A few days ago I started watching Lupin which is I guess an enjoyably fast-paced piece of work with some very good actors and the sumptuous backdrop of Paris (a city I have never really enjoyed quite as much as I could or should in real life) and all the same old shitty tropes that you'd get in any Hollywood production all about revenge and crimefighting and crimecomitting except for a couple of twists like, I don't know, they're French? And the hero is a criminal? But he's a criminal for the right reasons maybe? To be honest, that's not entirely clear (at least not at first - actually I'm wrong - he's a criminal for criminal reasons at first, but then he becomes a criminal for the 'right' reasons, I guess). But look, it kept me mainly engaged, although I was - I won't spoil- particularly pissed off by a death in the 4th episode that I felt was entirely unnecessary, although perhaps I don't know enough to have a complete opinion on that because I decided half way through the last episode I wouldn't watch it till the next season comes along;* the only thing I know about it is it's a cliffhanger anyway but it does seem it's a cliffhanger based on more trite and well-worn tropes we don't need anymore really.
To be honest the best thing about Lupin is the plot holes, which are crazy, but it sets the whole thing on a extra superheroesque level which I kind of enjoy more than if all the ts were crossed and i's dotted. After all, the whole thing is anchored by devotion to a series of Rafflesish crime thrillers and the ones who know, know (I don't know, I've never read any of those books, though I am tempted now). Assene Diop's bad habit of doing his crimes via fake people whose names are an anagram of Arsene Lupin is going to get him into trouble, I can see that already.
*Wikipedia says the next five eps will be with us in 'the summer of 2021', which of course I will have to change now, because fuck that hemispherism.
1 comment:
There is only one Lupin, and it's Lupin III.
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