Benedict Cumberbatch explores toxic masculinity in ‘Power of the Dog’
Benedict Cumberbatch explores the cause of toxic masculinity as a bullying cowboy in his new Netflix film “The Power of the Dog.”
Staff Video, USA TODAY
- “Money Heist” said goodbye as the second half of the fifth and final season hit Netflix Dec. 3.
- Part 1 of Season 5 focused on fan-favorite Tokyo and her backstory leading up to her death, but Part 2 wrapped up loose ends.
- Did The Professor and the rest of the gang pull off the heist? Did anyone else die?
Spoiler alert! The following post contains details about Season 5, Part 2 of Netflix’s “Money Heist” or “La Casa de Papel,” including the series finale, “A Family Tradition.”
It’s time to say bella ciao and hang up the Salvador Dalí masks.
After five seasons, “Money Heist,” or “La Casa de Papel” as it’s known in Spain, said goodbye as the second half of the fifth and final season hit Netflix on Dec. 3. Part 1 focused heavily on fan-favorite Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó) and her backstory leading up to her unexpected death at the hands of César Gandía (José Manuel Poga), but she’s still present in Part 2, narrating the heist from the afterlife.
Part 2 picks back up as the gang of bank robbers mourns Tokyo’s death and tries to pull off the Professor’s (Álvaro Morte) most ambitious heist to date – even as they find themselves at a disadvantage against Col. Tamayo (Fernando Cayo), the police and the Spanish government.
The remaining five episodes also tie up several loose ends and most notably reveal why the Professor loves the thrill of a heist. Part 2 provides a much-needed backstory on how brothers Professor and Berlín (Pedro Alonso), the latter who died in Season 2, lost their father and introduces a plot twist played out by Berlin’s son, Rafael (Patrick Criado) – a twist that almost changes the trajectory of the heist and makes the always meticulous Professor doubt whether he has a Plan B.
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What happens after Tokyo dies?
The gang doesn’t have much time to grieve. They get back to business and continue to extract gold out of the Bank of Spain. And as the Professor mourns, Alicia Sierra (Najwa Nimri), formerly a part of the Spanish police, takes advantage and gains the upper hand when she flees his den. But not for long, as the Professor catches up to her and the two form an unlikely duo that moves the plot of Part 2 along as the pair realize they’re more alike than they thought.
Another person taking advantage of the situation is the commander of the Spanish Army, Sagasta (José Manuel Seda), who is tasked with taking down the robbers inside the bank and rescuing the hostages. He and Arteche (Jennifer Miranda) are two of only three survivors following an explosion that killed the rest of their team and Tokyo. He orders her to hide in the air vents and surrenders to Palermo (Martín Berrote) and Lisbon (Itziar Ituño) as a distraction. (We’ll see more of Arteche in the final showdown.)
While the Professor is on the outside working against the clock to figure out how to get everyone out alive, plus the gold, Palermo takes charge.
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The gold finally makes it out to the other side through a foundry in a stormwater tank – a plan previously devised by Palermo and Berlin. It’s a moment of light at the end of the tunnel.
The Professor, on the run with Sierra and her newborn, finds a cellphone and checks in. He’s overcome with emotion when he hears they are successfully extracting the gold.
“All the hugging wasn’t just a celebration of our triumph or a heartfelt tribute to the ones we lost along the way, it was the primal roar of a handful of insignificant people who had managed to get 90 tons of gold out through a pipe. The accomplishment was a message of hope to the world,” Tokyo says in a voiceover.
As the gold keeps making its way out of the bank, Tamayo and his crew start to get a whiff at what might be going on when an audio engineer picks up the sound of the tank.
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Who steals the gold from the Professor?
The Professor catches up to the tank as the gold is being collected, but just as the robbers think they’ve reached the finish line, they’re bombarded by Tamayo and the police.
In a moment of panic, fear and defeat, the Professor freezes. He orders everyone to drop their weapons and turn themselves in.
After being handcuffed and put in the back of a police van, the Professor realizes they haven’t moved. The robbers break out and realize they’ve been set up and the gold has been stolen. Meanwhile, Tamayo and his team are led into the Professor’s latest trap, nowhere near the gold.
So who’s stolen the gold? That would be Berlin’s son, Rafael, and Berlin’s ex-wife. (The flashbacks finally make sense.)
In the penultimate episode, the Professor has a change of heart and orders his crew to go retrieve the gold. But for the first time, no one believes he has a plan.
How does ‘Money Heist’ end?
In an effort to play his last card right, the Professor leaves Sierra in charge of finding the gold and walks into the Bank of Spain to face Tamayo.
One by one, after Arteche unlocks every entrance from inside the bank to let the Spanish police seize the place, the gang is cornered. Lisbon, Río, Denver, Manila, Stockholm, Bogotá, Helsinki and Matias are all handcuffed.
Even as Tamayo threatens to kill them all, the Professor doesn’t flinch. He returns the gold but it’s just gold-plated brass. Tamayo catches on but they come to an agreement: To calm the public, he will announce the heist is over, the fake gold will stay in the Bank of Spain and they’ll fool authorities by fake-killing the red jumpsuit-wearing crew.
“No one chases a dead man, Colonel,” the Professor says.
One by one, they’re transported out of the bank in body bags. Once inside the vans, they unzip themselves and they’re finally free.
Twenty-four hours later, after the Professor proposes to Lisbon and the Stockholm-Denver-Manila love triangle is resolved, the gang reunites at a hangar awaiting a one-way trip to Portugal where the real gold, after it was dug up and transported by car, will be waiting for them.
“We’re not all here,” the Professor says, a nod to Tokyo, Nairobi, Berlin and Moscow. But they still achieved what they set out to do: pull off Spain’s biggest heist, all while being escorted out by the military to their new lives for good measure.
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