The television series Money Heist (which originally aired in Spai as La Casa de Papel – “The House of Paper”) is currently streaming on Netflix with subtitles. Be advised that you’ll have to power through 22 episodes of the show created by Alex Pina which has excellent production values until you reach the end of the two-season saga.

In its 1Q 2018 report to shareholders, the streaming service indicated that Money Heist “was the most watched non-English series on Netflix ever.”

The character-driven, entertaining, and twisty plot, albeit with various predictable elements, admittedly gets you hooked immediately.

Spoilers Follow

That said, the annoying contrivances are beyond belief to the point that you may be tempted to throw your remote at the TV screen even if you aren’t taking sides between cops and robbers or if you are rooting for the robbers for political or ideological reasons (see below). The only reasonable conclusion is that the latter was the intent of the showrunners.

There may be even a political component. “If the ticking time-bomb approach isn’t gripping enough for you, the top-notch direction, writing, and smart symbolism (a little socialism versus capitalism, anyone?) are all points in the series’ favor,” the New York Post‘s “Decider” section claimed.

The basic premise of Money Heist, which seems to have received lots of positive reviews including a Rotten Tomatoes 88-percent average audience score, revolves around a passive-aggressive, detail-oriented mastermind called The Professor who recruits eight hardened crooks to break into the Royal Mint of Spain, a caper that they spend five months game-planning at a secluded estate.

An Ambitious Scheme

You’ll quickly realize, even before it’s revealed, that the caper goes beyond just a grab and go for the cash on hand inside but actually a far more ambitious scheme (suggested by the title) to loot $2.4 billion euros and which prompts a hostage situation with cops surrounding the Madrid facility.

Each episode includes key flashbacks to the planning mode as well as each bandit’s backstory.

As the events move forward, each of the characters face conflicting loyalties.

The crafty Professor runs the operation from the outside, and the engaging robbers in Salvador Dali masks go by city code names, Berlin (the George Clooney doppelganger who leads the group after they break in to the Mint), Tokyo, Nairobi, Moscow, Denver, Rio, Helsinki, and Oslo.

Alvaro Morte does a stellar job in the role of The Professor with the amazing ability to go from a benign or confident demeanor to abject horror within seconds.

Reminiscent of Walter White from Breaking Bad, he also mind-games all of the police investigators with alacrity. You could say that while he is playing chess, the ability of the cops In Money Heist doesn’t even rise to the checkers level.

With a big assist from the aforementioned very-slow-to-catch-on law enforcement, he is able to outwit and manipulate the police at almost every turn in the standoff and throw them off the trail. The other crew members, such as sultry Tokyo (Ursula Corbero), who narrates the opus, give strong performances too, as do the entire ensemble, including other actors in supporting cast, such as the hostages, that you get to know as the plot unfolds. Alba Flores (Nairobi) and Paco Tous (Moscow) are also standout performers.

Hide the Cheese?

Itziar Ituno plays the gullible, neurotic National Police Inspector Raquel Murillo, “the most qualified officer to handle a hostage situation,” who — apart from occasional flashes of insight — completely bungles the police response. She also allows The Professor to worm his way into her personal life under his alter ego Salva, with predictable results.

The cat-and-mouse game between The Professor and the inspector has a simultaneously predictable and unbelievable resolution.

Apparently intent on making the robbers sympathetic, Money Heist portrays the police as miserably incompetent, evil, or insubordinate.

The script contains some apparent blather from The Professor about fighting against the establishment. If this content is meant as socialist propaganda, it is really lame. Plus, the establishment in Europe tends to be socialist and globalist.

Keystone Cops?

Leaving aside politics of any kind, or antipathy toward big banks, over and over, the attempt by law enforcement to follow-up leads that will crack the case are met with failure. As such, you may be inclined to just fast forward through the redundancy.

For instance, Inspector Murillo’s second in command uncovers a key piece of evidence that could lead to the prompt arrest of the ringleader, but he fails to immediately report his findings to headquarters before he goes on a drunken bender.

Given the way that The Professor easily misdirects the police, you might be tempted to rejoice when one of the Money Heist criminals gets hit over the head during a min-revolt by the hostages in a later episode.

The only cop in the  opus who seems to have it together is SWAT team leader Suarez (Mario de la Rosa) who unfortunately must follow the direction of his incompetent police superiors

Let’s stipulate that writing a script for a 22-episode (or 15 episodes in its Spanish airing before Netflix reediting) television show is a monumental undertaking. Money Heist could have used some additional editing to streamline its running time, but that’s another matter.

Fiction Needs a Plausible Foundation

As the authorities are thwarted at every turn, in no particular order, here are a few head-scratching life lessons from Money Heist that will leave you wondering about the necessary level of believability even in a work of fiction.

  • Only one police car is dispatched after the alarm activates at the Royal Mint
  • People who haven’t bathed in days or changed clothes are willing to have intimate relations with each other
  • Two hostages are seriously wounded but they almost immediately recover despite makeshift surgery
  • There is apparently only one café in Madrid and one where cops engage in easily overheard phone conversations
  • Police allow civilians into secure areas where the outsiders can see or overhear confidential information
  • The SWAT team consists of the worst marksmen in the history of marksmanship
  • In the year 2017, a pharmacy in Madrid still uses paper records which are thus easily stolen
  • A police sketch artist fails to save a file in facial composite software or can reconstruct the sketch that was just made seconds ago
  • No report is made on a key piece of evidence that can blow the case wide open; nor is there an email or text message sent to headquarters
  • An office captures a key suspect but never calls for backup or notifies Hq. of the location
  • Police have no concept of chain of custody for evidence
  • Fingerprints are put on paper but not immediately entered in to the police database
  • Hostages who are about to make their escape put their most conflicted, unreliable colleague in charge of opening the door
  • One of the robbers shoots two of the security cameras but they miraculously are back online in subsequent episodes
  • A convoy transporting a suspect to court only has one police escort vehicle and somehow winds up on a deserted country road even in Madrid

The final scene in Money Heist is clever and serves to wrap up the entire story.

However, Money Heist is coming back about a year from now with new episodes, which suggests that the cash grab continues.

Added: Season 3 of Money Heist premieres on Netflix on July 19, 2019.