If you haven’t watched international shows on Netflix, you might have missed Money Heist, the Spanish heist show to beat all heist movies.
We don’t talk enough about how good Netflix’s shows from outside the English-speaking world are, and maybe that’s why the internet in America hasn’t been completely wrapped up in La Casa de Papel(as it’s called in Spanish) the way the Spanish-speaking world was. But if you’re avoiding this show because it’s not in English, fear not! Netflix has you covered.
Money Heist — although a terrible name for a heist show; the original name La Casa de Papel means The Paper House and has an excellent double meaning — is subbed and dubbed in English, and features some of the best acting and scriptwriting you’ll see on Netflix today.
The story follows a group of criminals who decide to carry out the most ambitious bank heist ever: to break into the Royal Mint, hold 67 people hostage, and manufacture all the money they want over the course of many days. In two seasons, it covers the entirety of the criminals’ time inside the Royal Mint, with flashbacks to the planning stage aiding us in understanding their motivations.
Led by the mysterious figure of the Professor, whose intentions slowly become more evident throughout the story, the group is a mix of long-time criminals and amateur troublemakers, who develop relationships with each other as time wears on. From the very beginning of their long planning stage, their conviction is to stay faithful to the plan, to the team and to the Professor — but as the days wear on, and the police gets ever closer to discovering who they are and what they’re up to, even something as strong as the Professor’s plan begins to falter.
What makes Money Heist so good is that it isn’t afraid to show you the good and the bad of each character. From the very beginning, you fall in love with the criminals despite the things they’ve done, and you want them to succeed. But at the same time, the show introduces you to the police force working the case, and emotions get more complicated as the two parties become more and more involved. Who do we really want to win? It’s never really clear. And that’s what makes this such a good show.
Money Heist isn’t afraid to hold characters accountable for their choices — after all, they are criminals. It breaks down your assumptions and their assumptions, and does an excellent job of showing the impact of having so many complicated people involved in each other’s lives for such a short but intense amount of time.
Through its ensemble of powerful characters, each with a different story and vastly different motivations, Money Heist keeps you engaged much like LOST did, while still keeping you hyped up for the plan like Ocean’s Eight did. And the mystery of how the Professor’s plan is going to play out doesn’t quite reveal itself until the very end.
It was recently announced that Money Heist will return with a third season, although it’s not clear what story it’ll follow after season two’s epic conclusion. But for now, the show is just long enough to binge-watch on a long weekend.
If you’ve been looking for a show that harnesses everything you’ve ever loved from heist movies, while still having all the qualities of a good Netflix drama, Money Heist is the show you should watch.
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