User Reviews

A band of robbers, lead by a man known simply as 'the Professor', infiltrate and rob the Spanish National Mint. They appear to bungle it, ending up holed up in the Mint with 67 hostages. But it's all part of the Professor's plan. If it succeeds, they'll make off with over $2 billion Euros.

Entertaining, initially, and could have been a masterpiece. The initial plot - the plan to secure the Mint and make off with over $2 billion Euros - was very clever and intriguing. It was also engaging: you got to know the individual characters of the heisters, as well as who they were up against. From here on I expected a taught, gritty battle of wits and wills between the robbers and the police.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Instead of being tight, the plot diverged into silly escapades. One escapade lead to another: robber has to fix some error, fixes it, unwittingly causes another issue, now has to fix that, rinse and repeat. What's worse, the errors, solutions and escapades were incredibly implausible, just being antics for action sake.

In addition, having established their characters in the first few episodes, the robbers then do several things counter to their characters. It was as if the writers wrote each scene independent of what had happened before. It could not have been more random if they brought in a different writer for each episode, and told them not to read the scripts of the previous episodes.

The further into the series one went, the worse it got. During the first season the good, clever plot developments generally outweighed the random, implausible, stupid ones. By Season Two it was open season, with dumb stuff being the norm. The dumb plot developments became predictable, eg you have a situation where a character has a choice and the logical thing, the thing people would do 100% of the time in real life, is to do A. However, A would mean the series ends, so the character does B, and the series continues.

So the plot only makes sense if you're mind-bogglingly stupid.

By the end I just wanted it to be over, so my intelligence would no longer be insulted. And yet it still got drawn out, by about 2-3 episodes too many.

And apparently there's a Season 3 in the works. Considering how it ended, not sure how that's possible, but the producers did manage to turn what should have been a 8-or-so episode mini-series into a 2-season, 22-episode series.

With a 100% positive critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and with many of my friends going crazy for it, my opition might not be very popular. But I find La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) to be utterly ridiculous, overly melodramatic and just plain stupid.

If they could have stopped in season 2, this series would have been the best ever heist series that's ever made. But they didn't do it and season 3 and season 4 is meaningless and boring. Not convincing and illogical.

With some engaging characters and a money heist script with several twists, this started off SO WELL!!!

Unfortunately, however, it would seem that sometime during the first season someone realized they had an audience they wanted to keep around for a while, and from that moment on, it went downhill, quickly. Like a marmalade that will only go so far, they began to water-down the story in order to spread it out for as long as they could make it last, ultimately making it almost unappetizable.

What seemingly would have been a masterpiece if allowed to run in its predetermined time, pace and format, became a stretched-out mess and with so much stretching, something had to give. As in a bad, pieced-together tapestry, this developed so many glaring plot holes that even those who are best blessed at being able to suspend belief in order to enjoy a tv series or film, will eventually find it tedious and disheartening that one needs to do it so DAMN MUCH to keep this story on the rails. Not only are there innumerous plot holes, but the telling of the story grows more and more formulaic by the episode, and is way too often preposterously predictable.

The acting is give or take, and while some of the cast excels, others do not. Worse, still, the characters much like the original title (La Casa De Papel), lack real substance and are merely paper, molded as the scene requires, rather than being given lives and backgrounds and breath and purpose of their own, even though they spout about "purpose" almost ad-nauseum.

Then there is the fascination which the creators seem to have with either the actress who plays Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó), or with the character itself or with what Natalie Portman's character in Leon the Professional would have grown up to be like (in their minds). In an effort to make an appealing character, which both men wanted and women could relate to, they bent her into a parody of a damaged superhero with psycho tendencies; an over-the-top, non-sexy, raging-hot, flip-the-switch temper; mommy-issues; street-bike stunt capabilities; good or bad, fighting abilities (depending on the scene); and oh, yes, a heart of gold or titanium or slush, which needs tending to and healing, also depending on the scene. In short, in wanting to create an amazing, powerful lead character, they morphed her into Frankenstein with sultry eyes. She reminds me of the quote from Pride and Prejudice: " I never saw such a woman. Surely she would be a fearsome thing to behold." A miss in my book. Raquel too, (played by Itziar Ituño), was denied the opportunity to be at least a somewhat balanced character, but unlike Tokyo's character which is purposefully built up, Raquel's character is a plot device which is torn down repeatedly and made to look ridiculous in many situations in order to further the script. The other characters in the first two seasons, Berlin especially and also The Professor, are written well (with the exception of THAT plot device in seasons 3 and 4 which I will not go into here). The rest of the main cast is pretty likeable on an interchangeable scale. I would be remiss not to also mention José Manuel Poga who plays César Gandía and Najwa Nimri who plays Inspector Alicia Sierra in Seasons 3 and 4. They are two of the toughest 'tough guys' I've seen in a series and do great in their respective roles.

Both despite and because of this, Money Heist (terrible change of title, by the way) engages you - ESPECIALLY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SERIES, because it is a whole, undiluted, rich story at the beginning - with fluid, deep moments of brilliance, that unfortunately, come around less-and-less often, until we barely see them at all.

If you are intent on watching it, listen to the bad reviews and go in with very little and low expectations - perhaps you will then, like those who first discovered it, be surprised and will enjoy it. If you go in expecting much, you WILL be disappointed. It rolls over, like a gigantic wet blob, over its' own hype.

Season 1 was top notch Season 2 kept the intense drama going but started dropping close to end Season 3 We are trailing off, plot devices no longer making sense Season 4 It became obvious that the writers was just writing the craziest stuff possible and throwing it on screen.

Season 5 I stopped after episode 2 because it was all levels of stupidity. I did not care about ANY character and actors became 'cartoonish' where many people are playing over-the-top caricatures. Just sad....really really sad...

I gave season one and two of this show a much deserved 10/10 but I'm at a loss to understand why they made season 3?

Season 3 is the antithesis of the former seasons. It ruins the mostly light hearted vibe that had been established, replacing it with something much darker. Worse still, its simply, in many respects, a blatant re-hash of what went before.

Like Star Wars, this feels like making something for the sake of making it. I'm happy to have had the first two seasons and will be leaving it there.

5/10 for season 3.

I've heard about how good Money Heist is since it started back in 2017 but for some reason I kept put off watching it. I finally gave in and started watching it recently and now I can't stop, it's every bit as good as everyone says it is. Some of it is absolutely ridiculous but that won't stop you from having fun watching it. The writing and acting are both excellent, there are so many twists and surprises that it will keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing throughout the entire series! It's a Spanish show but you can either watch it with subtitles or watch it dubbed in English. Just a little warning...once you start watching it it's hard to stop, you'll want to binge it as quickly as possible!

This is a soap opera, looks like a smart tv show but it's a latin soap opera and you watch it like that(50% brain turned off, the logic part)

What started off as a superbly intelligent and gripping drama series has slowly but surely fallen into the Holloywood trap of treating it's audience as if they are complete morons (sadly a growing market it seems).

If new to this, savour Seasons 1 and 2.

3 and 4 are OK, but by season 5, just take your brain outside and put a bullet in it before watching, there are plenty enough on offer.

Plot entirely replaced by countless hours of shootouts with literaly thousands of mostly non-lethal bullets fired, occassionally interspaced with drawn-out cutaways to superflous and mostly idiotic emotional drudge...... and that's about it !

Difficult to rate overall - 9 to the first two, and 2 for the last. So have gone with a 6.

I've heard about how good Money Heist is since it started back in 2017 but for some reason I put off watching it. I finally gave in and started watching it recently and now I can't stop, it's every bit as good as everyone says it is. The writing and acting are both excellent, there are so many twists and surprises that it will keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing throughout the entire series! Just a little warning...once you start watching it it's hard to stop, you'll want to binge it as quickly as possible!

La casa de papel started as a promising bold show. The first and second season had amusing and strong plot. Well defined characters and a storyline that could certainly catch your attention. The duel and chess between the protagonist and antagonist was surprising and full of ups and downs. Of course there were plot holes but you could overlook them in favor of the overall strength of story. The whole idea was bold and well developed, all and all, the ending was satisfying and well-written too.

But then came the third, forth and fifth seasons. The ones that Netflix actually created. The strong amazing plot turned into a cheesy foolish joke which was written by a class of third graders, and the smart kids weren't in the class!!

What a shame. There are so many problems with these seasons that I don't know where to even begin. Unnecessary flood of new characters whom you cannot relate to at all. The plot which was filled with surprises became totally predictable and utterly boring. You can watch a trick pulled again and again until it becomes a total cliche, but even then the writers won't let the worn out trick go away. Romance subplots are awful in these seasons. There are so many plot holes that you would wonder is it even possible to fit in any more? And as the plot gets more boring And flawed, writers just pour more gunfights into the story in hope of saving it, but it's a futile attempt, the gun fights are even worse than a bunch of stormtroopers trying to aim straight!

So please do your self a favor. Grab some popcorn, watch the first two seasons, but then forget that the rest of the show was produced. Save yourself a good memory of a great amusing TV series, which was ruined for us by watching the last three seasons.

All my friends were talking about La Casa De Papel (I really don't get why you have to call it Money Heist) as it was the best series ever so I was really curious and excited to watch it. I waited a long time to start watching it but once I started I binge watched the first four seasons. So yes I admit it, it is addictive, you can't help to want to know what will happen in the next episode. That said the plot itself is sometimes very far fetched, in other words it would never happen like that in real life. The Professor thinks about every move the police will make, and that's fine, but sometimes it's just very unlikely and just a bit exaggerated. For that alone I can't rate this, for the rest excellent series, with a higher score. The cast is really good though, every actor did a great job, from the most annoying one to the heroes. Everyone will have their favorite character, some will die and some will survive, that what makes this show really entertaining, the not knowing what will happen. I strongly advise you watch this show in it's original language Spanish instead of watching it dubbed. It only adds to the excellent acting. I once tried to watch a dubbed thing, it's just awful, and I really don't get what people like about lips being out of synch. Can't wait for season five, let's bring it on.

The more u watch it.. the dumber it gets.. idea of the plot is good. Direction is just like a soap opera.

How can this be over 8.0 rating?

Bad acting predictable plot silly illogical heist plan annoying characters with low intelligence. Real criminals have much higher intelligence.

Lost interest after S01E01.

You know how it is on a foreign trip. You turn on the hotel TV and if you're not fluent in the language, you zone out and half-follow the picture. And then you have your typical soap opera actors - some of them can't act, but are photogenic, some of them can sort of act and aren't photogenic, and some of them are required only to pretend to be in a coma. Most of them overact (or over non-act), because the scarcity of acting work means they've never come up against a decent director who would have told them to tone it down a bit. Even the guy in a coma.

Wardrobe? Red overalls, mainly. The hairdresser tried really hard, though.

Then there's the script. Obviously, your series creator has got a thing about planting false clues for the forensic team, because the fact that the man with fake irritable bowel syndrome has done this in advance is the main source of suspense - you're supposed to be waiting for the CSI team to catch on. No doubt they will, when they get over their break-up issues.

Then the man who doesn't have Stockholm syndrome - a syndrome from Stockholm, they explain - tries to explain to the woman who does have Stockholm syndrome (from Stockholm) that it's just not going to work out between them. Even if they go to Sweden.

And then - and then - the Professor hasn't answered the phone for 24 hours. Gripping? So is duct tape. Except duct tape doesn't go on as long.

Whoever wrote this junk tries to cover themselves by randomly throwing in a car crash, or a Hispanic standoff, or a completely unconvincing love scene every ten minutes, so that people who can't get off the sofa in less than ten minutes have an excuse to stop trying.

I like trash TV as much as the next hombre but this is weak, derivative and not even fun. Anyone tells you it's 'unmissable' should be kept at 50m distance.

Over-acting from every single idiotic character who all do idiotic things for reasons unfathomable to any normal functioning human on the face of the earth. I couldn't handle more than 3 episodes of the first season. That is a chunk of my life I'll never get back! Save yourself and avoid.

A motley gang of criminals spend five months under the supervision of the hyper-annoying Professor, to learn how to pull off the heist of the millennium. If the premise sounds stupid, it's because it is. The Professor must possess infinite time and resources to select his gang, prepare the plan, organise the "lessons", rent a house in a secluded location, feed himself and the gang for months, etc...

But even if you buy it - for entertainment sake - all the "careful preparation" turns out as a mighty waste of time, because boys and girls on both sides of the law are too busy with their hormonal tempests.

All the four main female characters are engaged in illicit affairs and/or showing off plenty of flesh and lots of time is spent gazing at their buttocks. Discussing and carrying out intricate sexual cavortings soon derails the plot. Pregnancies are debated endlessly.

Within 24 hours from creating a hostage situation involving over 60 people, the criminals are privy to the affair of a married guy with his secretary and talk endlessly about that, like gossiping schoolgirls.

The stupidity of the dialogues is impressive.... Raquel, the lady detective in charge of negotiations, after having created a minor mess with the hostages, phones HER MUM, because she is terribly distressed, but they end up talking about a stranger Raquel is infatuated with.

I am not sure if the Raquel's role was a homage to female strength, but she actually succeed in being a massive stereotype of female irrationality and weakness. Could you imagine a male counterpart talking to mum about how hard his job is?

Finally, the whole plot is TOTALLY derivative: Tokyo is a bad copy of Mia, from Pulp Fiction; the criminals choosing fake names is copied from "Reservoir Dogs"; the hostages being forced to wear overalls, from "Inside man"... etc..

PS from the enthusiastic reviews of the audience, one would think the vast majority never watched a heist movie/series before...

Money Heist - Flawed but Worthy (C+)

Just here to say Raquel has to be the WORST COP EVER. Within 80 hours of heist, she is galvanising with the stranger who has same similarities like the professor. Within hours knowing him, while dealing with the biggest robbery and kidnapping in the world she is bringing him to top secret places, family and then complains about why she can't find professor. Dumbest Cop EVERRR!!!

The show is definitely overhyped maybe due to quick money, sexual innuendoes and robbers being portrayed as hot shots. Show has portrayed police as imbecile, emotional and fools. There is not a good cop character for viewers to root for even though they're trying to do their jobs innocent getting raped, killed and all for money.

The show has it's moment but it's Fast and Furious of TV, nonsensical and stupidity is truly unrealistic. I stopped watching after season 3 episode 1, another heist geez who has the time for that and the smartest tech guy in the group gets caught due to tech thingy. It can't go dumber than this. I'm over and out!!!

One of the many great series on Netflix depicts a group of people breaking into Spain's national mint. "La casa de papel" ("Money Heist" in English) is a series that you just gotta see. Rapid-fire dialogue, clever editing, and all sorts of twists and turns make this one of the best shows out there.

Some fellow critics think themself to criticise it but they even know about what it's about. If you want to watch the show without spoilers i can guarantee your goosebumps and emotions. Intense drama makes you on the edge of the seat experience. I have watched GOT,Breaking bad etc series but i first I watched this series there is nothing compatible with this. I still want these types of shows looking for but cant get that intense and heart pumping and blood pressure increasing shows.

Finally I can only assure you that never hear the fellow critics now do yourself a favour watch this goddamn show.

A kind suggestion if you loved this watch prison break also you must live that too.