Netflix released the bombshell news that the fifth season of ‘La casa de papel’ is going to be the last. It is true that lately the platform tends to part with its series after the premiere of three or four seasons and with it it would just have three as its exclusive production – the previous two were seen first on Antena 3 -, but also that ‘La casa de papel ‘is a worldwide phenomenon, so no one would have been surprised if they wanted to go ahead with it.
In my case, I think that putting an end to ‘La casa de papel’ is the best decision they could make, because otherwise they would run the risk of losing the affection of the public – remember, for example, the case of ‘Por thirteen reasons’, a huge success in its first season that said goodbye through the back door with its fourth batch of episodes. Next I will expose my reasons to be happy about this news.
The limits of the most difficult yet
Beware of spoilers for ‘La cada de papel’ from here on.
One thing that ‘La casa de papel’ has been showing throughout the seasons is that it was not afraid to raise the threats that the gang led by Professor had to face. It was inevitable to do so to be able to maintain that frenetic pace that has been boosted so much since its arrival on Netflix, but also so that the viewer really feels that the characters were being pushed to the limit and that it was not a danger that they were going to avoid easily thanks to their ingenuity.
The shot received at the end of the third season was then the zenith of that policy of continuing to bet on the most difficult yet, but in the fourth batch of episodes they began to get out of control to the point that only the entertainment we were making us spend more or less by high somewhat peculiar script decisions that clearly affected the credibility of what we were seeing.
It is true that it can be said that ‘La casa de papel’ had already jumped the shark on several occasions, but it always managed to land on its feet and leave us wanting more. That began to show symptoms of fatigue in season four, where in addition to jumping the shark, they simultaneously performed a pirouette in the air while practicing target shooting. You kept hallucinating with what you saw, but sometimes it was for the worse.
The theft of the Bank of Spain does not give more of itself
If there is an important difference between the seasons seen on Antena 3 and the Netflix exclusives, it is what I pointed out before the frenetic pace, since in Atresmedia the time dedicated to the construction of characters was much greater. That didn’t mean steep valleys in the episodes, but it did make it was something more relaxed -You also had to “fill” more minutes of footage- and that the madness usually came through the decisions made by the protagonists, even when they were not part of the plan.
On the other hand, the series on Netflix took advantage of the fact that the bases were already laid so that those moments of calm were scarcer and that the important thing was to enhance the injection of adrenaline that it brings to the viewer above all else. This leads to a point where simply The power game established between robbers and security forces cannot be credibly extended any further.
We have already had a particular truce, but the situation is such that it would be very difficult to accept that this robbery was still ongoing after the next 10 episodes. Except for a totally out of place madness type alien invasion, the robbery of the Bank of Spain did not give more of itself. In fact, his would have been to solve it in two batches of chapters, but I imagine that This reinforces the idea of bigger is better than the series had already been applying in some aspects since its jump to Netflix.
A new robbery is meaningless
After the robbery at the National Mint and Stamp Factory, his would have been for the Professor and his family to live happily with their new identities. They had no need to steal again, and only the capture of Rio motivated them to join forces again to free the character played by Miguel Herrán. It was still a mere excuse to have more seasons, but it made sense and it fit. with their way of being. Both that Tokio needed to vent as he felt the need to keep in touch with her.
Finding another reason for the gang to carry out a new robbery is quite unthinkable., both for the option of repeating themselves with the fact that another member of the gang is captured – they could always choose to have some megalomaniac villain do it this time, but it would still be more of the same – as for the simple fact of needing more money . It would simply be to completely distort the series for the simple fact that it is successful and you have to keep squeezing it.
Characters need a break
One of the great axes of the series are its characters. In its first two seasons there was a notable concern for us to get to know everyone and be concerned about what was going to happen to them. In the following, this was used to put them in increasingly tricky situations, but there really is not much room to investigate them without turning over the same thing over and over again.
It is true that there have been interesting additions along the way, especially from rivals of our protagonists such as Sierra or Gandía, but there have also been other very obvious cases in which it has been clearly seen that some are still there just because they have to be. A good example is that of Arturo, who in the fourth season began to be simply disgusting, losing that factor that we love to hate him to simply dislike us.
For now that has not happened with any of the protagonists, since their personality has simply been expanded to the point that if Tokyo carried you in the first two seasons, I do not want to imagine what you think of the character played by Ursula Corberó nowadays. Perhaps The Professor has been the one who has shown the most growth, since initially he seemed someone very intelligent but very asocial, but even with him there is already little to scratch despite the great work of Alvaro Morte.
In addition, the band continues to lose members. The last to fall was Nairobi, but before Oslo, Moscow or Berlin had already fallen. The whole issue of the flashbacks of these last two seasons seems mainly aimed at being able to re-count on Pedro Alonso, but his presence would lose all meaning in a new robbery.
Yes, there are new additions that have played to a greater or lesser extent, but the original members of the band They need to say goodbye when they are still at the top and not as a group of characters who have been in our lives much longer than necessary.