Money Heist Part 5, Volume 1 review: Anticlimactic with a forced cliffhanger

2.5/5

The Professor's squad is stuck in the Bank of Spain for more than 100 hours. With losing Nairobi and rescuing Lisbon, the gang doesn't have any backup plan for their escape. The robbery turns into a war for the gang, while The Professor is kidnapped and tortured by Alicia Sierra.

"If I stay with you if I'm choosing wrong... I don't care at all

If I'm losing now, but I'm winning late... That's all I want"

Cecilia Krull's words in the title track of Money Heist felt not this honest in the previous seasons. The fifth season of the much-awaited show is 'For Nairobi' who was killed point-blank by César Gandía. However, one must never forget that the real villains of the show are the lead cast, they are robbers for Pete's sake. But the creator Álex Pina and the writers have made it in such a way that you hoot and cheer on their success, while cry at the drop of a hat even if they get a scratch on their body.

Since 2017, The Professor and his gang have been cheered on and a push in the paddle was much needed. As a viewer, I felt the series did not deserve another season after they won the heist at the Royal Mint of Spain. And if you expect the second heist just witnessed its worth at the end of the fourth season, oh lord, writers are making sure that the flow of empathy doesn't stop.

It's raining girl power in the fifth season in every nook and corner of the show. With the guns blazing and chaos everywhere, the multiple backup plans have made it less impactful this time.

The makers informed fans about flashback sequences, which introduced a few new characters. But they hardly leave any impact at least in the first part. Moreover, the flashback scenes get boring after one point of time as throughout the series we have seen how much baggage each character carries. There's no escape from the past, but they hardly define the present and the future of the characters in this show.

It's the terrific performances of each actor which make the season watchable and how! Actors playing the characters namely The Professor (Álvaro Morte), Alicia Sierra (Najwa Nimri), Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó), Stockholm (Esther Acebo), Manila (Belén Cuesta) and Lisbon (Itziar Ituño), everyone leaves an impressive mark. Like mentioned earlier, the season has boosted the female characters which made the actors overpower their male counterparts.

Enrique Arce as Arturo Román continues to fall in the 'love to hate you' category and haunts not only Stockholm but viewers too.

It's been four years since the show started and finally, there's a cop (or former) who outsmarts the gang. As per the writers, the gang members are way braver and smarter than the cops. Although Sierra's braveness was witnessed in the previous seasons, they maintained the pace in Part Five too. However, it's more of Sophie's Choice for her in terms to fight against whom - The lawmakers or lawbreakers! (You've to watch to know why)

Meanwhile, the end of the first volume of the fifth part is pretty much similar to Part Four, not a cliffhanger, but another war cry of the ongoing battle.  

Filled with innumerable flaws and loopholes, the end which we will witness in December is a huge sigh of relief. However, there's not much left to expect from the upcoming part as an escape plan is something that The Professor and the squad never prioritise. They let the guns blaze and ammo control them to the extent that they end up hunting down foes as well as friends.

The show leaves no surprise and maintains the predictability about the sequences and each character's move.

If you're a fan, might as well watch it to get closure. But the penultimate part is anticlimactic with massive explosions.