Money Heist

Money Heist (Spanish: La casa de papel, “The House of Paper”) is a Spanish heist crime drama television series created by Álex Pina. The series traces two long-prepared heists led by the Professor (Álvaro Morte) and one on the Royal Mint of Spain. The narrative is told in a real-time-like fashion and relies on flashbacks, time-jumps, hidden character motivations, and an unreliable narrator. The series was initially intended as a limited series to be told in two parts. It had its original run of 15 episodes on Spanish network Antena 3 from 2 May 2017 through 23 November 2017. Netflix re-cut the series into 22 shorter episodes and released them worldwide, beginning with the first part on 20 December 2017. Part 3, with eight episodes, was released on 19 July 2019. In July 2020, Netflix renewed the show for a fifth and final part, which will be released in two five-episode volumes on 3 September and 3 December 2021. By 2018, the series has become Netflix’s most-watched non-English-language series. The anti-fascist Italian song “Bella ciao,” which appears several times in the series, was a summer success across Europe in 2018. At the 46th International Emmy Honors, the series won many awards, including Best Drama Series.

Season 1

Part 1 opens with the aftermath of a failed bank robbery by a lady named “Tokyo,” as a man dubbed “Professor” saves her from the cops and offers a heist of epic proportions. The tale leaps to the commencement of a multi-day assault on the Royal Mint of Spain in Madrid after a brief explanation of the intended theft. Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Denver, Helsinki, and Oslo are the code names for the eight thieves. The robbers, dressed in red jumpsuits and wearing a Salvador Dal mask, grab 67 hostages as part of their plot to print and flee with €2.4 billion down a self-built escape tunnel. The thieves within the Mint struggle to follow the pre-determined regulations in parts 1 and 2, and are confronted with recalcitrant captives, brutality, isolation, and mutiny. The events are narrated by Tokyo through voice-overs. In the first part of the second instalment of The Professor, Raquel finds a series of postcards left by the Professor, who wrote the coordinates for a location in the Philippines, where she reunites with him. Raquel realises his true identity, but is emotionally unable and unwilling to hand him over to the police. At the end of part 2, after 128 hours, the robbers escape successfully from the Mint with €984 million, but at the cost of the lives of three people.

Season 2

Part 3 of the series follows the Professor and Berlin’s plans to rob the Royal Mint of Spain three years after the last heist. The Professor is captured by Europol, but escapes with a new gang led by Mónica. Part 3 concludes by showing Lisbon alive and in custody, and Tokyo narrating that the Professor had fallen for his own trap and that “the war had begun”. The Professor and Marseille deduce that Lisbon must still be alive and being interrogated by Sierra in a tent outside of the bank. They persuade Tamayo’s assistant, Antoñanzas, to help them, and the Professor can establish a 48-hour truce with the police. Part 4 concludes with Lisbon rejoining the gang within the bank, and with Sierra finding the Professor’s hideout, holding him at gunpoint, and exposing the torture of Rio and the holding of Lisbon to the public.