • Another one for teenaged Assane when he realizes what a bad guy Keller is.
  • Juliette experiences this when she finds out that the father she's been close with her entire life is a murderous monster who wanted to steal millions of euros from her own foundation.
  • Manon, when Assane tells her the full story of how Keller took advantage of everyone he claimed to be protecting.
• Brutal Brawl: Assane gets involved in several, but his fight with Pascal in Chapter 10 of Part 2 stands out in particular.
• Call-Back:
  • Part 2's final scene on "Raoul's bridge" is a reference to the 2006 flashback sequence in which Assane and Claire choose Raoul's name.
    • The bridge also appears in the final episode of Part 3, as it's the location where Assane steals a motorboat.
  • The Objector, the newspaper where Fleur works, is the one that Fabienne originally helped to get off the ground.
• The Cameo:
  • Mathieu Lamboley, the composer of the series' soundtrack, can be seen conducting the Part 2 finale.
  • Co-creator and writer François Uzan appears as the dock inspector in episode 3.07.
• Casting Gag:
  • This isn't the first time that Ludivine Sagnier and Clotilde Hesme have played women in love with the same man.
  • Probably unintentional, but Antoine Gouy as Benjamin bears a passing resemblance to Fred Testot, Omar Sy's former comedy partner.
• Chekhov's Gun: In one of the 1998 flashbacks, Claire teases Assane for his habit of placing ketchup bottles in the refrigerator upside-down. In the present day, her knowledge of this quirk clues her into the fact that Raoul's basketball coach "Alex", who does the same thing, is actually Assane in disguise.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Two prisoners that Assane meets in Chapter 2 reappear in Chapter 8 disguised as police officers meeting with Juliette.
  • Philippe Courbet, Hubert's young, bespectacled accountant, is actually an accomplice of Assane and Benjamin.
• Chevalier vs. Rogue: Teenaged Claire invokes this trope near verbatim when she suggests that there are two kinds of men (and initially claims not to like either category, although she's more than willing to accept Assane as a companion even after designating him as a "chevalier"). Assane later claims that he's a third type, the "gentleman", which moves Claire to kiss him.
• Chilly Reception:
  • Assane gets one in prison.
  • Léonard, Assane and Guédira all experience this in the sleepy Normandy town of Bourneville. It's implied that this is because none of the three are white (Assane and Léonard are Black while Guédira is North African).
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
  • Captain Laugier, a fairly important character in Parts 1 and 2, simply disappears from Part 3 with no explanation as to where he went. In his absence Belkacem is promoted from lieutenant to captain, and neither she nor Guédira ever brings him up in casual conversation.
  • A minor arc in Part 2 sees Claire attempting to move on from Assane by hooking up with a co-worker named Marc, who is entirely absent and unmentioned in Part 3. In this case, though, it seems reasonable to assume that the combination of Claire's obvious unresolved feelings for Assane and the media frenzy surrounding her made him decide that pursuing the relationship just wasn't worth it.
• Clear My Name: Outside of getting revenge against the Pellegrini family, Assane's main drive is to prove that his deceased father was not guilty of stealing Marie-Antoinette's diamond necklace and was framed for it instead. By the end of Part 2, he's also forced to prove that he's not a murderer.
• Cliffhanger:
  • The ending of Part 1 has Raoul getting kidnapped, Claire and Assane desperately searching for him, and Assane finally coming face to face with Guédira.
  • Episode 2.01's conclusion leads the viewer (and Assane) to believe that Raoul has been killed.
  • Episode 2.02 ends with Claire telling Assane to run away before he can be caught by the police.
  • The first episode in Part 3 ends with Assane falling multiple stories from a roof, seemingly to his death.
  • The final scene in Episode 3.06 has Keller breaking into Claire's apartment.
  • Part 3's finale ends with a Reveal Shot showing that Assane's neighbor in prison is Hubert Pellegrini.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Belkacem for Guédira and Claire for Raoul. In terms of how they demonstrate their somewhat exasperated affection, Belkacem is the firm hand to Claire's gentle touch.
• Commonality Connection: Benjamin and Claire are depicted as being good friends due to their both having close relationships with Assane.
• The Con: The series isn't short on them.
• Consistent Clothing Style:
  • Assane and his trenchcoats, flat caps, Fred Perry jackets and Air Jordans.
  • Benjamin usually wears skinny jeans, button-down shirts and brown overcoats.
  • Léonard is easily distinguished by his habit of wearing a long beige overcoat all the time.
• Contrived Coincidence: Given that there are multiple hospitals in the Paris area, it's more than a little convenient that Assane picked the one where Claire works as the location for his fake autopsy. This is what ultimately allows Claire to figure out that Assane is still alive, as she discovers that "Doctor Vernes" (a.k.a. Philippe Courbet) was never in the hospital's database.
• Corrupt Politician: Thierry Floron, the minister of the interior.
• Crystal-Ball Scheduling: While it's not a direct adaptation of the Arsène Lupin stories, it essentially updates them for the twenty-first century, with Assane recreating some of Lupin's famous heists, and with many of the other characters being inspired by actual Lupin characters. Usually, in-story, this is referenced by someone in the episode (most often Guédira or Raoul) reading the corresponding Lupin adventure, and at least in the early episodes the stories were in publishing order.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right:
  • The other police officers are alternately amused or dismayed by Guédira's attempts to link the crimes they are investigating with the Arsène Lupin stories; however, this makes him the only one who is able to deduce what Assane's plans really are. Eventually, Laugier and Belkacem realize that he was correct about essentially everything and begin to trust his insights more and more.
  • In Part 3, the series' resident Lupin nerds Guédira and Raoul are both convinced that Assane is faking his death. Belkacem dismisses Guédira's ideas out of hand, while Claire worries that Raoul hasn't progressed past the denial stage of grief. The two cloudcuckoolanders are ultimately proved right, although the reactions of their minders couldn't be more different: Claire breaks down in Tears of Joy while Belkacem is furious.
• Darker and Edgier: The tone of the series shifts towards the somber with Fabienne's death, and becomes outright dark with Raoul's kidnapping. Once the latter plotline is resolved, however, the lightness of the early episodes returns (to an extent at least).
• Dating Catwoman: Assane and Juliette have this dynamic when they're together, since Juliette is the daughter of Assane's number one enemy.
• Deal with the Devil:
  • Dumont's descent into villainy began when he accepted Hubert's proposal to frame Babakar for the necklace theft.
  • Claire agrees to turn Assane over to Hubert in exchange for his giving Raoul back to her, although she regrets it and warns Assane before he can get caught.
  • Pretty much all of the disadvantaged kids who joined Keller's boxing club and paid him to pose as their legal guardians. Downplayed slightly in that they weren't aware that they were actually buying their way into a criminal gang.
• Death Glare: Assane, whenever he's upset with someone. He gives a particularly intimidating one when he's extracting Hubert's confession.
• Declaration of Protection: Assane makes one to Claire regarding their child, after she tells him that she is pregnant.
• Deconstruction: The series gradually becomes one for the Lupin stories, as it shows how Assane's life of crime and habitual lying puts strain on his relationships with his loved ones. By the end of Part 2, Assane gets to experience the full reality of being an internationally famous criminal, including being forced to go on the run.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Happens in the 1995 flashbacks, where Assane and Babakar both experience fairly blatant, unapologetic racism and classism (Assane is still on the receiving end of this in the present timeline, but it's a lot less overt). Claire, meanwhile, gets sexually harassed by a group of boys on a regular basis.
• Department of Child Disservices: Apparently nobody in the Parisian social services department ever found it odd that Keller was the godfather to a whole crew of teenaged orphans, or attempted to run a simple background check on him.
• Destroy the Security Camera: Part of Assane's plan for the Louvre heist involves the loan sharks disabling all of the security cameras.
• Deuteragonist: Claire, Benjamin and Guédira take turns being this depending on the episode.
• Did I Mention It's Christmas?: Although a large portion of the series takes place in mid to late December, there is no indication whatsoever that it's Christmas time, aside from a couple of newspaper headlines ("Merry Christmas, Mr. Johnson," in reference to Boris Johnson, at that time the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom).
  • Part 3 is set exactly a year later, and the signs of the holiday season are a bit more obvious: for instance, in episode 3.01, the Place Vendôme is ringed by Christmas trees. The trope is still played straight, however, in that nobody ever wishes anyone a "joyeux noël", and Claire and Raoul don't have any Christmas decorations up in their apartment.
• Did Not Die That Way: Babakar didn't commit suicide; rather, he was murdered by Léonard.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
  • Assane whistles his musical motif while dressed in his janitor getup at the end of the first episode.
  • The main themes of the series crop up in the symphony that the orchestra is playing in Chapter 10.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After Babakar dies in prison, Anne offers to help Assane in any way she can. Assane, however, wants nothing to do with the Pellegrinis and tells her to go fuck herself.
• Dramatic Irony: Played for Laughs during the subplot in which Claire begins falling for Raoul's basketball coach Alex, unaware that he is actually Assane in heavy prosthetics.
  Claire: It's funny—you're absolutely nothing like Assane. You're considerate, you're calm...but the one thing you two have in common is that you both never worry.
  Assane, as Alex: But I do. I worry all the time.
• Dreaming of a White Christmas: Averted, as no snow is seen although a lot of the series takes place in December. Significant snowfall in this part of France is rare even in winter.

E to M

• Early-Installment Weirdness: A minor plot point in the first episode concerns Assane being late on a scheduled alimony payment that he is supposed to make to Claire, suggesting a far more formalized nature to their separation than what is depicted in the rest of the series.
• Early Personality Signs:
  • Assane is characterized by his dislike for formal authority, his ability to think quickly in a crisis and his willingness to attempt daring feats. His fourteen-year-old self demonstrates this by trying to escape out a window rather than being taken to social services by Dumont after Babakar's death.
  • Benjamin is always willing to help Assane out, but prefers to do it in a more "behind-the-scenes" fashion. He assists Assane in his theft of a violin...by offering to stand outside and keep watch.
  • In 1995, Claire tries to stop Assane from fighting their bullies on her behalf (but he does it anyway, and she winds up giving him an After Action Patch Up). In the present, although she still cares about Assane, she prefers to stay away from his criminal life and instead focuses on raising their son while supporting them by working at a hospital.
• Epic Fail:
  • Assane's theft of the violin ends up being this when he gets caught in the middle of Claire's audition, particularly since Claire gets apprehended as well, likely destroying any possible future she had as a professional violinist.
  • The season three premiere shows a flashback in which Assane tries to steal the Black Pearl and is caught. He tries to get out of it by passing himself off as a cop using a stolen badge only for one of the arresting officers to recognize the badge as his own.
• Evidence Dungeon: A rare example in that it belongs to the protagonist, but Assane's apartment is crammed with Arsène Lupin-related stuff. When the police raid it, they realize that Guédira's theory about the Lupin connection wasn't so far-fetched after all!
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Fabienne's dog, J'accuse, is trained to bark whenever he hears the name "Pellegrini."
• Expy: The crux of the series is that Assane is a modern day Arsène Lupin, being a Gentleman Thief and Phantom Thief who pulls off high profile heists, but with his own different background. He styles himself after the character In-Universe, having been a fan since his teenage years.
  • Not just Assane, either. Many of the other characters are at least inspired by people encountered by the actual Arsène Lupin.
    • Youssef Guédira is essentially an updated version of Inspector Ganimard, a police officer who makes repeated attempts to catch Lupin. This gets referenced In-Universe, with Assane frequently referring to Guédira as "Ganimard." Somewhat subverted in that Guédira is more clever and insightful than his Lestrade-like literary counterpart, who relies more than anything on dogged willpower (and is thus more akin to Belkacem).
    • Babakar is largely based on Lupin's mother Henriette d'Andrésy (who was also mistreated while working for a wealthy family); however, his death in prison appears to have been taken from the fate of Lupin's father Theophraste.
    • Claire's name, at the very least, seems to have been taken from that of Clarice d'Etigues, a childhood sweetheart of Lupin.
    • Josephine Balsamo, one of the major antagonists in the Lupin books, has her characterization split between Hubert and Juliette Pellegrini.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Not counting the flashbacks, the fifth, sixth and seventh episodes together take place entirely on December 11th and 12th, 2020. Parts 1 and 2 as a whole span mid-October to late December.
• Fake Charity: Played with. Juliette, like all of her wealthy donors, fully believes that her foundation for disadvantaged children is entirely legitimate. However, Hubert has set things up so that 85% of the donations go to a personal offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands, which renders the entire project a scam. Luckily, Assane and Benjamin manage to reroute the money back to the foundation.
• Faking the Dead: Done by Assane at the beginning of Part 3.
• Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Subverted. At first it appears that Assane's job as a janitor at the Louvre is this, but it's all just an act.
• Family Business: Hubert appears to be mentoring Juliette to succeed him as the head of the Pellegrini business empire.
• Father's Quest: Assane rampages across the Normandy countryside in order to retrieve Raoul from the clutches of his enemies.
• Females Are More Innocent:
  • Anne and Juliette Pellegrini are, respectively, uninvolved in and unaware of Hubert's crimes.
  • Claire absents herself from Assane's criminal life, though she does know about it. Downplayed somewhat as the series goes on, however, as she gets a number of Corrupt the Cutie moments which have her snooping around and manipulating or tricking others in a Lupin-esque fashion.
  • Averted for Manon, who plays The Dragon to Keller (although even she winds up doing a Heel–Face Turn).
• Feuding Families: The Diops and the Pellegrinis.
• First-Episode Twist: When we're first introduced to Assane, he seems to be little more than a down-on-his-luck janitor who struggles to pay alimony to his ex-wife and comes up with a harebrained scheme to rob the Louvre in order to make a quick sum. By the end of the first episode, we learn that none of this is true.
• First Girl Wins: Claire is the first of Assane's love interests that the audience encounters, and the show ultimately establishes that she is Assane's One True Love. Averted if you consider Juliette to be the first girl, since Assane met her first chronologically.
• Fish out of Water: 14-year-old Assane—an orphaned black boy from a working-class background—is this when he gets transferred to the College d'Andrésy, experiencing bullying from some of the largely wealthy and white student body. Fortunately, Benjamin comes to his aid.
• Flashback: How most of the characters' backstories are revealed. Flashbacks to Assane's youth or young adulthood are shown in every episode aside from 1.04.
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble:
  • Assane is the Optimist, who possesses an unfailing belief in his own greatness as a Gentleman Thief, and who can get past nearly any obstacle with both Force and Finesse.
  • Hubert Pellegrini is the Cynic, a Corrupt Corporate Executive whose main desire is profit and doesn't care at all about the people he harms in achieving his aims.
  • Benjamin is the Realist, who frequently questions exactly how he and Assane are going to accomplish a certain caper, and acts as the Agent Scully when he senses that Assane is letting his emotions get the better of him.
  • Claire is the Conflicted, as she is always caught between her genuine affection for Assane and her optimism that he can change, and her more pragmatic desire to keep herself and Raoul out of harm's way.
• Frameup:
  • Assane's father was accused by Hubert Pellegrini of stealing Marie-Antoinette's necklace in the 1990s. Anne Pellegrini then made him sign a fake confession for the theft, after which he gets sent to prison. The whole ordeal is set up to make it look as if it drove him to commit suicide, but it's later revealed that Hubert's Mook Léonard actually killed him.
  • Assane attempts to frame Léonard for being behind the robbery of the necklace by slipping one of the diamonds into his pocket and then calling the police; however, the cops find out that he bears little physical resemblance to descriptions of the actual thief (which is to say, Assane) and that he has a solid alibi for the time of the theft, so he is released. It's also entirely possible that Dumont called in a favor to get him out.
  • Hubert tries to remove two of his problems at once by having Léonard murdered and framing Assane for it.
  • In Part 3, Assane and Benjamin plan to steal a bracelet together, but at the behest of Mariama's kidnappers, Assane sets Benjamin up as the Fall Guy.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Many. By pausing at the right point, the viewer is able to read much of Babakar's police file, the Wikipedia page for "Paul Sernine", Hubert's official 1995 statement to the police about the missing necklace, Fabienne's obituary and more.
• Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow: Shortly after Claire reveals her pregnancy, Assane promises to stop all his "fuck-ups" and commit fully to being a father. And that's exactly what he does.
• Friendly Enemy: Although Assane and Guédira are operating on opposite sides of the law, the two clearly have a good deal of respect for one another, particularly after Guédira saves Raoul from a fiery death. Guédira, meanwhile, can't help but think that the idea of being the Ganimard in a real-life Lupin story is just so cool.
• Gay Paree: Somewhat subverted, in that you get glimpses of the banlieues and prisons of Paris in addition to shots of the Louvre, the Seine, the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Coeur.
• Generation Xerox: Three generations of Diop males are harmed, directly or indirectly, by Hubert.
• Getaway Driver: Rudy for the Louvre heist, and Benjamin for the opera house showdown (although in both cases, Assane ends up leaving separately).
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: The flashback sequences in Part 3 have this dynamic, as Assane is pulled between the contrasting influences of Claire (the kindhearted, pacifistic Good Angel) and Keller (the brutal, malevolent Bad Angel). Claire eventually wins out, but only after Keller forces Assane and Bruno to take part in a robbery and nearly gets them all killed in a car crash in the process.
• Gotta Have It, Gonna Steal It: Assane's first major Lupin-inspired crime has him stealing a violin from a racist vendor to give to Claire.
• He's Just Hiding: In-Universe this becomes a major plot point in Part 3 after Assane fakes his death. Guédira and Raoul are immediately convinced that Assane is still alive, and it's not too long before Claire starts having doubts as well.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Assane and Benjamin have this dynamic.
• Hollywood Hacking: Assane is a skilled hacker. He easily gets into the Ministry of the Interior's prison files to search for clues to clear his father's name.
• Hope Spot:
  • Things appear to be looking up for Assane, Claire and Raoul on the latter's birthday in Étretat, as all three are joking, laughing and having a good time. And then Raoul gets abducted.
  • Similarly, in the finale to Part 3, it seems like Assane has finally found a way for him, Claire and Raoul to be together again as a family. Then he promptly ruins it by allowing himself to be taken to jail.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Claire tries to trade the diamonds from the necklace for her kidnapped son. Unfortunately for her, Hubert actually wants Assane.
• How Dad Met Mom: Flashbacks show Assane and Claire's lengthy (and fraught) romantic history, from their first meeting up to Claire becoming pregnant with Raoul.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Assane is a full foot taller than Claire. Downplayed in the 1990s flashbacks, though, where he's only a few inches taller. Apparently Assane had a massive growth spurt sometime in his late teens.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The episodes are called "chapters" and the seasons are called "parts". To underscore the fact that Part 2 is a continuation of Part 1, its chapters are numbered 6 through 10, rather than 1 through 5. For Part 3, which begins an entirely new set of story arcs, the counter resets to 1.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Lorenzo the music store owner may have been a racist Jerkass, but Assane could still have just asked Benjamin to help him rent a violin for Claire rather than going straight in and stealing the most expensive one in the store.
  • Possible the most glaring example—why on earth didn't Assane make copies of Fabienne's tape?
  • Assane's decision to go on The Other Edition. Even ignoring his failure to factor in the potential issue of the host being friends with Hubert, the "Salvator" tweet was already gaining a lot of traction, and he could have done more damage anyway by just leaking the footage online.
  • Why wasn't Guédira's lead taken more seriously by the police in general? Sure, it was a little...whimsical, but it was the only thing they had, and it made a lot of sense.
  • In attempt to stop Assane from getting away after his successful carjacking at the gas station, Belkacem fires a gun directly into oncoming traffic. It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure out why that's an awful idea.
  • Pascal and the other officers agreeing to let Claire have a moment alone with Raoul when Assane brought him back home. Upon seeing Assane, she tells him to flee, and the police are unable to find him when they show up.
  • Assane manages to convince Madame Simon, the receptionist at the Maison Everlin, that he isn't actually Assane Diop—because he has brown eyes. Much to her embarrassment, she is later informed that Assane does in fact have brown eyes. This becomes even funnier when you consider that, from a genetic perspective, it's extremely improbable that someone whose skin is as dark as Assane's would have anything but brown eyes.
  • Dr. Martinez, the head mortician, is somehow fine with taking "Dr. Vernes'" proclamation of Assane's death and its cause at face value, despite the fact that he's literally never seen Vernes (aka Philippe Courbet) before in his life and has no clue who he is, let alone his qualifications.
  • Belkacem undergoing Aesop Amnesia and once again failing to listen to Guédira's ideas about how and why Assane could have faked his death.
  • As revenge for Assane getting Manon sent to prison, Keller orders his henchman, Ferdinand, to kill Claire. Unfortunately for Keller, Ferdinand makes a complete hash of it, first following Claire through the streets of Paris in an Incredibly Obvious Tail (she spots him easily and manages to escape in a cab), and then stalking her while she's in a crowded department store, shopping for basketball shoes for Raoul.
    • Seemingly as a punishment for failing to get to Claire, as well as general frustration that all of his plans are going wrong, Keller tosses Ferdinand off of a balcony. This only serves to badly injure and alienate Ferdinand, who—in a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal—gives Keller's name up to the police shortly afterward.
  • Keller isn't suspicious when Manon (who has recently turned on him) calls him up and instructs him to meet the buyer for the black pearl at the top of the Arc de Triomphe—you know, an extremely famous, touristy location whose exits can easily be blocked.
• If It Bleeds, It Leads:
  • The death of Fabienne, a journalist who hasn't worked in twenty-four years, makes headlines in the French papers the day after her body is discovered. One such article, including a photo of "Salvator813" and detailing the pair's fight against Hubert Pellegrini, is spotted by a distraught Claire on the train back from Étretat. She immediately recognizes Assane and, upon reading the piece, realizes to her horror that Hubert is involved in Raoul's kidnapping.
  • Assane's supposed murder of Léonard, when combined with the fact that he was the mastermind behind the Louvre heist, instantly makes him the most famous criminal in France, with his exploits being covered near-constantly both on TV and in print media.
• Impersonating an Officer: Assane often manages to enter places he isn't supposed to by flashing stolen police badges.
  • However, his hasty attempt to pull this trick during his first attempt to steal the Black Pearl (Part 3, Chapter 1) falls apart pretty quickly when it becomes apparent that he pickpocketed the guy who tackled him to the floor. The fact the badges contain photographic ID didn't help, either.
• Impersonation Gambit: "Philippe Courbet" is really just an emo delinquent that Assane and Benjamin discovered trying to steal Arsène Lupin books from the library. Despite this, he proves to be very convincing to Hubert.
• Implausible Deniability: A lot of the claims Assane makes to Claire about what he's doing come across as being this. Having endured years of evasions, half-truths, and outright lies from him, she sees right through it, but is unable to get him to admit to what's really going on.
  Assane: I'm filling out old paperwork.
• The Infiltration: Assane's visit to prison, his smuggling himself into the opera house, his getting himself into Cisco's gang, and much, much more.
• Internal Affairs: By the end of Part 2, the police department is at war with itself when Laugier, Belkacem and Guédira decide to root out the corruption in their own department by arresting Dumont.
• Involuntary Charity Donation: Zigzagged. Juliette's sponsors believe that they are donating to a legitimate organization; however, unbeknownst to them (and Juliette), 85% of the money is set up to go to Hubert. However, Assane and Benjamin redirect the money to the foundation's bank account.
• It Was a Gift: The Arsène Lupin book given to Assane by his father, and subsequently given by Assane to Raoul.
• I Will Find You: Both Assane and Claire do this separately for Raoul after his kidnapping. Their respective approaches are...pretty different.
  • After a tense car chase, and the tremendous scare of Raoul possibly having been burned alive, Assane gets his son out of Hubert Pellegrini's grasp in his usual confident and creative fashion, even managing to hilariously troll both Hubert and Dumont as he's doing it.
  • Claire, on the other hand, is both worried sick and woefully out of her depth in the world of crime, kidnappings, revenge quests and ransoms. Although her plan to save Raoul might have worked in theory, she botches the execution and ultimately winds up causing more problems for everyone involved.
• Killed Offscreen: We never actually see exactly how Léonard killed Babakar and Fabienne.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In one of the flashbacks to Assane's early con-man life, we see him clean out a sweet old woman of all her valuables... while she brags about her family having been involved in colonialism, gushing right in front of him about how the diamonds he's swindling off of her were stolen from people in Africa. He even gains her trust by playing on her disdain for the poor.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Raoul was an unplanned child, and Claire is shown to have been quite anxious about Assane's reaction when she told him she was pregnant.
• Let's Get Out of Here:
  • Benjamin and Philippe use the frenzy created by Assane's crashing Juliette's concert to make a quick getaway. Benjamin assures Philippe that Assane will catch up with them.
  • At the beginning of Part 3 Assane tries to persuade Claire and Raoul to run away with him to another country.
• Lighter and Softer: Part 3 is generally lighter in tone than Part 2, since the revenge-quest aspect is less prominent, while more emphasis is placed on capers and Assane's goofy disguises, not to mention that the Claire/"Alex" arc borders on romantic comedy with thematic nods to films like Mrs. Doubtfire and You've Got Mail.
• Long Game: It's slowly revealed across the final three episodes how involved Assane and Benjamin's plan to get Hubert to face justice at the charity concert was, from Assane's courtship of Juliette, to the disguising of Philippe Courbet, even down to Assane leaving an electronic watch in Claire's apartment that would go off when the whole thing was finished so that he would get to see her and Raoul one more time.
• Loser Son of Loser Dad: Raoul becomes incensed when Hubert tells him that Assane is a loser son, while Babakar was his loser dad.
• Lost in Translation:
  • In the English dub of one of the flashback scenes, Assane tells Claire that he's the man of her dreams. However, what he actually says in the original French is "Je suis l'homme de ta vie," or "I'm the man of your life." Understanding that helps make Claire's response (that he technically is, since he's the only guy whose company she enjoys) make a lot more sense.
  • At another point, teenaged Claire sees Assane reading his Arsène Lupin book and says, "c'est un chaud Lupin, non?" This is a Pun based on the French expression "un chaud lapin," literally meaning "a hot rabbit" and used to refer to someone who is The Casanova. The subtitles try to get around the impossibility of directly translating this by having her say that Lupin is "kind of a Romeo," but the cleverness of the original joke is lost.
  • Surprisingly inverted when Hubert tells Dumont that Babakar is "malin comme un singe," an expression used as an equivalent to the English "sharp as a tack" (although Hubert was no doubt using it in an ironic fashion). The subtitles translate the phrase literally and have Hubert say that Babakar is "clever as an ape." This only adds to his characterization as a smug racist.
• Luxury Prison Suite: Downplayed. In return for his confession, Assane gets a sweet collection of Arsène Lupin books in his otherwise plain cell. Hubert Pellegrini in the neighbouring cell also has minor luxuries like books, a chessboard and a pipe.
• Makeover Montage:
  • Philippe is transformed by Assane and Benjamin from an emo teenager into a respectable, if youthful-looking, broker.
  • In Part 3 Assane helps transform Guédira into art collector "Justin Avisto" in order to capture Manon.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Downplayed. While Guédira can't really be called "feminine" (he's more of a nerd), his thoughtful and intellectual nature contrasts sharply with his more action-oriented, aggressive female partner Belkacem.
• Master of Disguise: Assane is this, although many fans consider this to be something of an Informed Ability, since his disguises often fail to cover up his distinguishing features in any way at all. The only time he really doesn't look like himself is when he's disguised as Raoul's basketball coach, since he needs to make sure that neither Claire and Raoul will recognize him.
• Maybe Ever After: Assane and Claire's relationship in a nutshell. Both of them truly want to be together, but Assane's addiction to crime invariably gets in the way.
• May–December Romance: Babakar and Mariama seem to have been this, since Babakar's police file reveals that he was born in the forties, while Mariama's indicates that she was born in 1960.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Assane" sounds a lot like the French pronunciation of "Arsène," although it's not entirely clear whether or not this was intentional.
  • Fabienne's dog is named J'accuse ("I accuse"). This was the title of famous letter by Emile Zola that became part of the Dreyfus Affair, a racially-motivated Miscarriage of Justice in which a Jewish man was falsely imprisoned for theft, not unlike what happened to Assane's father.
• Minority Police Officer: Guédira is explicitly stated to be of North African descent, and Belkacem is Ambiguously Brown (the actress, Shirine Boutella, is from Algeria).
• Mirror Character:
  • Guédira and Dumont. Although their motivations and rewards couldn't be more dissimilar, both are police officers working with those regularly carrying out illegal acts (Assane and Hubert, respectively).
  • Assane and Léonard, in that they are both are crafty career criminals who regularly experience racial prejudice.
• Missing Child: Claire and Assane get a major scare when Raoul disappears in Étretat. in Chapter 6 and part of Chapter 7. It gets worse when Guédira tells them that he saw Raoul getting kidnapped by Léonard. The entire sixth and seventh episodes revolve around both parents' desperate attempts to recover him.
• Mistaken for Racist: Played with in that Assane uses his wealthy but socially conscious targets' fear of this to his advantage.
  Auctioneer: I must admit, Monsieur Sernine, that I wasn't expecting someone like you as a buyer.
  Assane: (frowns) Like me...what do you mean?
  Auctioneer: (laughs nervously) Well—so young.
• Mood Dissonance:
  • Assane makes dinner for J'accuse while dancing to the Four Tops' "Reach Out (I'll Be There)." In another room, Pascal strangles Léonard to death.
  • If Johnny Nash's jaunty reggae song "I Can See Clearly Now" begins playing, it's a sign that something bad is about to happen to whoever is onscreen.
• Motherhood Is Superior: Downplayed. Although Assane loves his son, his unstable lifestyle means that Claire is basically raising Raoul alone.
• Mundane Object Amazement: While searching Assane's apartment for evidence following Léonard's murder, Guédira is fascinated by his extensive collection of Arsène Lupin memorabilia. Laugier and Belkacem find this amusing.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Assane, when he thinks that he's gotten Raoul killed.
  • Claire when she sees Assane returning with Raoul after the kidnapping, knowing full well that the decisions she made in the meantime will result in his arrest—or worse—should he enter her apartment.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The name of the Andrésy school that Assane attends after his father's death is taken from the maiden name of Arsène Lupin's mother.
  • "Raoul" is canonically Lupin's middle name, and one of his aliases.
  • "Horace Velmont," the name of the businessman whom Benjamin and Assane make up in order to fool Juliette, is another of Lupin's aliases.
    • So are "Jean Daspry" and "Guillaume Berlat," the names Assane gives to Fabienne upon initially meeting her.
  • The number "813," the name of a Lupin book, crops up a few times.
  • "Léonard" was the name of an assassin employed by Josephine Balsamo, one of the primary antagonists in the Lupin books.
  • Benjamin's yellow Fiat 500 is a reference to Lupin III.
  • "Gentleman Cambrioleur," the Jacques Dutronc song that plays as Assane ditches the cops in a speedboat in Chapter 10, was the Ending Theme of the Arsène Lupin TV series that aired in the early 1970s on the ORTF channel and starred Georges Descrières in the title role.
  • The code for the electronic lock in Claire's apartment is "1864", a reference to Maurice Leblanc's birth year.

N to Z

• The Nameless: We never do find out Philippe Courbet's real name. As of Part 3 it appears he's begun using the "Courbet" moniker permanently.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The ending to Part 3 suggests that Assane has been emotionally weakened after unwittingly allowing an enemy into his inner circle. The most common theory is that the culprit is his mother, or at least the woman he believes to be his mother.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Of the police officers, Guédira is the Nice while Laugier and Belkacem take turns being the Mean and the In-Between.
• No Full Name Given: Bruno and Manon are only ever referred to by their first names.
  • This was also true in Claire in the first two parts, but in Part 3 her surname is given as "Laurent" on several In-Universe headlines.
• Official Couple Ordeal Syndrome: Assane and Claire's relationship gets put through the wringer across the series, from Assane ruining any chance of Claire being a professional violinist, to his cheating and lying, to his not spending enought time with Raoul, to Raoul getting kidnapped as a result of Assane's actions, to Claire betraying Assane to Hubert Pellegrini because she thinks it will save her son, to Assane's activities igniting a media explosion which essentially destroys Claire and Raoul's lives, and a whole lot more. Even so, it's made clear that they'll never stop loving one another.
• Once More, with Clarity:
  • Episode 1.01: Assane got his Louvre janitor job because the woman in charge originates from Senegal just like him so they easily bonded over it, he lied about his identity to the loan sharks and threw the necklace in a trash can in the struggle in order to retrieve it later as a janitor. And he expected them to betray him all along.
  • Episode 1.02: How Assane fakes suicide to get out of prison — he built himself a safety harness with a basketball basket's net so the hanging won't be fatal, and swallowed some meds to reduce his heartbeats.
  • Episode 2.03: Assane planned every bit of his supposedly "spontaneous" date with Juliette, up to faking her meeting with an investor and bribing the wait staff at the restaurant, as well as faking the heist of a painting at a museum.
  • Episode 3.02: Assane planned to fake his death in order to draw media attention away from Claire and Raoul so that they would finally be able to run off together as a family. Too bad the reappearance of his mother made him throw those plans in the trash.
• One Last Job: Assane envisions the black pearl heist as being this. Predictably, it's not.
• The One That Got Away: Assane is this for Juliette.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Assane is generally a highly confident and capable person, so the few times he seems to genuinely lose the plot, it's a sign that something has gone incredibly wrong. The most obvious example is his absolute devastation when he thinks that Raoul has been burned to death in the boot of Léonard's car. When Belkacem arrives to arrest him, he's too upset to even fight it, and basically just lets himself be taken in.
  • When Claire finds out that her child has been kidnapped, her typically amiable and forbearing nature temporarily disappears as she has a public emotional breakdown and even gives something of a "Reason You Suck" Speech to Assane (as well as a pair of cops who, in her view, aren't taking the situation seriously enough). The next day, after she's made aware of Hubert Pellegrini's involvement in the kidnapping, Claire is desperate enough to pay a visit to him directly in order to negotiate Raoul's release, despite having spent the previous two decades doing her best to avoid any association with Assane's myriad of dangerous exploits.
  • Raoul is a stoic kid who is extremely difficult to faze. So when even he starts getting on Assane's case about taking forever with his revenge quest, Assane is legitimately perturbed.
• Outgambitted: Happens all over the place. Generally Assane is the one doing it to his foes, but there are also moments where Hubert Pellegrini manages to outsmart him.
• Pensieve Flashback: Happens in the Part 3 finale, when Claire arrives at the Gare de l'Est with Raoul and Mariama and appears to observe her younger self kissing Assane at the same train station twenty-three years earlier.
• Pitbull Dates Puppy: Assane is an outgoing, charismatic and vengeful man who throws himself into dangerous situations. Claire is a forgiving, pacifistic woman who prefers to stay away from conflict. Opposites Attract as the two find one another irresistible.
• Plot Parallel: Episode 2.01 contrasts Assane's quest to get Raoul back from Léonard with his theft of a violin in his teen years. In both cases, he winds up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
• Police Are Useless: With the exception of a few officers (e.g. Guédira), the cops aren't depicted as being particularly brilliant at their jobs.
• Pop Culture Holiday: In-Universe, the town of Étretat holds an annual festival to celebrate Maurice Leblanc's birthday.
• The Power of Friendship: As talented as he is, Assane couldn't have accomplished much of what he did in Part 2 without Benjamin's help.
• Pronouncing My Name for You: Assane's (and Babakar's and Raoul's) surname is spoken aloud numerous times over the course of the series. The pronunciation is not "DEE-op," as native English speakers might suspect, but is instead closer to "Jopp."
• Puppy-Dog Eyes:
  • Played for Laughs when Raoul and Assane jokingly do this to Claire while trying to get her to come to Étretat with them.
  • Later Played for Drama when Claire begs Pascal to let her have a moment alone with Raoul in order to tip Assane off about Pascal and his minions' presence in her apartment.
• Put on a Prison Bus: At the end of Part 2, Hubert and Dumont are seen being arrested and driven to the police station in squad cars. In Hubert's case, the bus comes back at the end of Part 3, when he's briefly shown in prison.
• "Reading Is Cool" Aesop: Assane's father encouraged his son to read when he offered him a Arsène Lupin novel, and Assane does the same with Raoul, who virtually stops playing video games as a result.
• Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Subverted. The ladies of Lupin are nearly always depicted wearing pants, from Action Girls Belkacem and Manon to gentler, more traditionally feminine women like Claire.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Monsieur Bouchard, the director of the Andrésy school, is a genuinely nice man who wants to see Assane succeed in life.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Charismatic, confident Assane is the red to Benjamin's more sarcastic, nervous blue.
  • Confrontational, aggressive Belkacem is the red to Guédira's logical, geeky blue.
  • Outgoing adrenaline junkie Juliette is the red to Claire's sentimental yet conflicted blue.
• Revenge by Proxy:
  • Léonard targets Raoul, both to bait Assane and out of spite. After Assane rescues his son, he and Benjamin try to weaken Hubert by going after Juliette.
  • In Part 3 Keller is so incensed that Assane has managed to get Manon thrown in jail that he sends his henchman Ferdinand off to kill Claire and Raoul. It doesn't work.
• Rewatch Bonus: In the prison flashback scene in the first episode, there's a brief glimpse of Léonard through the visiting room window... right before Assane's father is found dead as an apparent suicide, hanging in his cell. A few episodes later, in the present, Fabienne is murdered by Léonard who makes it look like a suicide by hanging. It's revealed in the final episode of Part 2 that Léonard was indeed the one who killed Babakar.
• Roofhopping:
  • Assane does this to get away from Léonard at the beginning of Chapter 5 in Part 1.
  • A (seemingly) failed attempt at this leads to a bad fall for Assane in the Part 3 premiere.
• Running Gag: Fabienne's dog, J'Accuse, barks any time "Pellegrini" is said around him. This eventually becomes a major nuisance for Benjamin.
• Scenery Porn: The aerial shots of Paris and Étretat certainly qualify as this.
• Secret Underground Passage: How Assane escapes from his coffin in the second episode of Part 3.
• Ship Tease: Several scenes hint at the possibility for a romance between Guédira and Belkacem, but as of yet nothing has come of it.
• Show Within a Show: The Other Edition, which seems to be a play on the shows which can commonly be seen on the right-leaning French TV channel CNews.
• The Shrink: In a flashback sequence, Claire visits one to express her frustrations about her relationship with Assane.
• Significant Anagram: The aliases Assane takes, "Luis Perenna" and "Paul Sernine", are both anagrams of "Arsène Lupin".
• Sins of Our Fathers: Raoul is kidnapped by Léonard because of the actions Assane took against Hubert.
• Skipping School: Assane and Benjamin often did this together when they were teenagers.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: Both Claire and Juliette for Assane.
• Stolen by Staying Still: In order to convince Juliette that he means business, Assane has Benjamin fake a priceless Pissarro painting. The two send it to Juliette and create news alerts that suggest that it has been stolen from the Musée d'Orsay. Juliette falls for it completely.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Assane's James Bond-esque lifestyle wreaks havoc on his family life: he and Claire have separated, he isn't around for his son as much as he wants to be, and worse, Pellegrini has Léonard kidnap Raoul at the end of Part 1 and nearly kills him, which further strains his relationship with Claire, who considers cutting Assane completely out her and Raoul's lives for the sake of their safety.
  • The chloroform spray Assane gives the loan sharks for the Louvre heist doesn't knock out the security guards right away, forcing them to beat the guards unconscious.
  • Assane assigns one of the loan sharks (who's into racing games) to be the getaway driver for the Louvre heist. However, come the actual heist, the guy gets a red Ferrari as a getaway car, that while fast and cool looking, ends up attracting the police when the heist goes south. Also, it turns out that video games are the only experience the dude has in driving fast cars, leading to the escape going wrong when he can't handle driving the Ferrari and ends up crashing into a statue under a glass skylight.
  • Assane is able to fool people with disguises, but when the police find out his identity and post his picture everywhere, he has difficulty fooling people with his costumes, especially with his distinctive features (his wide nose and his height).
  • Assane succeeds in clearing his and Babakar's names (for Léonard's murder and the theft of the necklace, respectively), while also getting Hubert and Dumont arrested for conspiracy and collusion. However, he's still wanted for multiple high-profile thefts that he was genuinely responsible for, meaning that he has to go into hiding after stopping to say goodbye to Claire and Raoul.
  • The season 3 premiere shows how much of a negative impact Assane's actions have had on Claire and Raoul. They are the subject of vicious media scrutiny that causes them no end of stress, are repeatedly harassed, and are being observed by the police. Turns out that being the wife and son of France's most famous thief isn't fun.
• Take It to the Bridge: A small footbridge crossing the Port d'Arsenal holds a special significance for Assane and Claire, as it was there where they chose Raoul's name (as such, they refer to it as "Raoul's Bridge"). After completing his revenge quest against Pellegrini, Assane arranges to meet both Claire and Raoul on the bridge before going into hiding.
• Technician vs. Performer: Assane is the Performer while Benjamin is the Technician.
• There Is Only One Bed: Claire tells Assane this during one of the 1998 flashbacks, when he asks to stay with her for a few days. Being a Hormone-Addled Teenager, he is rather excited at the prospect of sleeping with her, but is disappointed when Claire reveals that she was kidding.
• Time-Shifted Actor: The younger versions of most of the major characters in flashbacks are played by age-appropriate actors and actresses.
• Time Skip: Part 3 takes place a year after the events of Part 2, from late November 2021 to (seemingly) early January 2022.
• Tricked into Signing:
  • Babakar is made to believe that confessing to stealing the necklace will reduce his sentence. It doesn't.
  • In episode 3.04, Assane poses as an electrician and tricks Gérard, one of the footmen at the Château de Thoiry, into signing a letter of resignation by telling him that it is a consent form regarding new repairs set to be performed on the man's street.
• Using You All Along: Unfortunately for Juliette, Assane's whole courtship of her was done with the express purpose of turning her against her father. And it works like a charm.
• Vehicular Kidnapping:
  • Subverted. To throw the police off the trail, Assane pretends to offload Dumont onto a van heading for a Parisian suburb, while actually bringing him to a room in the depths of City Hall (which is to say, the same building he'd kidnapped him from).
  • Unfortunately played straight with Léonard's kidnapping of Raoul. Then again in a more positive light when Assane uses a Van in Black to re-kidnap him from Hubert's goons.
  • Keller's crew kidnaps Mariama by offering her a ride.
• Visit by Divorced Dad: Assane takes Raoul on a walk and offers him the Arsène Lupin novel he got from his father at the end of the first episode. Later, he visits Raoul and plays video games with him.
  • These end when Claire, furious with Assane after Raoul's kidnapping and horrified by the danger that he has brought into their lives, bans him from contacting them. This doesn't last too long, though, since Claire can seemingly never stay upset with Assane for much time.
• Voice Changeling:
  • Assane fools Dumont with a recording of his voice that has been doctored to sound identical to Hubert.
  • Assane's disguise as Raoul's basketball coach sees him using a voice modifier to turn his usual Baritone of Strength into a thinner, reedier sound.
• What Does She See in Him?: In the 2006 flashbacks, Claire's therapist is flummoxed by her loyalty to Assane, given that he lies to her constantly, frequently blows off their engagements, and generally fails to meet even the lowest possible standard of being a good boyfriend.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out which team won Raoul's big basketball game.
• Where da White Women At?: Both of Assane's major relationships are with white women. In Juliette's case, this causes problems when Hubert bans the two from contacting each other.
• White Man's Burden: While she truly does mean well, some of Juliette's speeches about her foundation have fairly strong overtones of this.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Claire jokingly rejects three of Assane's more ridiculous suggestions for the name of their child ("Maurice" [after Leblanc], "Assane Junior" and, of course, "Arsène") before accepting "Raoul."
• You Can't Go Home Again: Assane after Léonard's death and Benjamin after he is implicated in Assane's situation.
• You Do Not Want To Know: Prior to Raoul's kidnapping, this was the closest Assane got to coming clean to Claire about his activities.

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