CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 1-4 OF MONEY HEIST
It’s official, our favorite armed robbers and mischief makers are back. The fifth and final installment of La Casa De Papel also known as Money Heist is set to hit Netflix in two parts, the first on September 3rd and the second two months later on December 3rd . With season four premiering more than a year ago in April 2020, it can get difficult to recall what happened in the blur of gunshots, Dali masks, red jumpsuits, and the constant tune of “Bella Ciao” so while we prep for the future of the Royal Mint of Spain, let us recall the last four seasons and look towards what we can expect from the end of the heist.
Season 1
The voice of Tokyo (Ursula Corbero) introduces us to the series, recalling how she came to meet the man known as " The Professor” as he recruits her and seven other criminals to pull off a legendary heist, the dream team includes: Nairobi (Alba Flores) a wild card counterfeit master, Rio (Miguel Herran) a genius hacker, Denver (Jaime Lorente Lopez) and Moscow (Paco Tous) a father-son thief team and Berlin (Pedro Alonso) as the team’s captain. Oslo (Roberto Garcia Ruiz) and Helsinki (Darko Peric) serve as the team's muscles and Tokyo (Ursula Corbero) a wild card and the show’s narrator. Though before they're able to pull off this feat, they must study for five months in total seclusion on how to pull off the heist flawlessly and gain 2.4 Billion euros from the Royal Mint of Spain.
According to the Professor, there are three rules:
1) No names
2) No backstories
3) No personal relationships
Some rules are just meant to broken it seems, as Rio and Tokyo form a serious romantic connection throughout seclusion where Rio proposes the day before the heist. Tokyo declines his proposal and tells him that the topic can be discussed again after the heist is successful. The next day, the team successfully makes it inside the bank and takes 67 civilians' hostage, one of them Alison Parker (Maria Pedraza) the daughter of the British Ambassador to Spain.
Inspector Raquel Murillo (Itziar Ituño) is put on the case as the official negotiator between the police and the robbers. While The Professor toys with the police, the team inside is busy with the task of printing 2.4 billion euros. Monica Gaztambide (Esther Acebo) who is secretary of the Royal Mint learns that she’s pregnant due to an affair with the bank’s director Arturo Roman (Enrique Arce) she requests an abortion pill from the robbers leading Denver to advise her to carry out her pregnancy. The two form a connection, but after Berlin catches her trying to smuggle a cellphone, he commands Denver to kill her. Instead, he hides her in the basement and the two fall in love.
A spat with Alison Parker leads police to discovering both Tokyo and Rio’s identities and soon Rio is contacted by his parents with a plea deal from the police. Inspector Murillo begins a budding romance with a stranger whom she met at a coffee shop named Salva, the Professor’s alter ego. Trouble within the chain of command leads to the police obtaining Berlin’s identity while Raquel’s police partner Angel (Fernando Soto) grows suspicious of Salva. Alison Parker gets a lesson in being bada** from Nairobi and Berlin reveals to the group that he has a degenerative disease and is likely to die in a few months. A hostage escape attempt leaves Oslo in a vegetative state and the season ends with Inspector Murillo along with the police finding the secluded estate. The robbers give the hostages an ultimatum, either stay and help to receive a small portion of the money or leave and be free. Those who chose freedom are then locked in the basement.
SEASON 2
Tensions in the bank are getting high when the robbers are led to believe that The Professor is being arrested. Helsinki suffocates Oslo, keeping the, “death before prison” promise they made prior to the heist. The Professor works on getting out of hot water with the police while Tokyo, Rio, and Denver turn on Berlin after his refusal to enact “Plan Chernobyl”, an escape plan that would cause them to lose all the money. Denver breaks up with Monica, convinced that she has Stockholm Syndrome.
When Tokyo takes her frustration with Berlin too far, he sends her duct taped to a cart straight to the police through the front doors of the bank. Raquel attempts to get on Tokyo’s good side and Nairobi begins to question Berlin’s leadership. Berlin gives Rio a brush with death after his response to Tokyo's exit and Nairobi decides it’s time for the matriarchy to begin.
For the first time, a tv journalist and cameraman are being allowed in the mint, and several hostages are released. Arturo enlists Alison and leads yet another escape attempt, which fails. Raquel pulls a gun on Salva. The Professor devises a plan to get Tokyo back inside the mint and Raquel figures out the connection between Salva and The Professor.
Tokyo rides a motorcycle up the stairs of the bank and makes quite the entrance, but in the process of opening the gates Moscow is shot several times by police and later dies after several surgical attempts. Raquel, unable to shoot The Professor allows him to escape...and steal her phone. Ariadna (Clara Alvarado) confesses to Monica that her relationship with Berlin is purely for survival. The Professor finishes the tunnel that connects to the bank’s vault and with that, their escape route is set. When Raquel once again tries to arrest The Professor, he takes her hostage and confesses his love for her.
The police begin to close in on the bank and the robbers must fight for their lives to make it to the escape route with the 954 million euros they’ve printed. In attempt to buy the team more time, Berlin stays behind where he is shot and killed on sight by police. It is then revealed that Berlin and The Professor are brothers.
The season ends with a time jump to the one-year anniversary of the heist, the robbers got away with the money and haven’t been heard from since. Raquel puts together a puzzle of postcards from The Professor and discovers coordinates to a location in the Philippines, she travels there and as always, The Professor is waiting.
season 3
Since the end of season two Tokyo and Rio have been living it up on an island, but when Rio is captured by the police, Tokyo turns to The Professor for help and the gang must reunite once more. A heartfelt reunion occurs, and the group meets Monica and Denver’s son, Cincinnati. Monica is officially added to the team and given the codename Stockholm (Estocolmo) followed by Raquel as Lisbon (Lisboa) but then, it’s back to business and the target is once again: The Royal Mint of Spain.
Palermo (Rodrigo De La Serno) as well as Bogota (Hovik Keuchkerian) are added to the team, Palermo taking Berlin's place as leader. The robbers once again successfully infiltrate the bank, this time to steal every gold bar in the vault. Monica and Denver begin to have marriage problems, and Arturo, who’s been working as a motivational speaker since the heist, helps the police. Gandia (Jose Manuel Poga) a bodyguard at the mint, manages to sneak back inside.
A new inspector by the name of Alicia Sierra (Najwa Nimri) is brought on to the case. The Professor retaliates in the war between the Spanish police and the robbers by proving that the team has 24 boxes worth of state secrets belonging to the Ministry of the Interior. Nairobi and Palermo get into an intense argument and she declares her feelings for Helsinki, who does not reciprocate, dealing with his own feelings for Palermo. Raquel and The Professor lose communication with the rest of team, and the group realizes that they have become a symbol of resistance for the public.
After being illegally detained and tortured, Rio returns to the bank, followed by Arturo. Rio immediately heats the waters by breaking up with Tokyo. Raquel’s ex police partner Angel closes in on their location and when he does, Raquel and The Professor must ditch their van and flee into the woods. In the season finale Alicia uses the bait of Nairobi’s son to lure her into the window where a sniper shoots her in the chest. Police catch Raquel and shoot into her walkie talkie to make The Professor think Raquel has been killed by police.
The group splits into those helping Nairobi and those dealing with the police attempting to drive an armored car into the front door. Tokyo and Rio shoot the armored car with a missile, crossing the line and killing multiple police officers.
season four
Tensions are high and the group is in shambles without The Professor’s guidance as he is preoccupied with grief over the loss of Raquel. Tokyo begins to let her anger at Rio get the better of her, and the group attempts a life-or-death surgical procedure on Nairobi.
Fed up with Tokyo’s co-leadership, Palermo makes a failed attempt to leave the bank while Monica decides she needs a break from Denver. Raquel is being interrogated by the police and The Professor gets his head back in the game.
Palermo decides to team up with Gandia and wreak some havoc within the bank. The Professor bribes a police officer into sending a message from him to Raquel. Arturo, who has been taking sexual advantage of multiple women hostages gets shot by Manila (Belen Cuesta) who has working undercover for the group.
Gandia manages to kidnap Tokyo and lock her in a basement. He then takes Nairobi hostage, leading to a standoff with the group.
Gandia lets Nairobi go and upon walking away, turns around and shoots her in the head, killing her instantly. The group struggles with grief but decides to continue the war. The Professor publicizes details of Rio’s detainment and torture leading to Alicia's termination and a public funeral is had for Nairobi.
The season ends with a successful plan that lands Raquel in the bank with the rest of the group, but before joyful celebration is to be had, Alicia shows up with a gun pointed directly at The Professor’s head.
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM SEASON 5?
As most fans are still struggling to come to terms with the death of Nairobi, we can expect her character to be continuously addressed as motivation for the rest of the group in the upcoming season. The season 5 date announcement trailer, which was released on May 24th, 2021, showed our beloved heist gang dodging bullets and shooting them as police close in. New cast members will include Patrick Criado and Miguel Angel Silvestre who have been confirmed by director Alex Pena, many fans suspect that Silvestre will be cast as a new antagonist working with the police while Criado will be working for the heist team since many photos of him on set have been with Pedro Alonso (Berlin).
All good things must come to an end, and no matter what happens in the final season, we can expect it to be just as suspenseful and action-packed as always.
The final heist will be available to stream on September 3rd with a Netflix subscription.
Are you brave enough to join the resistance?