Geekatana Review - Money Heist (Season 1-2) - A Professor and a bunch of City Steal a lot of Money

Money Heist. is a Spanish heist crime drama television series created by Álex Pina. It is also known as La casa de papel, ("The House of Paper") 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.  Netflix acquired global streaming rights in late 2017. It re-cut the series into 22 shorter episodes and released them worldwide. It currently has 4 seasons but for this review I'll be reviewing the first two season as they are more connected as one story arc.

 

I have heard about this series last year but it never really peeked my interest. Police drama was never my cup of tea so I tend to ignore these kind of series. Eventually though I decided to really dive into it thanks to yet another close friend highly recommending to give it a shot. Also there might be possible spoilers on this one.

Money Heist is an elaborate robbery of a group of individual brought together by an eccentric genius of a mastermind called the Professor. Each of the individual involved in the crime each given the names of cities like Tokyo, Rio and Denver as added security. The heist was meticulously planned out to the last detail that the odds of it ever failing was at most a one to one hundred. The Professor planned contingencies on top of contingencies over contingencies should even the tiniest problem arises but even he never saw how one simply emotional factor could tear it all apart.

The concept of the Money Heist is nothing new as in term of story plot is concerned. A group of individual gathered to do an impossible elaborate robbery. There have been a number movies and series with this concept. Movies like Ocean's Eleven and the likes comes to mind and the likes come to mind. The series appeal is on its execution of this so called cops and robbers. Just when you think they are going to get caught they show they have a backup plan for such an occasion.

Sure this sort of storytelling method is bordering plot armor territory since they only show they planned for such contingency when the actual problem arises in the story itself. One of the robbers got captured by the police? Oh we discussed how to deal with that problem days before. Its lazy story writing for sure but surprisingly I don't mind since the other aspect of the story is surprisingly good. Also seeing what counter measure they produced to counter every scenario they encounter during the heist itself feels something out of a Deathnote anime.

Sadly the sort of love story the Professor had with a certain person didn't really work for me. I get its a major plot point in the story but still feels a bit rushed. If by chance the Professor was shot in the leg the Heist would have gone sideways and upside down really fast but surprisingly never happen despite him being at gun point more times than I can remember. Still it is a minor complain compared to how the rest of the series went.

Character development is where the series shines. Each of the robbers in this so called Money Heist has their own different agenda and different character quirks on why they are doing said robbery that it also reflects on how they handle certain crisis or interaction with their hostages and the police authorities that wants to stop them. Some tend to go guns blazing while some wants a more strategic and even pacifist approach. The father and son dynamic of two of the characters, the friendship and distrust of the characters to each other are all done in detail that a viewer will feel a certain attachment to the characters halfway throughout the series.

My personal favorite in terms of character is Berlin since he is the most cool headed person in their little gang of thieves. He does have an ego but when things get into a fickle he isn't afraid to make the tough calls. This tends to get him butting heads and pointing guns at everyone at one point or another more times than is necessary. He isn't the main character like Tokyo or the Professor but when he is on the spotlight he shines.

 

The action in Money Heist is minimal with more focus plot and character driven conflict. If you want something with more shooting and explosion you will be disappointed as there is very little to have in this one. But when the shooting starts you can guarantee there will be dead bodies and blood when the smoke is clear. There is also a certain amount of swearing and nudity from time to time as this is a mature series so if this is not your thing I suggest you stay way clear of this one or maybe get a censored version if they ever get around to making one.

In the end Money Heist is an entertaining and decently written cops and robbers appeal. The character and plot is surprisingly good and worthy of a great detective novel. It does have mature content so it is definitely not for everyone. The characters, the plot twist and turns of the series is definitely enough reason to watch this series for sure. So if you like some heist drama with enough character and plot to swing around then you should definitely give the series a try.