La Casa De Papel – Season 5 Episode 6 Recap & Review

Escape Valve

Finally, we’re back! After a mid-season break, part 2 of La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) returns. The plan is in disarray and it all comes down to this. Tokyo, bleeding out on the ground and about to die, reflects back on the nature of gold and how it must be cursed. While everything else crumbles and decays, gold continues to shine on.

Although Tamayo learns about Tokyo (“one of the robbers”) being killed, he also hears the sheer number of casualties from the soldiers breaking in. He decides to airlift and evacuate Sagasta but he’s having none of it. It’s personal and they want to inflict maximum punishment.

However, so too does Rio. He’s torn up about Tokyo’s death and wants to exact revenge. Lisbon jumps in though and knocks him to the ground, reminding him that Tokyo’s plight begun with him, given all of this started with breaking Rio out of his hell.

Meanwhile, in the middle of all this commotion, Sierra breaks free and away from the Professor. When the Professor finds out, he teams up with Marseille to bring her back. It’s no good though, as she makes her escape with her baby in-tow.

The Professor refuses to give up without a fight, and he chases after her. However, Sierra uses the Professor’s emotions against him, taking Marseille out the fight by shooting both his tyres.

With the Professor, Sierra lures him out to a abandoned warehouse where the two square off against one another. She entices him to a duel but the thing is, Alicia had actually emptied his clip earlier at the hideout. For someone who’s supposed to be this forward thinking, meticulous, all-intelligent mastermind, emotion sure has blinded him – especially if he hasn’t bothered to check his gun until this point. Anyway, Alicia gags the professor and locks him in the trunk of his car.

Because La Casa De Papel has a serious problem saying goodbye to Berlin (oh and there’s a green-lit spin-off series featuring him too coming next year), we cut back five years before D-Day to the Barents Sea. Berlin and co. organize a new operation to steal the extraction pump at an oil station with Marseille.

These scenes continue to be interspersed through the episode too, with Berlin serving as the ringleader as this whole operation is put into action.

Back in the present, Tamayo decides to use “emotional porn”, portraying these soldiers as national heroes. Specifically they want to point out the deceased as the perfect family men and women, making the public sympathetic to their plight and turn on the robbers.

However, before the Colonel can press ahead with this, a live-stream video from Lisbon confirms that seven people have died inside, including Tokyo. She gives a heartfelt confession about how much of a good person Tokyo is, and how much she regrets slapping her that one time. This singular action sees the crowd rally behind them, chanting “We’re not leaving!” despite Rio telling them to on the video.

While this is good news, inside the bank we learn Arturo is still alive. Because of course he is. Denver has the same indifference many other viewers have to this news.

Interestingly though, Sierra shows up at Tamayo’s house, holding his wife hostage and wanting to bargain with the Colonel. She tries to strike a deal – the Professor in exchange for her regaining her position at the helm of this investigation, and for Tamayo to publicly denounce the allegations against her. This would also mean incriminating himself of course.

The thing is, the Colonel is smart and he hit the panic button 3 minutes prior to entering the house. He’s not agreeing to anything. For the Professor, he manages to break free from his gag, ripping at the upholstery with his mouth and blagging entry to the apartment complex to warn Sierra. As they enter their neighbour’s apartment, everything is left on a knife-edge as soldiers rush into the building.

The Episode Review

La Casa De Papel is back and the show bursts straight into the thick of the story. Tokyo’s death hangs over this chapter like a black cloud, with many of our characters expressing their own form of grief over this. That make sense, given how crucial she’s been to the story as a whole, but it also makes for a somewhat slow and lethargic chapter.

A lot of this series now has devolved into melodramatic plot beats and larger-than-life sequences, with the Professor a caricature of the smart and intelligent guy he once was. Likewise, the whole flashback shtick with Berlin adds absolutely nothing to the episode and although it’s minimal screen-time this time around, it still feels like unnecessary padding.

Despite that, the episode does look set to plunge into deeper action in the coming chapters, but this is undeniably a shadow of the exquisite thriller it was for the first few seasons.