La Casa De Papel – Season 3 Episode 2 “Aikido” Recap & Review

Chaos Is A Bank Heist

Following the teasing glimpses of the plan coming into action last episode, we return to D-Day in Madrid. The plan to rob the banks is in full swing, with the zeppelins flying overhead dropping a total of 140 million Euros down to the happy public below.

Donning the Salvador Dali mask, The Professor reveals himself to the crowd and tells them about Rio’s torturous ordeal, pleading with them to join him in asking the authorities to return Rio safely. As people stop what they’re doing and watch on, recording the action on their cellphones, he tells the crowd they intend to fight the state for their mistreatment of their comrade.

Dressed in army gear, the crew prepare for their next move while The Professor and Raquel don headsets in a nearby van and prepare for their next move. They infiltrate the radio broadcasts with ease and listen to the orders given to military personnel en-route to different locations across Spain. As they hear one specific group heading to the bank, The Professor radios the team and tells them the exact group numbers for them to paint on the side of their army trucks. They intercept the army group and sneak into the bank’s grounds undetected.

We then cut to 42 minutes past H-hour as the plan is set into motion. Chaos grips the nation as numerous people don their Dali masks and head out into the streets. The fake soldiers hurry inside while the real convoy is on its way, 6 minutes from their location to be precise. With time running out, The Professor jumps into another radio broadcast and convinces the guards to let his group into the bank while the real convoy make it to where they need to be.

Inside the bank, the group clear half the people out and as chaos descends inside and outside the bank, bombs are detonated and the doors are shut. There’s no turning back now.

The second episode does a great job bringing the plan together although the jump between the 60+ days last episode and straight to the plan itself is a little quick if I’m honest and could have done with a bit more fleshing out to really add to the dramatic weight of the break-in. Having said that, the clever intercepting from The Professor and the team acting on their cat-and-mouse instincts from before returns the series to its roots which is nice to see. With the team now inside, the real action follows as La Casa De Papel settles back into its familiar role.