Take him out of this show — whether in the first five episodes that became an early-2021, word-of-mouth international hit or in the second five that make up what Netflix calls “Part 2” — and it’s hard to imagine any other part of it equipped to handle what the confidence in that title performance brings.
It’s odd, then, that “Lupin” Part 2 tries its hardest to sideline so much of that Sy playfulness that made up the bulk of what got people hooked back in January.
After a reconciliatory bus ride promises some happier news on the horizon, Assane’s son Raoul , the man responsible for bringing pain into Assane’s childhood, seems bent on doing it again to him as an adult.
“Lupin” wants to absorb everything that comes along with a crime drama loaded with real, serious consequences, where parents scream in sorrow at their children being killed right in front of them.
Pierre doesn’t play him as an over-the-top mustache twirling villain, but Pelligrini has plenty of the other trappings: henchmen to dispatch, grand money-stealing schemes held up by sham foundations, and priceless jewelry.
The possible exception is Guedira , whose unlikely team-up with Assane in the early going of Part 2 gives the audience a chance to sit with the two as they find some emotional common ground.
On the dot-connecting front, those officers are in good company, because there’s barely a part of “Lupin” that isn’t devoted to tracing out thematic and story parallels as clear as possible.
Too often, for the sake of a shocking, episode-capping twist, the show takes the audience through the tried-and-true heist story trick of showing you what you’ve just seen, but with a slightly different perspective.
It’s part of the show’s appeal , but it’s also what makes the more serious dramatic hairpin turns of Part 2 ring a little false.
You don’t need a car chase with a driver almost pulverized by an oncoming train when you have someone who revels in the art of deceiving police officers and bilking old racists out of their ill-gotten jewels.
It’s a performance marked by so much vicarious joy that it’s almost too hard to believe Assane in the moments when he says he’s thinking about giving up what he does best.