Picture Credit: Netflix
As the fourth season of Lupin has taken over Top 10s all over the world this weekend, the last of the eight episodes feature iconic Paris locations and the most shocking reveals of the series yet. Here is the play-by-play of the final game, not to be read until you have seen at least the first 7 episodes.
As of this writing, the anticipated return of Lupin proved, once again, the global draw of the French adventure series, with presence in the Top 10s of 62 countries, according to FlixPatrol (and has hit number 1 in 40 territories, including, of course, France). The show has gone full throttle of its new characters and reveals, and ends up with its biggest heist yet, but also the biggest challenges for Assane (Omar Sy), who has had to contend with the daughter he never knew he had, Adèle Kapoor (Laïka Blanc-Francard), and the revealed relationship between his best friend Ben (Antoine Gouy) and Claire (Ludivine Sagnier). But here is what went down in the finale, directed by Hugo Gélin.
Lupin Season 4 Finale Recap
As we open with the arrival of Guillaume de Charmerace in his mansion (Loïc Corbery), he believes that it is only a matter of time before Assane is arrested by the police, and Commissioner Korvin, who is an accomplice and a crooked cop. Fellow Guardians, under jewel code names Sapphire and Ruby, are urging him to get rid of Assane within 24 hours, or else they will trigger the “Varenne Procedure”.
Raoul explains to Claire and Assane how he found himself at the Museum that fateful night; he did not believe Assane could pull the heist off, so he actually sneaked in to spy on them. Once he was spotted by Belkacem, he panicked and pushed her off the balcony. Belkacem (Shirine Boutella) and Guedira (Soufiane Guerrab) arrive at the apartment of Claire in order to arrest Raoul (Théo Christine), but they find them all gone. Guedira notices a Post-it with a clue that is actually left by Assane; at the rendezvous point, he tries to convince Guedira to leave his son alone. He warns Guedira to stay out of his way, as he is working to take down Korvin; once it’s done, he will trade that feat to make a deal to stop the police from arresting Raoul. Against Guedira’s wishes, Belkacem orders policemen to arrest Assane, but he manages to neutralize them and escapes.
As it turns out, Assane is actually knowledgeable about the plans of the Guardians, and has a plan to actually trigger that Varenne Procedure. Stealing that treasure is the only way to neutralize the power of the Guardians, and stop them chasing Assane. Varenne is the name of a special security company that helps the richest fortunes in the world transport their wealth assets to another safe place in case of an emergency event. Assane’s plan to trigger it: the level of the Seine rising, which will actually mess with the safe and locations of the treasure, which might become flooded. To achieve that, Assane and Ben actually will close one dam and open another at both parts of the Paris area; they pose as employees of the Brigade Fluviale and succeed.
Ben and Assane. Cr: Emmanuel Guimier/Netflix.
News reports that Paris is being flooded, including the subway stations; De Charmerace then activates the plan to move the treasure out of its location. An outsized truck then appears, and materializes out of a secret passage below the headquarters of De Charmerace, to an undisclosed location. By that point, he also has figured out that Assane will try to rob and seize the treasure while on the road; he calls on Commissioner Korvin, who is actually sitting in the truck, moving under heavy police escort, in order to find and arrest Assane.
Assane had a mishap while escaping from his mission on the dam; the red motorbike Ben had parked is being seized. But he has another idea; he uses the horse from the traffic agent in place to find the truck. As he nears the Arc de Triomphe, Assane actually stops the convoy. He diverts the policemen tasked with the security of the convoy and leads them to go around downtown Paris (Fun fact: while the Johnny Hallyday track L’Aventure C’est L’Aventure plays, actually the soundtrack to a French cult classic from 1972). Causing chaos and confusion in the streets, the chase eventually ends in front of the Panthéon, while Assane taunts a police barrage; he then successfully escapes.
Meanwhile, the convoy carrying the treasure is out of Paris, but then a policeman actually finds Korvin in the trunk of a car. She then barges in on De Charmerace, who looks confused as he is talking to Korvin in the truck, alongside the driver. “Korvin” then knocks the driver out and unmasks to reveal it was actually Juliette Pellegrini. The signal of the truck is then scrambled by a drone piloted by Adèle. It is then revealed she actually intercepted the real Commissioner Korvin before she boarded the truck; Assane’s team then has the treasure in their possession. Helpless and enraged, De Charmerace begs the Guardians to give them another shot; they say they are taking it from here.
Adèle and Raoul, about to head out and meet Assane, Claire, Ben and Juliette, are arrested by a crew of masked men inside Assane’s headquarters. While the four adults arrive to convey and are jubilant at a successful mission, Assane receives a call from Adèle’s phone. It is revealed to be from Hubert Pellegrini, who successfully went back to France and has kidnapped both Adèle and Raoul. He then asks Assane to meet “where Arsène 1st took its first flight”. Assane then leaves his friends in the dust, as he drives the truck to this secret location to confront Pellegrini. Claire, Ben and Juliette then call on Belkacem and Guedira to figure it out. Guedira actually explains that in the Arsène Lupin novel Arsène The First, a plane is actually stolen by Lupin to save a kidnapped woman. The plane takes flight from the park of Saint-Cloud.
Cr: Emmanuel Guimier/Netflix.
Assane tries to trade the treasure for the lives of both Adèle and Raoul. As he relinquishes the keys to the truck, Hubert makes Adèle get out of the car and advance towards his father, but with a bomb strapped to her back. Hubert warns Assane that he will detonate the bomb if he gets closer. As Assane wonders where Raoul is, he then gets out of another car himself and advances towards Assane; we then realize he has switched sides to join Hubert. Full of resentment, Raoul says: “You know what your problem is? You could not figure out things that were right in front of your face.” It is then revealed that Raoul secretly called Hubert in jail after spying on Assane, Adèle and Claire as they completed their mission to activate the jewels of the royal crown. Raoul never went to Dakar without Assane, as it was assumed, but instead took a plane to Kuala Lumpur, where Hubert made good on his promise to explain all the background of Assane with Juliette and their secret daughter Adèle. Raoul then gave him a lump sum of cash (possibly from his dealings with the local gang of earlier in the season) and freed Hubert Pellegrini, who then returned to France, and took back the treasure with Raoul as his secret accomplice.
As the finale ends, Raoul says that Assane was never able to choose between himself and his Lupin alter ego, or between Claire and Juliette, or even now, between Adèle and him. He then takes the detonator and urges Assane to make a choice: Adèle or him. The countdown on the bomb reaches zero, but the detonator does not go off. Raoul says: “If you really knew me, you would know I am not able to ever do that. But I guess that’s okay: at long last, you made a choice”. As Belkacem and Guedira arrive on the scene, Raoul and Pellegrini are about to fly away in a helicopter; Assane puts himself in the line of fire as Belkacem shoots… and misses Raoul but hits Assane. The season ends with Assane bleeding from his chest, Claire, Juliette and Ben surrounding him alongside Adèle; Raoul and Hubert Pellegrini successfully escape, as it is now hinted Hubert takes him under his wing.
Will Lupin be renewed for season 5?
The heavy cliffhanger of this season is somehow mitigated by the fact Assane has now faked his death twice in the series; but he appears to be seriously wounded, and would not have had time to pull a last-minute trick. Nevertheless, anything is possible in Lupin world. As Télé Loisirs has revealed during a screenwriter panel at the Netflix Book Festival, one of the writers, Florent Meyer, has revealed they were indeed working on a fifth season.
There are a lot of red herrings and one major evolution in Lupin‘s life: Raoul is now his estranged son, and even though he seems to have accepted the relationship between Ben and Claire, dealing with a son who has successfully betrayed him has to be addressed in the upcoming season. Another red herring which did not seem to find resolution is the planned arrest of Korvin for being corrupted by the organization of the Guardians; Guedira has damning recorded evidence. Finally, as the existence of Adèle was revealed, as well as the fact she lived in London with an adoptive mother, it was acknowledged she had committed robbery with some very powerful people, and sending her back there would spell doom. Outside of the obvious Pellegrini foe, that could come into play in the new season; we are awaiting confirmation from Netflix. Lupin would then join the rare ranks of returning French scripted series, alongside The Cage and Blood Coast.
Do you have theories about where Lupin could go next season? What did you think of the finale? Sound off in the comments below!
