Chapter 6 (Lupin; Part 3)

Chapter 6 is the sixth episode of the third part of the Netflix series Lupin, and the sixteenth episode overall.

Synopsis
Having identified his opponent, Assane races to protect his family and avoid retaliation. Belkacem remains wary of Guédira; Mariama sends a message.

1998
Having made up after their fight, Assane and Bruno watch France play Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals, shouting in dismay as the French allow the Croatians to score. A knock sounds at the door of Bruno’s apartment, and Assane goes to open it. When he sees that the visitor is Claire, Assane bluntly asks her what she wants. Miffed by the rude tone of Assane’s response, Claire turns to leave, but Assane hastily stops her, informing her that France is losing and that he is upset. After he apologizes for his gruffness, Claire relents and comes inside.

At Bruno’s behest, Assane and Claire prepare snacks for the three of them, with Claire removing a pan of fries from the oven and Assane pouring a bottle of ketchup into a cup. Claire teases Assane for placing the ketchup bottle back in the fridge with the cap side down; Assane responds that his method ensures that he will not have to tap the bottle to get the ketchup out the next time. The conversation is interrupted when Bruno begins whooping and yelling that the French team has scored a goal.

After France wins the match, Assane, Claire and Bruno enthusiastically celebrate their country’s entry into the final. Upon hearing knocking at the door once again, Bruno opens it to find Madame Fouchard, a social worker, standing before him. Fouchard informs him that she has arrived for a surprise inspection, and that she wants to speak to Bruno’s guardian. Bruno hastily tells her that his guardian is out shopping, but Fouchard is unconvinced, replying that Bruno always seems to be alone at home and stating her intention to file a report on the matter.

At that moment, Keller arrives with Bruno’s younger sister Anna in tow. He greets Fouchard cordially and offers her a beer in honor of France’s victory. Fouchard declines and leaves. When she is gone, Bruno breathes a sigh of relief, only to be confronted by an aggressive and enraged Keller, who begins berating Bruno for opening the door. Bruno tries to explain himself, but Keller immediately accuses him of talking back. Gesturing towards Assane, Claire and Anna, Keller announces that without him, they would be nothing. Claire is appalled by Keller’s treatment of Bruno and asserts that the inverse is true. Keller furiously starts towards Claire, but Assane inserts himself between them in attempt to diffuse the tension, telling him that everything is fine. Keller stares at Claire disdainfully but ultimately leaves the apartment.

Some time later, Keller brings Assane and Bruno to a jewelry store, announcing that they will rob it on the day of the World Cup final between France and Brazil. Keller belives that virtually everyone in Paris will be watching the match, making it a perfect time to stage a burglary. Assane and Bruno both express reluctance to rob the store, but Keller intimidates them into complying with his plan, telling them that they have no other choice.

Present day
In his prison cell, Benjamin notices a drone outside his window, carrying a stocking with a ringing cell phone inside it. He hastily grabs the phone through the bars on the window and picks it up; the caller is Assane, who asks Benjamin how he is doing. Benjamin ruefully notes that he has seen better days, commenting in particular on the horrible meals served in prison. Suddenly his door opens, as a guard brings him a tray of food with a cloche covering it. Benjamin hastily hides the phone and takes the tray.

Once the guard is gone, Benjamin lifts the cloche and is gratified to find a steak dinner with fries on the side, sent for him by Assane. He returns to the phone call, and admits that Claire now knows that Assane is alive. Assane is shocked and asks whether Claire also knows that he is Raoul’s coach; Benjamin replies that she does not, but asserts that she will be sure to figure it out before long. Assane tells Benjamin that Mariama’s kidnapper is Jean-Luc Keller, whom Benjamin does not know, and assures him that he will take care of everything.

At the police station, Belkacem interrogates Manon, asking her how she acquired the painting and the bracelet, and demanding to know where the black pearl is. When Manon refuses to speak, Belkacem places a photograph of Assane in front of her, and demands to learn whether she knows him. Manon grins derisively and says that Assane is dead. Increasingly angry and concerned, Belkacem then gives Manon an image of Guédira and asks her if he is a part of her gang. Manon smiles, leans back, and states that she doesn’t talk to the police.

Keller, meanwhile, is furious that Manon has been arrested, and that the money he received in the sale of the painting is fake. Seeking revenge, he decides to target Assane’s family, ordering Ferdinand to kill Claire. Ferdinand waits outside the hospital where Claire works, and begins tailing her as she leaves. However, Claire spots Ferdinand and quickly summons a ride home. Despite having escaped Ferdinand, Claire is badly frightened by the ordeal. She calls Assane, as “Alex”, and asks him to bring Raoul back to her apartment after his basketball practice.

When she is reunited with Raoul and a disguised Assane, Claire explains that she was followed, and offers that her stalker was searching for Assane. Raoul posits that Assane may have sent the man, and asserts that he will return to them. Still shaken, Claire asks Assane to check her apartment for intruders, telling him that she doesn’t feel safe. Assane grins and agrees to come inside.

After Assane verifies that the apartment is empty, Claire gratefully offers to make dinner for him and Raoul. Once they have finished eating, Raoul decides to go to bed, stating that he needs to be rested for his basketball game the following day. As Claire and Assane clear the dishes from the table, Claire admits that she is having second thoughts about Raoul participating in the game, as she is worried that they will be followed again. Assane assures Claire that she has nothing to fear, since he will be there.

Assane’s protectiveness causes Claire to grow increasingly attracted to the man she believes to be her son’s basketball coach. She comments that although “Alex”, being steady and considerate, has little in common with Assane, both are alike in that they are never worried about anything. Assane, however, responds that he does worry frequently. His honesty moves Claire, who gently approaches him and asks him if he thinks they could have left the friendzone had things between them been different. She brings her lips close to his, but he avoids her kiss. Claire apologizes in embarrassment as Assane reminds her to lock her doors and shows her how to set up her alarm system.

The following morning, Guédira arrives at the police precinct to find Belkacem angrily awaiting him in his office. She tells him that she knows Assane helped him recover the painting, and orders him to stop lying to her. Guédira admits that Assane had sought him out several days earlier; Belkacem is enraged that Guédira did not arrest him right then and there. Guédira replies that Assane proposed a deal in which he would let himself be taken into custody in exchange for Guédira’s help, but concedes that he was tricked. Belkacem asserts that Guédira admires Assane and does not really want to arrest him. She tells him that if Assane ever contacts him again, he is to report it to her immediately.

Ferdinand reports back to Keller on his failed mission to catch Claire. Keller demands to know whether she saw him; to his irritation Ferdinand responds evasively. Once again Keller orders Ferdinand to kill Claire, and states that he will handle Mariama. Meanwhile, in the room where she has been kept by Keller and his crew, Mariama manages to slip out of her bindings. She ties her bedsheets together, dangles them out the window to make it look as though she has escaped, and hides underneath the bed. When Keller discovers the sheets, he is horrified, and leaves the building in attempt to search for Mariama. After Keller is gone, Mariama hastily leaves the building as well. While asking a man for directions to the police station, she quickly steals his wallet, and takes the metro to Montreuil, where she seeks out the apartment building where Assane and Babakar had lived. However, the current tenant of Assane’s former apartment refuses to speak with her.

While preparing to go to school, Raoul announces that he cannot find his water bottle. Claire checks the refrigerator, and is startled when she notices the ketchup placed upside-down in the side door, as Assane had always done. Immediately, she realizes that “Alex” has actually been Assane in disguise. Noticing Claire’s ashen face, Raoul asks her if she is all right. Claire tries to mask her shock and hands Raoul his water bottle. When questioned by Raoul as to whether she thinks Assane will come to his basketball game, Claire feigns ignorance and says that she is not sure.

Having promised Raoul that she would buy him a pair of basketball sneakers similar to Assane’s for his game that evening, Claire visits the Galleries Lafayette, where she receives a phone call from Assane, still pretending to be Raoul’s coach. Armed with her new awareness of Assane’s ploy, Claire decides to have her fun with him by flirting with “Alex” in a very forward manner. Standing on an upper floor of the mall and monitoring Claire’s activities, Assane is flustered by these advances, and becomes even more so when he notices Ferdinand stalking Claire. While attempting to deal with Claire’s playful teasing, he eventually manages to get Ferdinand away from her by placing a pair of underpants into his pocket, which triggers the mall’s alarm system and leads to his being detained by a pair of security guards.

Ferdinand returns to Keller’s lair, where he admits that he failed to deal with Claire and Raoul. Keller brings Ferdinand to Mariama’s room, where, to his horror, Ferdinand realizes that Mariama has escaped. As punishment, Keller pushes Ferdinand from the balcony of Mariama’s room, and leaves the scene. Some time later, Ferdinand, badly injured but alive, is bundled into an ambulance by a group of paramedics. He tells a police officer who is also on the scene that the name of the man who pushed him is Jean-Luc Keller, and that he is in current possession of the black pearl.

Mariama, meanwhile, finds a copy of The Objector featuring one of Fleur’s articles about Assane on the front page. She visits the offices of the newspaper and meets with Fleur, telling her that she is Assane’s mother and asking her to place an advertisement in the classified ads to set up a meeting with him at the place “where the gentleman listens to his favorite song.” After Mariama has left, Fleur quickly calls Guédira, tells him that he was right about everything, and asks him where the location in question is. Guédira recalls that an Arsène Lupin story had taken place at the Palais Garnier, and posits that they will be able to find Assane there.

Afterwards, Guédira contacts Belkacem to pass on the news, but she tells him that she doesn’t trust him, as she isn’t sure whose side he is on. A frustrated Guédira arrives at the Palais Garnier, and sees a large, bearded man dressed in a purple suit heading down to the nearby metro station, where a young woman is singing “Ave Maria.” Immediately suspecting that this is Assane, Guédira follows him into the station, arriving just in time to see Assane tearfully reuniting with Mariama for the first time in three decades. While Guédira watches in shock, Assane and Mariama step onto an outbound train. Assane briefly acknowledges Guédira as the train departs the station.

Assane’s rendezvous with Mariama forces him to skip Raoul’s basketball game, which is being attended by Claire and the parents of the other players. Raoul and his teammates are upset when “Alex” does not show up, and the referee offers them the chance to forfeit. However, Raoul urges the other players that they can complete the game without him present. Claire beams with pride as she watches her son rally his teammates.

Back at home after the game, Claire ensures that the alarm system is working. Despite Assane’s absence from the game, she is overjoyed that he has continued to keep watch over her and Raoul, and has attempted to become a more involved father. Claire lies contentedly in bed and begins to fall asleep, but is startled awake when she hears Keller begin to break into her apartment.

Cast

 * Omar Sy as Assane Diop
 * Ludivine Sagnier as Claire Laurent
 * Antoine Gouy as Benjamin Férel
 * Soufiane Guerrab as Youssef Guédira
 * Shirine Boutella as Sofia Belkacem
 * Mamadou Haïdara as young Assane Diop
 * Etan Simon as Raoul Diop
 * Adèle Wismes as Clémentine Vidal
 * Martha Canga Antonio as Fleur Bélanger
 * Steve Tientcheu as Jean-Luc Keller (2021)
 * Salif Cissé as Jean-Luc Keller (1998)
 * Sandra Parfait as Manon (2021)
 * Naky Sy Savané as Mariama Diop (2021)
 * Nicolas Berno as Ferdinand (2021)
 * Fargass Assandé as Babakar Diop
 * Nicole Garcia as Anne Pellegrini


 * Ludmilla Makowski as young Claire Laurent
 * Noé Wodecki as young Bruno
 * Yanis Bentallah as Mathis
 * Bonnie Bouriche Trotaud as young Anna
 * Marc Simon as France fan (1998)
 * Romuald Tchoualak as basketball referee
 * Senou Fofana as basketball player #1
 * Léonard Tindano as basketball player #2
 * Emanuelle Bougerol as Madame Guignard
 * Dylan Louhoungou as agent #1
 * Marie Lagrée as police officer
 * Damien Bellard as RATP controller
 * Catherine Trottmann as the soprano

Music

 * original music by Mathieu Lamboley
 * "Ave Maria" by Franz Schubert, arranged by Christopher Todd Landor
 * "English Summer" by Other Lives

Trivia

 * The child services worker who arrives to inspect Bruno's apartment is named "Madame Fouchard" in the series, but is credited as "Madame Guignard."