The trailer for Volume 1 of Money Heist S5 dropped recently, and let’s be honest, it had us more excited and nervous than the time we saw the first heist. After all, it’s the beginning of the end.
This is perhaps why it’s the best time to go back to the beginning i.e. take a look at all that has happened in Money Heist so far.
So here’s the recap you most definitely need, unless you’re planning on binge-watching all the four seasons again:
Season 1 and 2
1. The first two seasons deal with the heist at the Royal Mint of Spain in Madrid, where a group of 8 members, led by the Professor, plan to print more money and escape with €2.4 billion.
2. The Professor’s well-laid plan includes two main rules. The first is that members can’t develop personal connections, and thus, the members are code-named after cities. The members are Tokyo (the narrator), Rio, Oslo, Helsinki, Berlin, Nairobi, Moscow and Denver. The second rule is to not hurt anyone.
Spoiler Alert: both the rules are broken as the story progresses.
3. During the heist, the Professor and Raquel Murillo, the lead detective on the case, fall in love, with the Professor posing as Salva. Tokyo, the person most likely to break the rules and create trouble, and Rio also fall in love. And Denver falls in love with Monica Gaztambide, a hostage who later becomes part of the Professor’s team.
Monica is also the mistress of Arturo Román, the Director of the Royal Mint of Spain, and an all-round asshole. There really is no polite way of describing him.
4. In the bank, Berlin leads the heist but also ends up taking advantage of a hostage, and rubbing his own team mates’ the wrong way with his authoritarian and sadistic approach.
5. At the same time, Raquel Murillo attempts to outsmart the Professor but fails. However, she discovers the villa in which Professor and his team had stayed and planned the heist. As luck would have it, the Professor, pretending to be Salva, is with Murillo when she makes the discovery.
6. After multiple twists and turns, during which Tokyo revolts against Berlin, is caught by the police, and rescued by the Professor, Murillo finally discovers the Professor’s real identity. Tokyo drives a motorcycle back into the bank, but Moscow is injured in the crossfire with the police.
During this time, 17 of the 67 hostages also escape, aided by Arturo, and Helsinki is injured in the process.
7. Murillo interrogates the Professor but is unable to stop him from escaping, leading her boss, Colonel Prieto, to remove her from the case. Though she is removed, she still discovers the route to the Professor’s hideout but is captured by the Professor.
8. Meanwhile, after 128 hours, the team manages to print €984 million, and drill their way out of the bank to the Professor’s hideout, which was the original escape route. Minutes before the police reach the hideout (after forcing Murillo to disclose the location), the entire team escapes. But they lose Helsinki, Moscow, and Berlin in the process. Berlin actually dies while providing cover to the rest of the team.
A year later, Murillo, who has left the police force, notices the coordinates on a postcard that the Professor left her, tracks him down to the Philippines, and agrees to stay with him.
Season 3 and 4 (Two years after the original heist)
9. After pulling off the heist of the century, the group scatters across the globe in pairs. Though the Professor gives strict instructions on how to remain undetected, Tokyo, bored of hiding, breaks the rules and when Rio attempts to discover her, his call is intercepted by Interpol and he is caught.
10. Tokyo reaches out to the Professor for help, and slowly the team is reunited, along with the addition of Murillo (codename Lisbon), and three new members, Palermo, Marseilles, and Bogota. This time the plan is to rob all the gold in the vault of the Bank of Spain, and rescue Rio.
The plan begins with the crew raining down money on the people of Madrid, creating the perfect distraction to take the bank hostage.
11. This time, Alicia Sierra is in charge of the investigation and she is far more ruthless than any of the previous officers the team has dealt with. However, the team ultimately manages to gain leverage by accessing secret red briefcases from the bank’s vault (containing national and international secret documents).
12. The team also captures the police officers sent to retake the bank, releasing them in exchange for Rio. But Rio, tortured during captivity, is suffering from PTSD and breaks up with Tokyo. However, he is not the only one struggling through issues, mental and physical. The team begins to falter, with Palermo (the team’s leader inside the bank) and Nairobi at odds with each other.
At the same time Arturo, who has turned into a motivational public speaker, sneaks inside the bank. And continues to prove that he is still an asshole.
13. Outside the bank, the Professor and Lisbon are on run and get separated, and the Professor is led to believe that Lisbon has been caught and shot. Sierra also uses Nairobi’s son, who she lost custody of, to lure her to the window and shoot at her. The team inside the bank rushes to save her life.
14. Lisbon is actually captured, not shot, and consequently interrogated by Sierra. Tokyo is able to successfully take out the bullet from Nairobi. However, chaos ensues when a restrained guard, Gandia, escapes. Gandia manages to cut off the team’s communication with the Professor and captures Tokyo.
15. A long-drawn fight between Gandia and the team, in which the police aids Gandia and the Professor aids the team, ends in Nairobi’s death.
16. Following her death, the Professor launches an offensive attack, playing to the sentiments of the public that already supported them. He releases information about Rio’s torture during captivity, and Lisbon’s continued arrest, forcing the government to stop the attack on the bank. Sierra is fired for carrying out the torture of Rio.
At the same time, the Professor plans an escape for Lisbon (who is being transported to the court). In the end of the season, Lisbon is reunited with the team inside the bank, and Gandia is under the team’s control. But Sierra has discovered the Professor, and his hideout.
Seasons 3 and 4 also include multiple flashbacks detailing Palermo’s relationship with Berlin, the origin of the idea for the current heist, and the Professor’s relationship with Berlin.
Can’t wait for September 3!
All images from Netflix.