Summary
As we reach the midway stage, episode 3 is the best chapter so far as it becomes less complex, and more emotionally engaging as Assane digs deeper for the truth and takes more risks.
This recap of Netflix’s Lupin season 1, episode 3 contains significant spoilers.
We have recapped every episode — check out the toggles of the top of the page for next and previous episodes.
The opening
Episode 3 opens with Commissioner Dumont waking up and following his morning routine. He has a happy family life with a wife and children. Meanwhile, Assane is spying on his household with plenty of cameras. There’s revenge in his eyes as he watches the man sip his coffee. He’s looking at a man partially responsible for his father’s death. The series is really bubbling at this stage.
Kidnapping the Commissioner
Assane ends up in the Commissioner’ss office, dressed like an IT intern. He tells Dumont that he’s found p*rn on his laptop. Dumont tells him to erase it, but Assane says he cannot, and he will have to do it himself. Suddenly, Dumont asks for his papers, so Assane gets frustrated and starts shouting about p*rn to embarrass him. When Assane gets him down a private corridor, he knocks him out, takes his sim card out of his phone and kidnaps the man.
Assane ties Dumont to a chair, and when he wakes up, he speaks to him through speakers with an unidentified masked voice. He’s in a dark room. Assane then throws photos up on a screen in front of his father. The interrogation begins.
Babakar does not fit the profile
Episode 3 then flips to 1995. Dumont meets Hubert Pellegrini, and they discuss the necklace. Dumont asks why the insurance increased on the necklace before it was stolen. Hubert Pellegrini provides an explanation, and then Dumont says that Babakar does not fit the profile for stealing the necklace. At this stage, it looks like Dumont was one of the good cops.
Back to the present, Assane shows elements of his father’s investigation and asks why he framed Babaker. Dumont slowly gets more anxious the more questions that he asks, and claims Babakar was not innocent. Dumont then asks if this has anything to do with the burglary of the necklace. Meanwhile, word spreads that Commissioner Dumont has been kidnapped. Police go to full investigation to find Dumont.
Commissioner Dumont is holding out
Assane shows Dumont a few criminals on the screen. He states how these criminals wire money to the Commissioner. He threatens to show this information to his wife. Assane then rings his wife for him through the speakers, but she can’t hear him. Assane gives him a chance to confess that his father was framed, but Dumont holds out and refuses to accept the conspiracy.
Revealing himself
Assane shows Dumont deepfake videos of himself. He threatens to release videos of Dumont saying anything to news networks. Dumont still refuses to accept that Assane’s father was framed — Assane loses it and reveals he is Babakar’s son. This is a pivotal moment; Assane finally shows a weakness in the series. Dumont now knows this captor is Assane and he asks for forgiveness — “Your dad was a good man”. He then tells him he is innocent and wants to return to his family — he promises to let this go if he lets him free.
How Assane and Claire met
Lupin season 1, episode 3 delves into Assane’s relationship with Claire. Flashbacks show Claire was an understanding friend in his life after his father died. They became friends very quickly. The pair read books together on a park bench. Suddenly, bullies come to their bench, and Assane fights them. In the bathroom, Claire tends to Assane’s wounds. He tries kissing her, but she tells him he is the only man in his life that she can handle and doesn’t want a boyfriend. There’s a presumed romance between them both instantly — the young actors show chemistry very quickly.
The police find Dumont
Assane tells Dumont that he isn’t a barbarian, so he forgives him. Meanwhile, the police find the van, but Dumont isn’t inside. Assane has purposefully diverted them. Investigator Guédira believes Dumont is at City Hall and references Lupin again, which his colleagues scoff at but check out his hunch anyway. The police find Dumont.
Always being there for each other
In a flashback, Assane talks to Claire about the Arsène Lupin book and then brings up a term he enjoys — being a gentleman. Claire kisses him and states how she likes being around him and enjoys the idea of always being there for each other. This gives context to the present day; how Assane and Claire seem to be there for each other, despite a past that hasn’t been explained yet and having a child together.
Taking them cameras down.
Guédira shows his colleagues the links again between the Arsène Lupin book and recent events. They are slowly buying into it. Meanwhile, Dumont returns home and looks for the cameras and takes them offline.
The ending
Flashbacks show Dumont telling Hubert Pellegrini that he thinks evidence was planted. He also knows Hubert plays golf with his boss. Dumont asks about his wife and how she does many hours as a nurse. He promises to launch his career if Babakar confesses and guarantees a reduced sentence if the necklace returns. Hubert doesn’t want Dumont’s wife to know about this deal. In the present day, Dumont is crippled with guilt, especially after Assane forgave him.
He then rings Hubert and tells him a new player is involved. His wife then returns, and they emotionally embrace after a stressful day. Suddenly, his AI device (it’s like a Google Home) plays a recording between him and Pellegrini — the phonecall he’s just had. Dumont gets extremely frustrated and destroys the device in front of his wife — Assane listens in.
As we reach the midway stage, Lupin season 1, episode 3 is the best chapter yet as it becomes less complex, and more emotionally engaging as Assane digs deeper for the truth and takes more risks.
