End of the Road
Episode 1 of La Casa De Papel Season 5 begins with Lisbon entering the bank and the Professor promising they’re going to war. Of course, that’s before Sierra finds the Professor’s hideout and holds him up at gunpoint. She’s not going to fire though, instead remaining determined to make sure he’s sentenced to life behind bars to pay for what he’s done. With the two sides at a stand-off, the Professor’s predictions come true – and Lisbon is well prepared for this. She relays his message to the others, telling them the plan has changed. They’ve got a window of about 3-4 hours and in that time Tamayo is going to bring in the army. He rings his contact, Sagasta, and orders the man to jump into the fray along with his operational team. If that wasn’t bad enough, the situation with Arturo drives a wedge between the group. Honestly, how this guy is still alive is beyond me. Anyway, the situation has turned desperate, with the plan now focusing on extraction rather than holding out for the gold. Following Nairobi’s death, everything is poised on a knife-edge. Lisbon tries in vain to communicate with the Professor but of course, he’s being kept at Sierra’s mercy. Unfortunately, this also means Sierra is aware that Raquel is inside the bank. This gives her enough ammunition to interrogate the Professor, holding a gun up to him and shooting the man in the thigh. As blood oozes down his leg, Sierra goes one step further, suspending the Professor over a precarious edge, forcing him to speak and divulge his entire plan. Well, the Professor refuses to speak and in fact, goads her on to fire. “I’d love to…” She whispers, leaving him suspended while walking away. In the middle of all this chaos, there’s a really nice moment between Tokyo and Lisbon. With the latter in the bath, she reflects on the romantic implications of the Professor doing everything he could to get her into the National Trust. Given Tokyo’s past, involving her partner Rene killed during the heist prior to season 1 beginning, she understands that same sense of sacrifice. During flashbacks we see more of Berlin’s past too, meeting his son Rafael and walking with him through the quaint streets of Copenhagen. As they sit down to eat together – following a run-in with Berlin’s wife Tatiana – he propositions the boy to join in the heist as an engineer. As Berlin puts it, he’s offering up a “guaranteed path to liberation.” Back in the present, the situation with the helicopter has all been planned out by the Professor. He’s well aware that this would lead to the army finding the abandoned copter in the field, with two decoys planted – Benjamin and Marseille – to feed false information about a red Volvo. As the police chase it down, it soon becomes apparent that it’s all a big ruse to throw the army off the Professor’s scent. Marseille is actually in a different truck and manages to get away without arousing suspicions. Back in the bank, the Professor communicates with Lisbon. He tells her and the gang that there’s no extraction and just like that, Inspector Sierra speaks up. A knot forms in all their stomachs as they realize the noose is tightening around them all. “I’m sorry,” The Professor chimes in, retorting this to every member of the group. With no Plan B and everything looking bleak, the army shows up outside the National Trust. It’s the end of the road for our gang.
The Episode Review
La Casa De Papel (Or Money Heist but honestly, what a bland English title for a bombastic action thriller) is back and the first episode sets things up nicely for the season to come. The blend of classical music with the action serves up a pretty stylish cocktail, while the drama works well to ease us into the main conflicts this year. This opening chapter wastes absolutely no time getting right to the heart of the drama and it seems like our gang are up against the ropes. With the army arriving, Sierra in control and the Professor seemingly having no Plan B, how are our gang going to escape the bank? Either way, seeing the focus shift to the secondary characters more than Tokyo over these past few seasons has actually been a really wise move and following Nairobi’s death, there’s a lot of unresolved tensions and drama still to come over this season. What will happen next? We’ll have to wait and find out!
