Crowdpleasing French action series has violence, mystery.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Language
a lot
Profanity is used throughout, including the "f" word, "s--t," "ass," etc. Racist language against the main character is used and implied, and there's some homophobic language.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.
Lupin features little sexual content outside of basic romantic relationships. In one episode, a character talks about pornography that's been found on someone's computer, which is played for laughs.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
Lupin is an odd sort of revenge story at heart, in which the main character uses illegal means to do the right thing: trying to prove his father not guilty for a crime he didn't commit.
Positive Role Models
some
The main character, Assane Diop, displays ingenuity, integrity, determination, loyalty, and creative problem solving. Diop is a Senegalese immigrant, and some of the plot is driven by other characters' racist actions toward him.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Lupin is an action drama about a thief working to prove his father innocent of a 25-year-old crime. The series is French but dubbed into English on Netflix. Omar Sy stars as Assane Diop, a criminal inspired by the well-known French character Arsène Lupin. Each episode is loosely based on a classic Lupin story. Diop and his father are Senegalese immigrants, and racism plays a major role in the series. Racist language and racist stereotypes are frequently used or implied. Violence runs throughout the series, including fistfights, kidnapping, stabbing, and suicide by hanging. Characters smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. No drug use is shown, but drugs and drug trafficking are a topic. So is pornography, which is mentioned multiple times in one episode in an attempt to embarrass a character.
This TV show is one of the best I’ve seen so far, ranking at no. 4 in my top ten shows of all time.
The show has the potential to be TV-PG(or possibly 9+ here on common sense media) if not for the language. Of everything in the show, the only thing you need to worry about is the language. If you think it’s because of cobra Kai-level language, it’s not. That’s because it’s not as often but the words they use are really bad. Like, they used the F-word 3 times in one scene and 2 times in the rest of the episode, and that’s it. As for role models, Asanne Diop is very clever and I think some kids(and adults) would be amazed by his cleverness. I think the type of kids that would love this are fans of Carmen Sandiego and fans of superhero movies. After all, the show is something worth watching.
What's the Story?
Lupin tells the story of a man inspired by a classic French character named Arsène Lupin, the Gentleman Thief. Lupin was created in the early 1900s by author Maurice Leblanc. When a collection of Leblanc's Lupin stories finds its way into the hands of young Senegalese immigrant Assane Diop, it inspires him to become both a thief and a gentleman. As an adult, Diop puts his skills to use in a series of heists that at first seem like high-stakes burglaries, but ultimately reveal a more noble motive in Diop's heart.
Plenty of crime series feature a Case-of-the-Week: Lupin does something unique in that it offers a Heist-of-the-Week, and each heist serves to fill in a part of Diop's story. Soon enough, the show is ricocheting between the heists, the police frantically trying to catch up with Diop, and flashbacks to the modern gentleman thief's origin story.
Lupin certainly has its flaws. Plenty of heist story cliches get recycled throughout the series, for example, and the writing has a simplistic take on some characters' racist motivations. But ultimately the series pulls off the job with a mix of action and mystery, fast pacing and good will. It's a real crowd-pleaser.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Lupin. Who is the title character? How does he fit into the story? What does the series tell us about Lupin's background and place in French culture?
What motivates Assane Diop? How does this make him a likeable character? Do his motivations excuse his actions? Why or why not?
What is the central mystery of Lupin? What are the clues to what happened? What do you think happened? Why?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Marty Brown
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
