Lupin Season 1 Episode 1 Recap – Chapter 1

[00:00:30] A man entered the Lourve through the employee entrance. He placed his badge on the scanner, and his name popped up on screen. He was Luis Perenna. Luis worked at the Lourve as one of its cleaners. The museum was closed for the night while they went to work. Luis was moping the floor when he looked up and stared at the Mona Lisa. He and his friend went to another area of the museum where the Queen’s necklace was on display. Luis’s friend jokingly told him that he could afford to buy the necklace in exchange for a thousand years worth of minimum wage. The two of them were discussing the auction when they heard the security cameras at work. Seeing as someone was watching them, they went back to their cleaning carts to resume their work.

[00:03:00] Luis’ real name was Assane. He was sitting inside a café, speaking with his ex-wife, Claire. She asked Assane if he couldn’t afford to buy a razor because he had come to meet with her unshaven. Asssane proudly told Claire that he could afford a razor because he now had a job. Claire laughed and responded that his job wouldn’t last, just like his previous job. Assane asked if he could see their son, Raoul, on the weekends. Claire agreed; however, she told Assane that Raoul might not want to see him. Assane had failed to meet with Raoul for three straight arrangements, which may have caused his son to turn sour. Assane responded that he was not the greatest father, but he was going to make it this time. Claire told Assane to meet Raoul at eight on Saturday. He agreed and handed over the alimony that he owed Claire.

[00:04:30] Claire returned Assane’s money and told him to keep it. She suggested that he just buy Raoul a gift to make up with him. Claire kissed Assane goodbye and left the café. Assane managed to slip the money into Claire’s jacket along with a paper rose that he folded using the café’s receipt. After his meeting with Claire, Assane went straight to his associate’s apartment. A guy named Kevin opened the door for him. Assane spoke to Vincent, who asked for the money he owed him. Assane responded that he didn’t have the money because he had given it to Claire as alimony. Vincent ordered Kevin to throw Assane off the building. Assane told them that he knew a way to make more money than they could ever dream of.

[00:06:30] Assane explained that he worked as a cleaner in the Lourve. He told them about the Queen’s necklace, which he planned to steal during the auction. Vincent laughed at Assane and told Kevin to throw him out the building. Assane countered Kevin’s attack and continued explaining things. He told them that the people at the top never looked at the people at the bottom. Assane told them that they wouldn’t be seen entering or leaving the museum because people didn’t expect anyone to steal the necklace. He told them his plan and how they were going to enter the museum.

[00:08:00] Assane showed them the floor plan of the Lourve. He knew the whole museum since he had been studying it while working as a cleaner. The janitor’s locker didn’t have cameras in it. The entrance and exit were also separate from the whole museum, which meant it was the perfect cover. Assane already had duties for each one of them. Kevin, Vincent, and Rudy would be disguising themselves as janitors. They would steal guard uniforms once they got inside the museum. Rudy would go to the surveillance room and disable all the security cameras. Once the cameras were disabled, Kevin and Vincent would steal the necklace. They had a total of seven minutes to complete their heist. After Rudy disabled the security cameras, he was going to find their getaway vehicle. All four of them scoped the place and entered the museum posing as tourists.

[00:09:30] We got a little flashback of Assane’s past. He and his father were walking in the park when it started to rain. They were looking for shelter, and a car’s engine died in the middle of the street. The driver couldn’t start the engine, so Assane’s father volunteered to help. Assane’s father, Babakar, knew the owner of the car, a woman named Mrs. Pellegrini. Babakar worked for Mrs. Pellegrini’s husband as his chauffeur. Due to the heavy rainfall, Mrs. Pellegrini didn’t recognize Babakar. She immediately locked her doors at the sight of him. Babakar told Mrs. Pellegrini who he was, and she decided to allow him to help. Babakar asked her to open the hood. Mrs. Pellegrini told Assane to get inside the car so that he wouldn’t get soaked in the rain.

[00:11:00] Assane got inside the car while his father fixed the engine. Mrs. Pellegrini spoke to Assane. She asked him where he and his father were from. Assane told her that they’re from Senegal. She continued by asking Assane where his mother was. Assane didn’t respond; either she was dead, or she had left them. Babakar closed the hood and told her to try again. Mrs. Pellegrini tried to start her car again. The car started, so she thanked Babakar for his help. He insisted to driver for Mrs. Pellegrini so she scoot over to the passenger seat. She proudly told Assane that his father was a true gentleman. Meanwhile, Assane was preparing the red carpet for the guests of the auction. Later that evening, Assane got out of a car and walked down the same red carpet that he laid out.

[00:13:00] Vincent, Kevin, and Rudy were making their way through the employee’s entrance. Rudy took out a bottle of chloroform, and it passed the guards eyes without any suspicion. All three of them used other people’s badges, but since no one was checking, they weren’t caught. They passed the security check and made their way to the locker room. The auctioneer welcomed everyone and recalled the rich history of the Queen’s necklace before they started. Babakar opened the car door for Mr. Pellegrini. He got out and went to the other side. Babakar opened the other door to reveal Mrs. Pellegrini wearing the Queen’s necklace. The two of them went inside while Babakar parked their car inside the garage. The auctioneer explained that the seven jewels of the necklace had been taken apart and scattered across the world.

[00:15:00] It was Mr. Pellegrini who had taken the effort to restore the necklace to its true glory. The auctioneer introduced Mr. Pellegrini’s daughter, Juliette. Assane seemed to know Juliette as he smiled while she went down the stairs. He had known her back when he turned fourteen. Mrs. Pellegrini had allowed Assane to use the pool. He went to the pool and saw Juliette. She introduced herself to Assane and asked him if black people couldn’t swim. Assane got offended and told Juliette that he could swim. She offered to kiss Assane if he could swim to the end of the pool where Juliette was. Assane hesitated at first, but he swam anyways. Assane struggled to make it to the end of the pool. Once he got to the end Juliette fulfilled her promise and kissed Assane.

[00:19:00] Juliette addressed the crowd. She thanked them for their support. The sales would go to her foundation, which catered to the proper care and restoration of artistic artifacts. The bidding was underway, so Assane’s associates went to work as well. They created a commotion inside the locker room, prompting the guards to go check on them. Rudy sprayed them with chloroform, thinking it would have an instantaneous effect. The guards just looked at Rudy, so he called on Vincent and Kevin’s help. A fight broke out as the two of them tried to subdue the guards. One of the guards managed to call out before Kevin knocked him out. Rudy answered that it was a false alarm, which the command center surprisingly accepted.

[00:21:00] The bidding continued as the amount reached 32 million euros. Assane raised his hands to confirm his bid for 33 million. Everyone was shocked as they didn’t know who he was. One of the staff approached the auctioneer to show him an article about the man Assane was impersonating. His name was Paul Sernine. The Wikipedia page showed his assets at around 576 million euros which was enough to convince the auctioneer that he was a legitimate bidder. He accepted the bid and called out everyone at 33 million euros. Rudy made his way to the surveillance office. The guard was awake because he was watching a football game. Rudy tried to spray the guard with chloroform, but the bottle didn’t work. He used the trash bin to knock him out instead.

[00:23:00] Kevin and Vincent made their way to the auction. The bidding reached 40 million euros, but Assane wasn’t the winning bid. He bid for 41 million euros. His competitior was still in discussion on whether they wanted to bid for 42 million, so Assane sped things up. He received a message from Rudy that the cameras were already off. They now had 7 minutes to execute the heist and take the necklace. Assane raised his hand and told the auctioneer that he would change his bid to 60 million euros. Assane’s competitor could no longer compete with his price and admitted defeat. The auctioneer threw his gavel down as Assane won the bid.

[00:25:00] The people applauded Assane for winning the bidding. The auctioneer escorted Assane to the safe room, where they would transfer the necklace to his possession. They were just waiting for his money to be transferred when Assane requested to see the necklace. The auctioneer took the necklace out of the safe while Kevin and Vincent stood guard. As soon as Assane lifted the necklace from the bust, Kevin and Vincent jumped the other guard as well as Assane. They planned to double-cross him. They tied Assane and the auctioneer up and made their escape. Vincent and Kevin exited the museum through the janitor’s access. Rudy was waiting in a Ferrari as their getaway vehicle. The police chased them through the streets of Paris.

[00:30:00] Assane remembered the time his father was imprisoned because Mr. Pellegrini had accused Babakar of stealing the necklace. The police had taken Babakar away as Mrs. Pellegrini stood watch. Babakar had asked for her help, but she didn’t do anything to save him. Assane had gone to prison to visit his father, but he had already committed suicide. Babakar was buried in an unmarked grave while Assane stood watch. He was the only one who had attended his father’s funeral. Mrs. Pellegrini arrived after the gravekeepers buried Babakar. She asked Assane if she could do anything to ease his pain. He told Mrs. Pellegrini to go to hell as he walked away from his father’s grave. Meanwhile, Rudy, Kevin, and Vincent were arrested. The police had gotten the necklace back because Rudy had tried to jump Lourve pyramid using the Ferrari. His attempt failed as they crashed the car and wrecked the pyramid.

[00:32:30] The auctioneer defended Assane from the police investigation. He told them that he was the victim. The police inspector got a call informing him that the thieves were already arrested. The officer that informed him asked if he knew about the story of Arsene Lupin. He told the inspector that the events were just like the story of Arsene Lupin. The inspector told Assane that he could leave. The inspector got a hunch and decided to search Assane. All he found was a pen from the Lourve. Assane told him that it was a souvenir. He walked away without the police suspecting that he was the mastermind.

[00:36:00] A young Assane returned home after his father’s burial. He saw the news report that one of the house staff had stolen the necklace and that his father was innocent. Assane saw his father’s gloves on top of the TV. He remembered his father while he stowed the gloves away. Assane opened his father’s stash and found his father’s birthday present for him. It was the book that Mrs. Pellegrini had given him the day the necklace went missing. The book about Arsene Lupin, the gentleman thief. Assane read the book and took inspiration from it. Assane was Arsene Lupin. He lived in an elegant flat that was overlooking a church. He was drinking his coffee when news of the Queen’s necklace was flashed on TV. This happened two weeks before the actual heist.

[00:38:00] Assane impersonated Luis Perenna. He used that pseudonym in order to gain a job at the Lourve. The head of the cleaners was a woman from Senegal. He gained her trust by telling her that he was also from Senegal. He also used the same name in order to borrow money from Vincent. Assane didn’t plan on paying up the money. He turned to one of his friends in order to make a replica of the Queen’s necklace. Assane planned to use the replica and make the switch during the auction. He also photoshopped his picture on the Wikipedia page in order to create his Paul Sernine persona. With everything in place, Assane proceeded with his plan.

[00:40:00] Assane knew that Vincent and his crew would double cross him if they got the opportunity. He threw the real necklace into the trash bin as Vincent tackled him to the ground. He threw the fake one into the open for Vincent and Kevin to grab. Vincent grabbed the fake necklace and made his escape. After the heist, Assane returned to his post as a janitor and took the necklace from the trash bin. He included the necklace with a bag of dirty diapers. The museum guards didn’t check the trash bag since it was full of dirty diapers. Assane successfully completed his heist. In his own words, he entered the museum as a janitor and left as a millionaire.

[00:42:00] The police received word that the necklace they had found on Vincent and his men was a fake. Office Guedira noticed that the name Paul Sernine was an anagram to the name Arsene Lupin. He wrote the names side by side and realized that the thief was none other than Arsene Lupin. He immediately left the station to inform his superiors. Meanwhile, Assane went to Claire’s flat to pick up his son, Raoul. The two of them went for a walk while Assane gave the book to him. He told Raoul that his grandfather had given him the book, and it was time he read it.