La casa de papel

''Money Heist'' ( es, La casa de papel, link=no, , ) is a Spanish heist crime drama television series created by Álex Pina. The series traces two long-prepared heists led by the Professor (Álvaro Morte), one on the Royal Mint of Spain, and one on the Bank of Spain, told from the perspective of one of the robbers, Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó). The narrative is told in a real-time-like fashion and relies on flashbacks, time-jumps, hidden character motivations, and an unreliable narrator for complexity.

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 from 2 May 2017 through 23 November 2017. Netflix acquired global streaming rights in late 2017. It re-cut the series into 22 shorter episodes and released them worldwide, beginning with the first part on 20 December 2017, followed by the second part on 6 April 2018. In April 2018, Netflix renewed the series with a significantly increased budget for 16 new episodes total. Part 3, with eight episodes, was released on 19 July 2019. Part 4, also with eight episodes, was released on 3 April 2020. A documentary involving the producers and the cast premiered on Netflix the same day, titled '' Money Heist: The Phenomenon'' ( es, link=no, La casa de papel: El Fenómeno). In July 2020, Netflix renewed the show for a fifth and final part, which was released in two five-episode volumes on 3 September and 3 December 2021, respectively. Similar to ''Money Heist: The Phenomenon'', a two-part documentary involving the producers and cast premiered on Netflix the same day, titled ''Money Heist: From Tokyo to Berlin''. The series was filmed in Madrid, Spain. Significant portions were also filmed in Panama, Thailand, Italy (Florence), Denmark and in Portugal ( Lisbon). A loose remake/continuation set in the same world, '' Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area'', was released on June 24, 2022, while a direct spin-off, ''Berlin'', with Pedro Alonso reprising his role, is in active development, forming a shared universe.

The series received several awards including the International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series at the 46th International Emmy Awards, as well as critical acclaim for its sophisticated plot, interpersonal dramas, direction, and for trying to innovate Spanish television. The Italian anti-fascist song " Bella ciao", which plays multiple times throughout the series, became a summer hit across Europe in 2018. By 2018, the series was the most-watched non-English-language series and one of the most-watched series overall on Netflix, having particular resonance with viewers from Mediterranean Europe and the Latin American regions.

Premise

Set in Madrid, a mysterious man known as the "Professor" recruits a group of eight people, who choose city names as their aliases, to carry out an ambitious plan that involves entering the Royal Mint of Spain, and escaping with €984 million. After taking 67 people hostage inside the Mint, the team plans to remain inside for 11 days to print the money as they deal with elite police forces. In the events following the initial heist, the group's members are forced out of hiding and prepare for a second heist, with some additional members, this time aiming to escape with gold from the Bank of Spain, as they again deal with hostages and police forces.

Cast and characters

Main

* Úrsula Corberó as Silene Oliveira (Tokyo): a runaway turned robber who is scouted by the Professor, then joins his group and participates in his plans. She also acts as the unreliable narrator.
* Álvaro Morte as Sergio Marquina (The Professor) / Salvador "Salva" Martín: the mastermind of the heist who assembled the group, and Berlin's younger brother
* Itziar Ituño as Raquel Murillo (Lisbon): an inspector of the National Police Corps who is put in charge of the case
* Pedro Alonso as Andrés de Fonollosa (Berlin): a terminally ill jewel thief and the Professor's second-in-command and older brother
* Paco Tous as Agustín Ramos (Moscow) (parts 1–2; featured parts 3–5): a former miner turned criminal and Denver's father
* Alba Flores as Ágata Jiménez (Nairobi): an expert in counterfeiting and forgery, in charge of printing the money and oversaw the melting of gold
* Miguel Herrán as Aníbal Cortés (Rio): a young hacker who later becomes Tokyo's boyfriend
* Jaime Lorente as Ricardo / Daniel Ramos (Denver): Moscow's son who joins him in the heist
* Esther Acebo as Mónica Gaztambide (Stockholm): one of the hostages in the Mint who is Arturo Román's secretary and mistress, carrying his child out of wedlock; during the robbery, she falls in love with Denver and becomes an accomplice to the group
* Enrique Arce as Arturo Román: a hostage and the former Director of the Royal Mint of Spain
* María Pedraza as Alison Parker (parts 1–2): a hostage in the Mint and daughter of the British ambassador to Spain
* Darko Perić as Mirko Dragic (Helsinki): a veteran Serbian soldier and Oslo's cousin
* Kiti Mánver as Mariví Fuentes (parts 1–2; featured parts 3–4): Raquel's mother
* Hovik Keuchkerian as Santiago Lopez (Bogotá; parts 3–5): an expert in metallurgy who joins the robbery of the Bank of Spain
* Luka Peroš as Jakov (Marseille; parts 4–5; featured part 3): a member of the gang who joins the robbery of the Bank of Spain and serves as a liaison for the group.
* Belén Cuesta as Julia Martinez (Manila; parts 4–5; featured part 3): godchild of Moscow and Denver's childhood friend, a trans woman, who joins the gang and poses as one of the hostages during the robbery of the Bank of Spain
* Fernando Cayo as Colonel Luis Tamayo (part 4–5; featured part 3): a member of the Spanish Intelligence who oversees Alicia's work on the case
* Rodrigo de la Serna as Martín Berrote (Palermo / The Engineer; parts 3–5): an old Argentine friend of Berlin who planned the robbery of the Bank of Spain with him and assumed his place as commanding officer
* Najwa Nimri as Alicia Sierra (parts 3–5): a pregnant inspector of the National Police Corps put in charge of the case after Raquel departed from the force

Recurring

* Roberto García Ruiz as Dimitri Mostovói / Radko Dragić (Oslo; parts 1–2; featured parts 3–4): a veteran Serbian soldier and Helsinki's cousin
* Fernando Soto as Ángel Rubio (parts 1–2; featured parts 3–5): a deputy inspector and Raquel's second-in-command
* Juan Fernández as Colonel Luis Prieto (parts 1–2; featured parts 3–4): a member of the Spanish Intelligence who oversees Raquel's work on the case
* Anna Gras as Mercedes Colmenar (parts 1–2): Alison's teacher and one of the hostages in the Mint
* Fran Morcillo as Pablo Ruiz (part 1): Alison's schoolmate and one of the hostages in the Mint
* Clara Alvarado as Ariadna Cascales (parts 1–2): one of the hostages who works in the Mint and seduces Berlin
* Mario de la Rosa as Suárez: the chief of the Grupo Especial de Operaciones
* Miquel García Borda as Alberto Vicuña (parts 1–2; featured parts 4-5): Raquel's ex-husband and a forensic examiner
* Naia Guz as Paula Vicuña Murillo (parts 1–2; featured parts 3–4): Raquel and Alberto's daughter
* José Manuel Poga as César Gandía (parts 4–5; featured part 3): chief of security for the Bank of Spain who escapes from hostage and causes havoc for the group
* Antonio Romero as Benito Antoñanzas (parts 3–5): an assistant to Colonel Luis Tamayo, who is persuaded by the Professor to do tasks for him
* Diana Gómez as Tatiana (featured parts 3–5): the fifth ex-wife of Berlin who is a professional pianist and thief
* Pep Munné as Mario Urbaneja (featured parts 3–5): the governor of the Bank of Spain
* Olalla Hernández as Amanda (featured parts 3–5): the Secretary to the governor of the Bank of Spain and hostage who Arturo rapes
* Mari Carmen Sánchez as Paquita (featured parts 3–5): a hostage in the Bank of Spain and a nurse who tends to Nairobi while she recovers
* Carlos Suárez as Miguel Fernández (featured parts 3–5): a nervous hostage in the Bank of Spain
* Ahikar Azcona as Matías Caño (Pamplona; featured parts 3–5): a member of the group who largely guards the hostages in the Bank of Spain
* Ramón Agirre as Benjamín Martinez (Logroño; featured parts 4–5): father of Manila who aids the Professor in his plan
* Antonio García Ferreras as himself (featured parts 4–5): a journalist
* José Manuel Seda as Sagasta (part 5): leader of the army detail inside the bank
* Patrick Criado as Rafael (featured part 5): Berlin's son and Professor's nephew
* Miguel Ángel Silvestre (featured part 5): René, Tokyo's boyfriend before working with the Professor
* Alberto Amarilla as Ramiro (part 5): member of Sagasta's Special Forces
* Jennifer Miranda as Arteche (part 5): member of Sagasta's Special Forces
* Ajay Jethi as Shakir (featured parts 4–5): the lead Pakistani hacker that was hired by the Professor during the Bank of Spain robbery

Production

Conception and writing

The series was conceived by screenwriter Álex Pina and director Jesús Colmenar during their years of collaboration since 2008. After finishing their work on the Spanish prison drama '' Locked Up'' (''Vis a vis''), they left Globomedia to set up their own production company, named Vancouver Media, in 2016. For their first project, they considered either filming a comedy or developing a heist story for television, with the latter having never been attempted before on Spanish television. Along with former ''Locked Up'' colleagues, they developed ''Money Heist'' as a passion project to try new things without outside interference. Pina was firm about making it a limited series, feeling that dilution had become a problem for his previous productions.

Initially entitled ''Los Desahuciados'' () in the conception phase, the series was developed to subvert heist conventions and combine elements of the action genre, thrillers and surrealism, while still being credible. Pina saw an advantage over typical heist films in that character development could span a considerably longer narrative arc. Characters were to be shown from multiple sides to break the viewers' preconceptions of villainy and retain their interest throughout the show. Key aspects of the planned storyline were written down at the beginning, while the finer story beats were developed incrementally to not overwhelm the writers. Writer Javier Gómez Santander compared the writing process to the Professor's way of thinking, "going around, writing down options, consulting engineers whom you cannot tell why you ask them that," but noted that fiction allowed the police to be written dumber when necessary.

The beginning of filming was set for January 2017, allowing for five months of pre-production. The narrative was split into two parts for financial considerations. The robbers' city-based code names, which Spanish newspaper '' ABC'' compared to the colour-based code names in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 heist film ''Reservoir Dogs'', were chosen at random in the first part, although places with high viewership resonance were also taken into account for the new robbers' code names in part 3. The first five lines of the pilot script took a month to write, as the writers were unable to make the Professor or Moscow work as narrator. Ultimately, Tokyo was chosen as an unreliable narrator. Flashbacks and time-jumps increased the narrative complexity and made the story more fluid for the audience. The pilot episode required over 50 script versions until the producers were satisfied. Later scripts would be finished once per week to keep up with filming.

Casting

Casting took place late in 2016, spanning more than two months. The characters were not fully fleshed out at the beginning of this process, and took shape based on the actors' performances. Casting directors Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano were looking for actors with the ability to play empathetic robbers with believable love and family connections. Antena 3 announced the ensemble cast in March 2017 and released audition excerpts of most cast actors in the series' aftershow ''Tercer Grado'' and on their website.

The Professor was designed as a charismatic yet shy villain who could convince the robbers to follow him and make the audience sympathetic to the robbers' resistance against the powerful banks. However, developing the Professor's role proved difficult, as the character did not follow archetypal conventions and the producers were uncertain about his degree of brilliance. While the producers found his Salva personality early on, they were originally looking for a 50-year-old Harvard professor type with the looks of Spanish actor José Coronado. The role was proposed to Javier Gutiérrez, but he was already committed to starring in the film '' Campeones''. Meanwhile, the casting directors advocated for Álvaro Morte, whom they knew from their collaboration on the long-running Spanish soap opera ''El secreto de Puente Viejo'', even though his prime-time television experience was limited at that point. Going through the full casting process and approaching the role through external analysis rather than personal experience, Morte described the professor as "a tremendous box of surprises" that "end up shaping this character because he never ceases to generate uncertainty," making it unclear for the audience if the character is good or bad. The producers also found that his appearance of a primary school teacher gave the character more credibility.

Pedro Alonso was cast to play Berlin, whom ''La Voz de Galicia'' would later characterize as a "cold, hypnotic, sophisticated and disturbing character, an inveterate macho with serious empathy problems, a white-collar thief who despises his colleagues and considers them inferior." The actor's portrayal of the character was inspired by a chance encounter Alonso had the day before receiving his audition script, with "an intelligent person" who was "provocative or even manipulative" to him. Alonso saw high observation skills and an unusual understanding of his surroundings in Berlin, resulting in unconventional and unpredictable character behaviour. Similarities between Berlin and Najwa Nimri's character Zulema in Pina's TV series '' Locked Up'' were unintentional. The family connection between the Professor and Berlin was not in the original script, but was built into the characters' backstory at the end of part 1 after Morte and Alonso had repeatedly proposed to do so.

The producers found the protagonist and narrator, Tokyo, among the hardest characters to develop, as they were originally looking for an older actress to play the character who had nothing to lose before meeting the Professor. Úrsula Corberó eventually landed the role for bringing a playful energy to the table; her voice was heavily factored in during casting, as she was the first voice the audience hears in the show. Jaime Lorente developed Denver's hallmark laughter during the casting process. Two cast actors had appeared in previous TV series by Álex Pina: Paco Tous (Moscow) had starred in the 2005 TV series ''Los hombres de Paco'', and Alba Flores (Nairobi) had starred in ''Locked Up''. Flores was asked to play Nairobi without audition when Pina realised late in the conception phase that the show needed another female gang member. For the role opposite to the robbers, Itziar Ituño was cast to play Inspector Raquel Murillo, whom Ituño described as a "strong and powerful woman in a world of men, but also sensitive in her private life". She took inspiration from '' The Silence of the Lambs'' character Clarice Starling, an FBI student with a messy family life who develops sympathies for a criminal.

The actors learned of the show's renewal by Netflix before the producers contacted them to return. In October 2018, Netflix announced the cast of part 3; the returning main cast included Pedro Alonso, raising speculation about his role in part 3. Among the new cast members were Argentine actor Rodrigo de la Serna, who saw a possible connection between his character's name and the Argentine football legend Martín Palermo, and ''Locked Up'' star Najwa Nimri. Cameo scenes of Brazilian football star, and fan of the series, Neymar, as a monk were filmed for part 3, but were excluded from the stream without repercussions to the narrative until judicial charges against him had been dropped in late August 2019. A small appearance by Spanish actress Belén Cuesta in two episodes of part 3 raised fan and media speculation about her role in part 4.

Design

The show's look and atmosphere were developed by creator Álex Pina, director Jesús Colmenar, and director of photography Migue Amoedo, according to ''La Vanguardia'' "the most prolific television trio in recent years". Abdón Alcañiz served as art director. Their collaboration projects usually take a primary colour as a basis; ''Money Heist'' had red as "one of the distinguishing features of the series" that stood over the gray sets. Blue, green and yellow were marked as a forbidden colour in production design. To achieve "absolute film quality", red tones were tested with different types of fabrics, textures and lighting. The iconography of the robbers' red jumpsuits mirrored the yellow prison dress code in ''Locked Up''. For part 3, the Italian retail clothing company Diesel modified the red jumpsuits to better fit the body and launched a clothing line inspired by the series. Salvador Dalí was chosen as the robbers' mask design because of Dalí's recognisable visage that also serves as an iconic cultural reference to Spain; Don Quixote as an alternative mask design was discarded. This choice sparked criticism by the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation for not requesting the necessary permissions.

To make the plot more realistic, the producers requested and received advice from the national police and the Spanish Ministry of Interior. The robbers' banknotes were printed with permission of the Bank of Spain and had an increased size as an anti-counterfeit measure. The greater financial backing of Netflix for part 3 allowed for the build of over 50 sets across five basic filming locations world-wide. Preparing a remote and uninhabited island in Panama to represent a robber hide-out proved difficult, as it needed to be cleaned, secured and built on, and involved hours-long travelling with material transportation. The real Bank of Spain was unavailable for visiting and filming for security reasons, so the producers recreated the Bank on a two-level stage by their own imagining, taking inspiration from Spanish architecture of the Francisco Franco era. Publicly available information was used to make the Bank's main hall set similar to the real location. The other interior sets were inspired by different periods and artificially aged to accentuate the building's history. Bronze and granite sculptures and motifs from the Valle de los Caídos were recreated for the interior, and over 50 paintings were painted for the Bank to emulate the Ateneo de Madrid.

Filming

Parts 1 and 2 were filmed back-to-back in the greater Madrid region from January until August 2017. The pilot episode was recorded in 26 days, while all other episodes had around 14 filming days. Production was split into two units to save time, with one unit shooting scenes involving the Professor and the police, and the other filming scenes with the robbers. The main storyline is set in the Royal Mint of Spain in Madrid, but the exterior scenes were filmed at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) headquarters for its passing resemblance to the Mint, and on the roof of the Higher Technical School of Aeronautical Engineers, part of the Technical University of Madrid. The hunting estate where the robbers plan their coup was filmed at the Finca El Gasco farm estate in Torrelodones. Interior filming took place at the former '' Locked Up'' sets in Colmenar Viejo and at the Spanish national daily newspaper '' ABC'' in Torrejón de Ardoz for printing press scenes. As the show was designed as a limited series, all sets were destroyed once production of part 2 had finished.

Parts 3 and 4 were also filmed back-to-back, with 21 to 23 filming days per episode. Netflix announced the start of filming on 25 October 2018, and filming of part 4 ended in August 2019. In 2018, Netflix had opened their first European production hub in Tres Cantos near Madrid for new and existing Netflix productions; main filming moved there onto a set three times the size of the set used for parts 1 and 2. The main storyline is set in the Bank of Spain in Madrid, but the exterior was filmed at the Ministry of Development complex Nuevos Ministerios. A scene where money is dropped from the sky was filmed at Callao Square. Ermita de San Frutos in Carrascal del Río served as the exterior of the Italian monastery where the robbers plan the heist. The motorhome scenes of the Professor and Lisbon were filmed at the deserted Las Salinas beaches in Almería to make the audience feel that the characters are safe from the police although their exact location is undisclosed at first. Underwater scenes inside the vault were filmed at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom. The beginning of part 3 was also filmed in Thailand, on the Guna Yala islands in Panama, and in Florence, Italy, which helped to counter the claustrophobic feeling of the first two parts, but was also an expression of the plot's global repercussions. Filming for the fifth and final season concluded on 14 May 2021.

Music

The series' theme song, " My Life Is Going On," was composed by Manel Santisteban, who also served as composer on ''Locked Up''. Santisteban approached Spanish singer, Cecilia Krull, to write and perform the lyrics, which are about having confidence in one's abilities and the future. The theme song is played behind a title sequence featuring paper models of major settings from the series. Krull's main source of inspiration was the character Tokyo in the first episode of the series, when the Professor offers her a way out of a desperate moment. The lyrics are in English as the language that came naturally to Krull at the time of writing.

The Italian anti-fascist song " Bella ciao" plays multiple times throughout the series and accompanies two emblematic key scenes: at the end of the first part the Professor and Berlin sing it in preparation for the heist, embracing themselves as resistance against the establishment, and in the second part it plays during the thieves' escape from the Mint, as a metaphor for freedom. Regarding the use of the song, Tokyo recounts in one of her narrations, "The life of the Professor revolved around a single idea: Resistance. His grandfather, who had fought against the fascists in Italy, taught him the song, and he taught us." The song was brought to the show by writer Javier Gómez Santander. He had listened to "Bella ciao" at home to cheer him up, as he had grown frustrated for not finding a suitable song for the middle of part 1. He was aware of the song's meaning and history and felt it represented positive values. "Bella ciao" became a summer hit in Europe in 2018, mostly due to the popularity of the series and not the song's grave themes.

Episodes

Season 1: Parts 1 and 2 (2017)

Part 1 begins with the aftermath of a failed bank robbery by a woman using the alias "Tokyo" as a man called the "Professor" saves her from being caught by the police. He proposes to include her in a heist of massive proportions. After a brief outline of the plan, the story jumps to the beginning of a multi-day assault on the Royal Mint of Spain in Madrid. The eight robbers are code-named for cities: Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Nairobi, Rio, Denver, Helsinki, and Oslo. Dressed in red jumpsuits and masks depicting artist Salvador Dalí, the robbers take 67 hostages as part of their plan to print and escape with €2.4 billion through a self-built escape tunnel. The Professor heads the heist from an external location. Flashbacks throughout the series show the five months of preparation at an abandoned hunting estate in the Toledo countryside; the robbers are not to share personal information nor engage in personal relationships, and are warned that there will be casualties.

Throughout parts 1 and 2, the robbers inside the Mint have difficulties sticking to their roles and face uncooperative hostages, violence, isolation, and mutiny. Tokyo narrates events through voice-overs. While Denver pursues a love affair with hostage Mónica Gaztambide, inspector Raquel Murillo of the National Police Corps negotiates with the Professor on the outside and begins an intimate relationship with his alter ego "Salva." The Professor's identity is repeatedly close to being uncovered and Raquel eventually realizes Salva is the Professor, but she is emotionally unable to hand him over to the police. At the end of part 2, after 128 hours, the robbers escape from the Mint with €984 million, but Oslo, Moscow and Berlin are killed. One year after the heist, Raquel finds a series of postcards left by the Professor, who wrote the coordinates for a location in Palawan in the Philippines, where she reunites with him.

Season 2: Parts 3 and 4 (2019–2020)

Part 3 begins three years after the heist on the Royal Mint of Spain, showing the robbers enjoying their lives paired-up in diverse locations. However, when Europol captures Rio with an intercepted phone, the Professor picks up Berlin's old plans to assault the Bank of Spain to force Europol to hand over Rio to prevent his torture. He and Raquel (going by "Lisbon") get the gang, including Mónica (going by "Stockholm"), back together, and enlist three new members: Palermo, Bogotá and Marseille, with Palermo in charge. Flashbacks to the Professor and Berlin outline the planned new heist and their different approaches to love. The disguised robbers sneak into the heavily guarded bank, take hostages and eventually gain access to the gold and state secrets. At the same time, the Professor and Lisbon travel in an RV and then an ambulance while communicating with the robbers and the police. The robbers thwart a police breach of the bank, forcing the police, led by Colonel Luis Tamayo and pregnant inspector Alicia Sierra, to release Rio to the robbers. Nairobi is injured by a police sniper's shot to the chest. With another police assault on the bank coming, and believing Lisbon has been executed by the police, the Professor radios Palermo and declares DEFCON 2. The robbers respond by firing a rocket at the armored police vehicle that is advancing on the bank, turning the robbers from folk heroes to killers in the eyes of the public. Part 3 concludes by showing Lisbon alive and in custody, and Tokyo narrating that the Professor had fallen for a trap. She concludes that because of the Professor's miscalculation, "the war had begun."

Part 4 begins with the robbers rushing to save Nairobi's life. While Tokyo stages a coup d'état and takes over command from Palermo, the Professor and Marseille deduce that Lisbon must still be alive and being interrogated by Sierra in the police command post tent outside the bank. They persuade Tamayo's assistant, Antoñanzas, to help them so the Professor can establish a 48-hour truce with the police. As the group manages to save Nairobi's life, the restrained Palermo attempts to reassert command by colluding with Gandía, the restrained chief of security for the Bank of Spain. Gandía escapes, begins communications with the police from within a panic room inside the bank, and participates in a violent cat-and-mouse game with the gang. Palermo reverses course, regains the trust of the group, and rejoins them. Gandía shoots Nairobi in the head, killing her instantly, but the gang later recapture him. As the police prepare another assault on the bank, the Professor exposes to the public the unlawful torture of Rio and Lisbon's detention and interrogation. Sierra is fired and begins pursuing the Professor on her own. The Professor enlists external help to free Lisbon after she is transferred from the command post tent to the Supreme Court building. Part 4 concludes with Lisbon rejoining the gang inside the bank, and with Sierra finding the Professor's hideout, then holding him at gunpoint.

Season 3: Part 5 Volumes 1 and 2 (2021)

Part 5 Volume 1 begins with Sierra finding the Professor and knocking him out, then tying him up and interrogating him. After Lisbon enters the bank, the gang prepares for an attack by troops of the Spanish army. The gang captures Gandia, then frees him rather than killing him. Gandia wants to exact revenge on the gang, so Tamayo has him join the assault by the soldiers. After finding out the Professor has been caught but that Sierra has not notified the police, Lisbon tells the gang they will not give up. Benjamin and Marseille find the Professor, and Sierra knocks them out and ties them up. When Sierra struggles to deliver her baby, she frees the Professor, Marseille, and Benjamin so they can help. Sierra gives birth to a daughter, whom she names Victoria. Arturo Roman, a hostage in both the Royal Mint and the Bank of Spain, had an affair with Stockholm before the first heist, and Arturo's reminders anger Denver. When Arturo, the governor of the bank, and other hostages start a rebellion, Stockholm shoots Arturo, who is released so he can receive medical care. In a flashback, Berlin convinces his son Rafael to help him steal 12 kilograms of gold with Tatiana, Bogota, and Marseille. In the present, the gang starts fighting the soldiers, with Helsinki sustaining a severe injury. Stockholm feels guilt over shooting Arturo, who is her son's birth father, and takes morphine while nursing Helsinki, which leaves her unable to aid in the gang's defense against the attacking soldiers. Part 5 Volume 1 concludes with Tokyo sacrificing herself to defeat Gandia and the soldiers.

In Part 5 Volume 2, Sierra runs away and the Professor and Marseille chase after her. Initially enemies, the Professor and Sierra soon become allies as they face their common enemy – the police. When they go back to the stormwater tank, they see the gold has already been delivered to them by the gang. However, the police find the stormwater tank and arrests the Professor, Sierra, Benjamin and Marseille. They escape, but find the gold missing. It is revealed that the gold is stolen by Rafael and Tatiana because she broke up with Berlin in the past to be with Rafael. In the present, Tatiana and Rafael bury the gold. Palermo and the Professor discover that it is their doing, but at this time, the army captured the gang. The Professor gives Sierra a note for Rafael, and convinces her to find the gold as that is their only hope while he drives to the bank. When he enters the bank, Tamayo taunts him and interrogates each gang member separately. Denver goes first, but does not reveal anything and is escorted to the police tent. The gang reveals to the public the gold has already been removed from the bank, leading to public panic and an economic meltdown, putting Spain in danger of bankruptcy. Sierra is able to locate the stolen gold. Outside the bank, the gold has arrived in trucks, but the Professor says it is gold-coated brass. The gang members are killed on Tamayo's orders, shocking Denver in the tent. They are taken out of the bank in body bags, and it is revealed they are alive as the Professor convinced Tamayo to stop the chase; the return of the "gold" has stabilized the country's economy. 24 hours after the heist, the gang reunite at an air base. Everyone receives new passports as Rafael and Tatiana return the gold to the gang with a promise that they will receive a share. The gang leaves the air base, having successfully robbed the Bank of Spain.

Music

Themes and analysis

The series was noted for its subversions of the heist genre. While heist films are usually told with a rational male Anglo-centric focus, the series reframes the heist story by giving it a strong Spanish identity and telling it from a female perspective through Tokyo. The producers regarded the cultural identity as an important part of the personality of the series, as it made the story more relatable for viewers. They also avoided adapting the series to international tastes, which helped to set it apart from the usual American TV series and raised international awareness of Spanish sensibilities. Emotional dynamics like the passion and impulsivity of friendship and love offset the perfect strategic crime for increased tension. Nearly all main characters, including the relationship-opposing Professor, eventually succumb to love, for which the series received comparisons to telenovelas. Comedic elements, which were compared to ''Back to the Future'' and black comedy, also offset the heist tension. The heist film formula is subverted by the heist starting straight after the opening credits instead of lingering on how the gang is brought together.

With the series being set after the financial crisis of 2007–2008, which resulted in severe austerity measures in Spain, critics argued that the series was an explicit allegory of rebellion against capitalism, including ''The Globe and Mail'', who saw the series as "subversive in that it's about a heist for the people. It's revenge against a government." According to ''Le Monde'', the Professor's teaching scenes in the Toledo hunting estate, in particular, highlighted how people should seek to develop their own solutions for the fallible capitalist system. The show's Robin Hood analogy of robbing the rich and giving to the poor received various interpretations. ''El Español'' argued that the analogy made it easier for viewers to connect with the show, as modern society tended to be tired of banks and politics already, and the ''New Statesman'' said the rich were no longer stolen from but undermined at their roots. On the other hand, ''Esquire'''s Mireia Mullor saw the Robin Hood analogy as a mere distraction strategy for the robbers, as they initially did not plan to use the money from their first heist to improve the quality of life of regular people; for this reason, Mullor also argues that the large following for the robbers in part 3 was not understandable even though they represented a channel for the discontent of those bearing economic and political injustices.

The characters were designed as multi-dimensional and complementary antagonists and antiheroes whose moralities are ever-changing. Examples include Berlin, who shifts from a robber mistreating hostages, to one of the series' most beloved characters. There is also the hostage Mónica Gaztambide, as well as inspector Raquel Murillo, who eventually join the cause of the robbers. Gonzálvez of ''The Huffington Post'' finds that an audience may think of the robbers as evil at first for committing a crime, but as the series progresses it marks the financial system as the true evil and suggests the robbers have ethical and empathetic justification for stealing from an overpowered thief. Najwa Nimri, playing inspector Sierra in part 3, said that "the complex thing about a villain is giving him humanity. That's where everyone gets alarmed when you have to prove that a villain also has a heart". She added that the amount of information and technology that surrounds us is allowing us to verify that "everyone has a dark side." The series leaves it to the audience to decide who is good or bad, as characters are "relatable and immoral" at various points in the story. Pina argued that it was this ability to change the view that made the series addictive and marked its success.

With the relative number of female main characters in TV shows generally on the rise, the series gives female characters the same attention as men, which the BBC
...