Berlin comes to Netflix to relieve the pain of fans of The Money Heist. The successful Spanish series came to an end in December 2021. After it came a forgettable and ill-fated remake Korean. Now, the original creative team reunites to return to the parent universe. Only this time it will be a prequel. And he will finally give the spotlight to the character of Pedro Alonsoone of the most acclaimed for its eccentric idiosyncrasy.
Berlin He follows in the footsteps of his new protagonist in what he plans to be his new indelible work in the world of robberies. With Paris as a backdrop, the thief wants to steal a collection of jewelry worth 44 million euros. To do this he will need help, so he assembles a band full of new faces. Each one with their skills, will try to outwit the police and security systems to get the loot. But in the middle the greatest of all forces will emerge, love.
Berlin
Netflix returns to the La Casa de Papel universe with an entertaining spin-off that tries by all means to differentiate itself from the original. The tone is much lighter, optimistic and frenetic. But it loses points by betting everything on a too archetypal and simple romantic comedy that diverts the main focus from the heist.
Berlin and love
The premise from which the series is based makes it clear what world we are in. This is not going to stop being The Money Heist. The thieves are a bunch of friendly and ingenious idealists, capable of the greatest tricks to get their way. From there, Netflix had the mission of finding its own, different tone. Berlin It deserved to have its own entity. So they carried out a series of substantial changes without necessarily losing their essence.
The first and most obvious is a leap into the void of stratospheric proportions. What would happen if The Money Heist Will you inject him with an overdose of romantic comedy? The answer is in the eight episodes of Berlin. It was a very risky move on the part of the script team. Finding the balance to not get lost was a very complex task. And at times it works out well, although at others they have gone too far. Here that trite intensity that tokyo He added to his stories about personal dramas that he transformed into several stories of love and heartbreak.
So in one scene Berlin He is explaining in detail how to enter a maximum security vault and in the next scene he tells us about how reaching a lady’s heart is the noblest feat a man can fight for. The risk that has been taken is laudable, although the contrast is very strange and causes the interest it arouses to fluctuate. The focus, the final objective, is at times the hit and at other times—too many—it is changed to being happy in love.
Although they are the masters of the heist genre, the romantic one is not as polished. Those who like this type of plots in general will enjoy Berlin. But the series is still a compendium of the most basic clichés in the hackneyed “boy-meets-girl” story. Since each of the romantic narrative arcs is different, all possible stereotypes are covered. They dress up with lapidary phrases that pretend to be great quotes and that, on the contrary, end up being pedantic, cheesy and sappy. The series gets drunk on sentimentality sensitive.
In sixth gear
Of course, there is an attribute that they have been able to squeeze to perfection. By now everyone knows The Money Heist. The global success of the project was such that it has changed the mechanisms of the genre. So in Berlin It is not necessary to go little by little. The series starts at full speed and does not slow down for a single moment until its final episode ends. The pace is very fast and there is no time to get bored.
Everything that could have been tedious before is left out. Yeah The Money Heist They prolonged their moments of tension to exhaustion, here they choose to accumulate them. Things always happen and the feeling is that everything can blow up from one moment to the next. There are even chases and scenes that seem straight out of Fast & Furious. This is going to be a delight for viewers, who will devour the series at the speed of light. It is true that there are holes in the script and many coincidences and deus ex machina quite vague. But everything happens so quickly that there is no time to even think about it.
The frenzy it turns into Berlin It is highly addictive and, above all, very light. The structure is much less complex. A fast food of those so grateful that solve a hungry night. The characters don’t need much introduction, we will get to know them along the way, becoming fond of them. The plot twists are always fun and exciting. We don’t need so many action scenes with machine guns and explosions. The montage moves very quickly again while the story passes like a game of illusion. There are winks and references to the original. And the protagonist, once again, radiates overflowing charisma. The series becomes a Molotov cocktail.
Paris and image washing
Added to this is a notable aesthetic change. We went from constant cold and stylized interiors to the elegance and light of Paris. The city, its streets, premises, luxuries and its people play a fundamental role in Berlin. The plan was to end the claustrophobia and obscurantism of the parent series. Mission achieved. The scenery itself conveys a much more relieved feeling. And the production design, once again, is exceptional.
But this image washing also takes its toll on oneself. Berlin in a less accurate way. Here he is presented as a hero. A man with an idea and the means to carry it out. And also a romantic who can offer the young and handsome Camille a life worthy of it. This makes you forget what is hidden behind. In reality, the love story is more of a clear case of harassment. And we must not forget that the character is deep down someone cruel and ruthless, as well as a misogynist who even rapes a woman during The Money Heist. The brilliant moral dilemma it represented before—the mixture of fascination and repulsion—disappears.
It can be said, therefore, that Netflix another success is noted in the universe of The Money Heistalthough with quite a few ifs and buts in between. Berlin It is a series full of inconsistencies and with an exaggerated romanticism to the extreme.. But it is also an ideal enjoyment for marathoning that also leaves the door open to a second season with new robberies.
Berlin premieres on Netflix on December 29.