Chapter 1

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**Chapter 1** was the first episode of Season 1 and the first episode overall of *Lupin*. It was released January 8, 2021 on Netflix and written by George Kay.. It has a running time of 48 minutes.

## Plot

Years after a tragic injustice, Assane seeks to settle a score — and a debt — by stealing a diamond necklace, but the heist takes an unexpected turn.

## Summary

### The Past

Assane's father, Babakar, has just found work as a a chauffeur for Hubert Pellegrini. Assane and Babakar encounter Anne Pellegrini, the wife of Hubert, on a walk one day. Her car won't start. She quickly locks her door when they offer to help until Babakar explains he is her father's chauffeur. She then gives in and asks Assane to get in the car. Anne asks him where they come from, to which Assane tells her they are from Senegal. When she asks where his mother is, Assane stays quiet. Anne eventually lets Babakar drive her home, and she tells Assane his father is a gentleman.

Occasionally Assane would visit the Pellegrini house due to his father's work. One day he met Hubert's daughter, Juliette, in the swimming pool, and she told him she would give him a kiss if he swam over. Assane does. Juliette keeps her promise. Meanwhile, inside the Pellegrini Mansion Babakar was dusting the bookshelves when Hubert angrily tells him to leave. Anne makes him stay, though, and tells him he can take a book for himself. Honoured, Babakar selects an Arsène Lupin novel. At some point, he wraps it up as a birthday present intended for Assane.

Shortly after, Babakar was wrongfully arrested for stealing a necklace from Hubert Pellegrini. Assane visited him in prison often to remain close to his father, and during one visit he caught eyes with Léonard, though young Assane didn't realise who he was. When the prison guard went to find Babakar, he appeared to have hung himself. At the funeral, Anne Pellegrini approaches Assane and offers her condolences. Distrusting and disliking the Pellegrinis, Assane tells her to "fuck off."

Among his father's possessions, he finds an old copy of an Arsène Lupin book wrapped as a birthday present which his father had intended for him to have. Assane reads the books with intrigue and enthrallment.

### The Thief and the Sharks

Assane hears that the diamond necklace belonging to Hubert Pellegrini that his father was accused of stealing on the television. The news reporter explains that the Pellegrinis intend to put it up for auction at the Louvre art museum. In a plan to take it for himself, Assane gains employment at the Louvre as a janitor under the alias of Luis Perenna. He gets his closest friend and companion, Benjamin Ferel, who works as a jeweller, to make an almost-exact replica of the diamond necklace so that Assane. To fund him, Assane borrows €1000 from three loansharks - Kevin, Vincent and Rudy. They have awfully high interest and threaten to kill him if it is not returned.

Much later, he meets his estranged wife Claire, the mother of his child at a café and asks if he can have Raoul at the weekend. Claire agrees, telling Assane that it's what Raoul wants he needs to worry about. Assane tries to make it clear that he has changed, though she is left unconvinced. He offers her some money but she tells him to keep it and buy Raoul a present. Shortly after leaving, Claire realises he hid the money in her pocket. She smiles at him through the window of the café.

Assane meets with three loansharks he borrowed money from. After telling them he does not have the repayment they angrily grab him, hoist him outside onto their apartment's balcony and hold him over the edge. Assane pleads for his life, but explains he has an easy way for them to all become rich. Initially the loansharks are distrustful, but eventually Kevin decides to hear what he has to say.

Assane explains his complex plan to steal the diamond necklace from the Louvre using his access pass to get them inside and giving them bottles of chloroform to take out any guards who challenge them. The loansharks are eventually convinced and agree to aid him. Kevin asks what Assane will be doing while they're risking their lives, and he explains he will be buying the necklace. He then creates the false persona of "Paul Sernine", even going as far to create online records of him with photographs and his net worth.

### The Heist

Arriving at the Louvre, Assane joins the large crowds that will be bidding on the necklace. Meanwhile, Kevin, Vincent and Rudy infiltrate the Louvre dressed as janitors but find their bottles of chloroform are ineffective, forcing them to take out the guards physically. They calculate they have seven minutes to get out after the cameras shut down before the arrival of the police, and wasting time fighting the guards costs heavily here. Eventually they defeat them, though, then steal their uniforms and rush towards the auction.

Simultaneously, Assane joins the bid of the diamond necklace after a speech from Juliette Pellegrini. It is steadily brought up and he ends up bidding €40,000,000 under the name of Paul Sernine. When nobody else pays, Assane brings the bid up again to €60,000,000 to "save everyone some time." As expected, nobody competes with this offer, leaving him in possession of the diamond necklace.

Later, when they are alone, Assane and the auctioneer, Thibault Du Quenoy inspect the necklace with two guards near them: the disguised Kevin and Vincent. Assane puts on white gloves to handle the necklace when the loansharks strike, knocking both Assane and Thibault to the floor. Kevin, betraying Assane, gives him a beating, but Assane quickly switches the fake necklace Benjamin made with the real one, causing Kevin and Vincent to run off with the fake necklace. Assane then puts the real one in a bin, where he can later remove it working as a janitor.

Kevin and Vincent rush outside where Rudy is waiting as a getaway-driver in a two-seater vehicle. As guards pursue them, Rudy accidentally drives up the embankment and crashes through the glass roof of the Pyramide Inversée. Guards quickly apprehend them and police arrive on the scene.

### Aftermath

The necklace is retrieved by the police and the three loansharks are arrested. Captain Romain Laugier questions Assane, finding him suspicious but without anything to suggest he was involved with the crime. Assane leaves. Youssef Guédira, another figure in the Paris Police Department, points out the similarity between the heist and a similar heist in the Arsène Lupin novels. Youssef later discovers that "Paul Sernine" is an acronym for Arsène Lupin.

Assane changes back into the janitor's uniform, adopting the role of "Luis Perenna" and clears up the mess made from the crash into the Louvre. He then reaches the bin where he hid the diamond necklace and takes it for himself. Assane exits the museum as he takes off his disguise, work done, with the diamond now his.

The following day, Assane visits Claire and Raoul as promised. Both are surprised by him being early - Raoul most of all. Assane takes his son out on a bridge, and while they walk Assane gifts him the collection of Arsène Lupin that he had found among his father's possessions twenty-five years ago.

## Cast

### Main

* Omar Sy as Assane Diop
* Ludivine Sagnier as Claire Diop
* Hervé Pierre as Hubert Pellegrini
* Clotilde Hesme as Juliette Pellegrini
* Soufiane Guerrab as Youssef Guedira

### Recurring

* Etan Simon as Raoul Diop
* Fargass Assandé as Babakar Diop
* Antoine Gouy as Benjamin Ferel
* Nicole Garcia as Anne Pellegrini
* Vincent Garanger as Gabriel Dumont
* Vincent Londez as Romain Laugier
* Shirine Boutella as Sofia Belkacem

### Guest

* Kamel Guenfoud as Kevin
* Grégoire Colin as Vincent
* Arthur Choisnet as Rudy
* Adama Niane as Léonard
* Xavier Lemaitre as Thibault Du Quenoy

### Cast Notes

* This is the only episode that the characters of Kevin, Vincent and Rudy appear.
* Léonard (portrayed by Adama Niane) is on screen for less than three seconds in this episode.

## Quotes

"*You underestimated me. You didn’t look at me. You saw me, but you didn’t really look.*"
―Assane Diop
"*Do you know what they call men like your dad? A gentleman.*"
―Anne Pellegrini
"*Go in as janitors. Come out millionaires.*"
―Assane Diop
"*Arséne Lupin isn’t just a book. He’s my heritage. My method. My path. I am Lupin.*"
―Assane Diop

## Gallery

Assane inspects the necklace.The LouvreJuliette flirts with Assane.Juliette kisses Assane.Rudy crashes into the Louvre.The Diamond Necklace
## Notes

* Just like "Paul Sernine" was, Assane's other disguise of "Luis Perenna" is also an anogram for Arséne Lupin.
* The diamond necklace is sometimes called the Queen's necklace.
* The scenes in the Louvre were actually shot in the museum itself.
* Omar Sy said that he wanted the show to depict Paris as he knows it, from everywhere to the landmarks to the suburbs. He didn't want it to feel like a postcard. Paris was described as being the heart of the show.
* This was the only episode in Season 1 not to be co-written by François Uzan
* Louis Leterrier was not only a director, but a camera operator. He was praised by the cast and crew for his flexibility and willingness to fill in other roles.