Verdict
Summary
Money Heist is too long, especially in parts 3-5, covering the second heist. However, the characters are memorable, the gunfights are spectacular, and the heists are incredibly clever.
Plot: The Professor (Álvaro Morte) enlists and trains a set of highly skilled thieves to undertake incredibly daring and dangerous heists.
Review: I missed the whole Money Heist phenomenon. My dental hygienist, of all people, was the one who first brought it to my attention, and seeing as how the series only spanned 48 episodes, I figured, why not?
Money Heist is in 5 “parts” – the first heist spans parts 1 and 2, while the second heist covers parts 3 to 5. As you may have guessed, the second heist is longer, which is the most significant negative I had with the series – the plot in the second heist didn’t warrant that extra length. Especially unnecessary was the length of flashbacks to explain Berlin’s relationship with his son or how the gang got the big ass pump for the second heist – it wasn’t necessary. Nor did I need to see pieces like Tokyo going to The Professor’s house after their initial meeting or The Professor, Berlin and Rafael having lunch together. It felt unnecessary. It would have been better if they had kept the second heist the same length as the first.
I also don’t get the love that the Berlin character got – sure, Pedro Alonso was charismatic in the role, and there was also some charm to the character. However, Berlin was a lunatic, basically being accused of rape, ruining his brother’s plans on numerous occasions, and stabbing a man repeatedly for laughing at his bowtie. While none of the gang were saints, his behaviour was amongst the worst.
Also, head-scratching were the actions of Palermo and Arturo at times. Palermo let a dangerous security guard loose simply because the gang overthrew his leadership when he was going to surrender to the cops anyway – hardly reason to get that upset. The worst, though, was Arturo’s sexual assault of a drugged Amanda. There was no reason for that, and it had no payoff, did not advance either character and was forgotten afterwards after being mentioned in one scene.
That’s the negatives – the positives are many. Each character, even a few of the ones I mentioned earlier, was amazingly realized. That’s partly due to the terrific writing and, in part, to the calibre of the cast. Tokyo, Berlin, Denver, Rio, Moscow, Helsinki, Nairobi, Lisbon, Stockholm, Bogotá, Marseille, Manila, Tamayo, Sierra, and of course, the Professor – all so richly realized. Even secondary characters like Benjamin and Antoñanzas are so damn good. It was a fantastic marriage of performance and script – to give you an idea, I spent time in the second half off the couch, on my feet, shouting at the television. When you get me to that degree, that’s excellence.
My favourite character, though, was Stockholm – from the moment I saw Esther Acebo, I knew I would care deeply about her character. Acebo has an incredible ability to show fear, vulnerability, desire, love, determination, and intensity, making her performance feel the most three-dimensional to me. At all times in the series, I wanted her to be safe. I desperately wanted her to be happy with Denver, a rarity as I usually don’t care about most romantic relationships in movies or television nowadays.
The action is excellent, especially in parts 3-5. The first heist has little action and is more of a cat-and-mouse game with evolving interpersonal stories, but the second heist is balls to the wall, with some of the most impressive gun battles I can remember. Whoever designed those action scenes deserves accolades. I was on the edge of my seat, jaw dropped as I saw the number of bullets and damage. They also blew up the frigging roof of a bank – how many times have you seen that happen?
The plots kept me guessing. While at times it felt fake to how prescient the Professor seemed to be, the story got me several times. For the first heist, I had never seen such an ingenious plan before, and the plan’s genius immediately put me on the crooks’ side. I find the whole idea of the criminal that you cheer for tired at this point, as everyone seems to try it, but this one got me hooked and never let me go. While the second heist wasn’t as brilliant as the first one (which is to be expected), it was still damn good. Both heists give you twists and turns that you would never expect, fraught with danger, high emotion, moves and counter-moves. Despite its flaws, it’s still one of the best-written series I’ve seen in a long, long time.
I am extremely tough on television series nowadays. I am sometimes done by the season’s second episode (looking at you, Sandman, and Haunting of Hill House). I couldn’t wait to get to the next episode of Money Heist, and even with my gripes, they’re minor compared to how great this series is. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching it – the warts are what they are, but the high points are incredibly high.