Chapter 5 (Lupin)

Chapter 5 is the fifth and last episode of the first part of the Netflix series Lupin.

Synopsis
En route to Étretat with Claire and Raoul, Assane encounters an unwelcome figure. In a bind, Assane sends a message to Captain Laugier.

2006
Eleven years after Babakar’s death, Assane has become a skilled petty thief, who is able to use his charisma and charm to land himself in others’ good graces before swindling them. One day, he impersonates a police officer in order to enter the apartments of a wealthy older woman named Agathe Van Der Meulen, telling her that burglars in the area will want her belongings and that she should simply give the most valuable ones to him for safekeeping. Agathe obliges, handing over treasures that her husband had acquired in the former Belgian Congo. She tells Assane that he is a gentleman.

Later, Assane has drinks in an expensive bar with Benjamin, who tells him that he has found a good location for his antique shop. To celebrate, Assane gives Benjamin some of the items he has stolen from Agathe, including a Fabergé egg, to sell. The two notice Juliette Pellegrini enter the bar, and Assane excuses himself briefly.

Assane meets Juliette, with whom he has been having an affair, in the bathroom. However, he tells her that he wants to end their relationship, as he is hoping to commit fully to Claire. Upset, Juliette tells Assane that she will not keep waiting for him. Assane replies that she can stop waiting, as he loves Claire.

Claire, meanwhile, is in an appointment with a therapist, in distress about her relationship with Assane. She discusses his frequent lateness for their engagements, and reveals that she barely knows what he does when he isn't with her. Although Claire has given Assane many chances to change, he has consistently managed to disappoint her. The therapist is confused as to why Claire continues to stay with Assane, as they are not married and have no children. This does little to calm Claire's fears, as she has recently discovered that she is pregnant with Assane's child. At the therapist's prodding, Claire resolves to have a discussion with Assane that night to determine once and for all whether or not he cares about her.



That night, while Assane and Claire have dinner in an expensive restaurant, a dispute erupts almost immediately as Claire had been hoping for a quieter spot. Noticing that she looks extremely anxious, Assane asks Claire what the matter is. In a weak voice, Claire reveals her pregnancy. To her relief and delight, Assane is overjoyed by the news, and begins loudly announcing it to everybody in the restaurant. While celebrating, Assane is surprised to see that Agathe is seated nearby, and hastily exits with Claire in tow. As they walk across the Passerelle de Mornay, Claire reveals that the baby is due on December 11th. Assane is stunned, as this is the birthday of Maurice Leblanc, the creator of Arsène Lupin. After several jokingly-made proposals for the baby's name fail to win favor with Claire, Assane tells her that he will do everything in his power to protect their child, and makes one final suggestion: "Raoul."

Present day
On December 11th, 2020, the news breaks that Fabienne has been found dead in her apartment. Assane, back in his own home with Fabienne’s dog J’accuse, tells Benjamin that her death was his fault. Benjamin becomes concerned that Assane is in over his head, but an indignant Assane asks him whether he can simply let Hubert Pellegrini win. Benjamin reminds Assane that he has an ex-wife and child who both care about him, and that he had a surprise planned for the latter. Assane tells Benjamin that he is not in the mood for celebration, but Benjamin comments that this will mean that in effect, Pellegrini has beaten him. Re-energized by this alternate perspective, Assane leaves J'accuse with Benjamin and leaves for Claire's apartment.

Guédira, meanwhile, has been discreetly using his punishment of filling out paperwork to further investigate the connections between the Lupin stories and the various crimes he believes to have been committed by the same man. At daybreak on December 11th, he wakes up at his desk and receives a phone notification that it is Maurice Leblanc’s birthday, and that a celebratory festival will be held in the seaside town of Étretat, Normandy, where Leblanc had lived. On a hunch, he decides to skip work, texting Belkacem to tell her that he is sick.



While making his way through the streets of Paris, Assane realizes he is being followed by Léonard Koné. A chase ensues, with Assane managing to escape by running up the various levels of a parking garage and roof-hopping away. When he arrives at Claire's apartment, Assane gives Raoul a Lupin-style top hat and cape as a present. Raoul tells Assane that he isn’t sure he likes the gift, but Assane assures him that he will love it when they reach their destination. Claire wishes the two well on their outing, but Assane informs her that he has a ticket for her too. Although Claire laments the fact that Assane never tells her about anything up front, she ultimately agrees to join them.

Soon afterward, Assane, Claire and Raoul are on board a train going to Le Havre, near the Arsène Lupin festival in Étretat where Assane plans to take them. On the train, Assane and Claire playfully banter about the Lupin stories, parts of which Claire has memorized from the early days of their relationship. Raoul is mildly embarrassed by their behavior and says that they are nuts; Assane replies that they may be nuts but that they are connected. Later, Assane asks Claire about her new boyfriend, but Claire tells him it is none of his business. To Claire's consternation, Raoul reveals that the relationship is not progressing quickly.

Claire, Assane and Raoul take a selfie to commemorate the trip and Raoul's birthday. Upon inspecting the image, Assane is shocked to see Léonard in the background. Léonard, meanwhile, receives a phone call from Hubert Pellegrini. He tells Hubert that he has managed to track Assane down but that he is with his wife and son. Hubert instructs Léonard to get rid of Assane for good, but to leave Claire and Raoul alone.



To create a diversion, Assane takes a marble cake out of his bag, stands in the aisle of the train, and begins loudly singing “Happy Birthday” to Raoul. Claire and the other passenges sing along. While the song is being sung, Assane stares at Léonard to inform him that he is aware of his presence. Shortly afterwards, he tells Claire that he is going to get drinks from another part of the train. As he moves through the carriages, Léonard gets up and follows him.

Assane tries to evade Léonard through skilled navigation of several obstacles, and by the time Léonard arrives at the end of the line of cars, Assane is nowhere to be seen. Aware that he must still be on the train, Léonard checks inside one of the storage rooms, and Assane, who has been lying in wait, immediately jumps on him. The two begin to fight; this ends with Assane physically overpowering Léonard and locking him in the storage room. When he returns to his seat, Claire, noticing that he appears to have exerted himself, asks him what happened. Assane claims that he got into a fight with another Arsène Lupin fan over which of the stories is the best. Raoul thinks that this is ridiculous; Claire is shocked that he has been fighting and suspicious of elements of the story, but does not press him for details.



As the train nears Le Havre, Léonard manages to escape the storage closet and sits down next to Claire and Raoul while Assane is retrieving their possessions from the luggage rack. Léonard comments that the family must be going to Étretat and asks Raoul if he is a fan of Lupin; Raoul replies that he is, crediting Assane with introducing the books to him. Claire is immediately unnerved by Léonard's presence, and asks Assane if the two know each other. Assane says that they don’t, but Léonard claims that they do. In a last attempt to fend Léonard off, Assane texts Laugier, claiming that Paul Sernine is on the train, dressed in a beige coat (which Léonard is actually wearing). Laugier immediately calls the Le Havre police and tells them to meet the train when it arrives.

The train pulls into the station and Assane quietly instructs Claire, whose fears regarding Léonard have not abated, to disembark with Raoul. As they walk towards the doors, Assane assures them that he will catch up. Léonard, who is carrying a pistol, tells Assane that they are going to get off the train quietly. As the pair step onto the platform, several police officers arrive and arrest Léonard after finding the gun and one of Marie-Antoinette’s diamonds concealed on his person, the latter having been discreetly slipped into his pocket by Assane.

After arriving in Étretat, Assane, Claire and Raoul walk through the town's seafront promenade. Raoul is wearing the cape and top hat that Assane gave him, remarking that the outfit would look stupid anywhere else but is cool at an Arsène Lupin festival, where everybody else is dressed in a similar manner. Claire asks Assane and Raoul what happens to Lupin at the end of the books; Raoul informs her that nobody knows, since he never got caught. Claire asserts that this proves that the books are fictional, since anybody doing what Lupin does would get caught immediately. Raoul says he is going to walk along the beach to explore the Hollow Needle, a rock formation that features in an Arsène Lupin story. Claire warns him not to go too far away.

Images of Léonard taken by the Le Havre police are sent to Laugier and Belkacem. Belkacem notes that the man in the photographs is not the man whose face they have reconstructed, but Laugier wants him questioned anyway since he was carrying one of the diamonds. As they prepare to leave for Le Havre, they run into Dumont, who asks where they are going. When they tell him, Dumont reveals that Léonard has already been released by the Le Havre police, as he had a license to carry the gun and a solid alibi for the time of the Louvre break-in. Dumont orders Laugier and Belkacem to examine the train footage in order to see who could have planted the diamond on him. Irritated by the entire fiasco, Laugier grumbles that Guédira ought to be there. Belkacem is increasingly suspicious of Dumont's motivations.

Assane and Claire walk arm in arm through Étretat. Still concerned about the man on the train, Claire asks Assane who he was. Assane evades the question, telling Claire that he is sorting something out that impacts both him and Raoul, and that it concerns his father. Claire is hurt by Assane's unwillingness to talk, and indignantly asks what his father, of whom he has told her next to nothing, has to do with the situation. Assane promises that when he finishes everything, he will stop keeping secrets. He admits that he has said this many times before, but claims that this time it is true. Claire tells Assane that she is tired of pleading with him for information, and that she needs more from him in their relationship. Assane asks Claire to give him one last chance, telling her that all that truly matters is her and Raoul.



At that moment, Claire realizes that she cannot see Raoul anywhere on the beach and immediately becomes worried. Both parents begin looking for him, Assane on the promenade and Claire on the beach. Assane finds that it is difficult to tell the people in the town apart as so many have the same Lupin-style cape and hat that Raoul was wearing. Claire, meanwhile, frantically asks other tourists whether they have seen her son, but runs into the same difficulties as Assane. Raoul himself has been abducted by Léonard, who stuffs him into the back seat of a car and drives off. As Claire continues her desperate seach on the beach, Assane hears somebody behind him call out to “Lupin”; turning around, he finds himself face to face with Guédira.

Cast

 * Omar Sy as Assane Diop
 * Ludivine Sagnier as Claire Laurent
 * Clotilde Hesme as Juliette Pellegrini
 * Hervé Pierre as Hubert Pellegrini
 * Antoine Gouy as Benjamin Férel
 * Soufiane Guerrab as Youssef Guédira
 * Vincent Londez as Romain Laugier
 * Shirine Boutella as Sofia Belkacem
 * Adama Niane as	Léonard Koné
 * Vincent Garanger as Gabriel Dumont


 * Valérie de Dietrich as Tania Fabre
 * Bérangère Dautun as Agathe Van Der Meulen
 * Pierre Rousselet as police officer 1 (2006)
 * Caroline Borderieux as police officer 2 (2006)
 * Cédric Meusburger as train ticketing officer
 * David Forgit as police officer 1 (Le Havre)
 * Vincent Furic as police officer 2 (Le Havre)
 * Mamadou Haïdara as young Assane Diop
 * Ludmilla Makowski as young Claire Laurent
 * Etan Simon as Raoul Diop

Music

 * original music by Mathieu Lamboley
 * "In Stride" by Christopher Bentley Kemp, Marc Aaron Jacobs
 * "Last Call" by Marvin Bounds Gordy III, William Brendle
 * "Four A.M" by Anthony King
 * "Hood Bits" by Le Fat Club, Josselin Bordat

Trivia

 * Although the train announcement suggests that connections are available from Le Havre to Étretat, this service has been discontinued in real life.