Disclaimer: The following post contains spoilers from Season 4 of Money Heist.
It wasn’t easy picking Arturo as the most hated character from Money Heist, especially after seeing Gandia in action. But, ultimately, I stand by my choice.
There is no fictional character I find as annoying, loathsome, and despicable as Arturo from Money Heist.
For the longest time, I thought Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series was the worst character to have ever come alive on the silver screen.
But then I binged through four seasons of Money Heist and realized that Arturo is a personification of the malai in my tea, the elaichi in my biryani, the tax in my salary.
Right from season 1, his interactions and actions, reminded me of those fuckbois that write sapiosexual on their dating bios but have only read Chetan Bhagat’s novels. That too, the cliff notes version.
He cheats on his wife with Monica, and then, does not even stand by her when she shares that she is pregnant. He also constantly puts the life of the other hostages in danger by forcing them to act like heroes.
But every time he is cornered, he behaves like a coward, reveals secrets, and immediately puts the life of other people in jeopardy.
In the first two seasons, I was annoyed at his thoughtless actions and the false sense of bravado that hurt more than it helped.
But in seasons 3 and 4, his evolution into a complete creep made my skin crawl.
It would have been one thing had he exploited his own experience as a hostage for a better life.
Rather, he suffers personal losses but projects himself as a life coach. He also lies about the actual events and hoodwinks innocent people into believing he actually stood up to the robbers.
In the last two seasons, his selfish interests once again put the lives of hostages, and Denver, at risk. He even disrupts the police work by sneakily entering the Bank of Spain. All because he wants to be admired and appear ‘important’.
However, the worst, absolutely reprehensible and unforgivable act that he committed was when he took advantage of a hostage’s admiration for him, by feeding her anxiety pills. And this is after he has already tried to sexually assault Monica.
Agreed that Alicia tortures Rio and Gandia ruthlessly executes Nairobi, and both are definitely not on the side of saints.
But while their actions can still be considered as a part of their job, Arturo’s actions are not governed by duty. He is simply a creep who takes advantage of people for selfish gains.
He oscillates between playing the victim card, or the hero card, depending upon who his audience is. But in reality, he is little more than a conniving weasel who deserves to be put behind bars, or at very least, be shot at more often.
Across the four seasons, he always has someone else do the heavy lifting, literally and figuratively. And while I am not a fan of violence, Arturo Roman is one character I’d happily see die. Hopefully, season 5 will oblige.
All images are screenshots from Netflix, unless specified otherwise.