Netflix deserve the credits for bringing lesser known movies and shows from all around the world to the viewers. There are creators whose concepts can compete with those from the big American television giants and become quite a treat for those who want a good thriller for binge watching. La Casa De Papel is a Spanish television heist drama and once Netflix saw its potential, they were quick to dub it in English and launch the Season 1 consisting of thirteen episodes across the world in December 2017. The Season 2 consisting of another nine episodes has also been launched in April 2018.

The theme of the drama revolves around a familiar territory with a man, known as The Professor, assembling a gang of eight criminals for carrying out an daring plan of entering the Royal Mint of Spain and taking control of it for a time long enough to print 2.4 billion Euros. The characters take on the names of various cities like Rio, Berlin, Nairobi etc. withholding their true names from each other and we are narrated the story from the viewpoint of Tokyo. She is on the run, troubled by the death of her boyfriend and is picked up by The Professor just as she is about to be captured by the police. She then meets the other characters who have their own motives and individual set of skills. The Professor being the main coordinator and brains behind the plan decides that while they are inside the mint, they will be led by Berlin.

The Professor has one ground rule about the whole plan and that is that no one will be killed during the entire plan. After undergoing detailed training under the Professor, the team executes the plan and holds the workers and a group of students as hostages inside the building. The drama then unfolds with the dynamics of the multiple characters bringing forth various scenarios inside the tense atmosphere of the mint. The Professor keeps a watch on the entire scenario from outside, directing the operation and advising as needed. But even the best laid plans do not work to perfection and as time passes, the team has to surmount challenges which they never planned for.

The show also takes us to the other side as detective inspector Raquel Murillo is given the charge of the case. She comes as an intelligent and zealous woman and tries to cut through the plot that The Professor has build up painstakingly, doing her best to outsmart the criminals. As the tension builds up with the hostages inside the mint, the Professor has to play a cat and mouse game on the outside with the police, to keep his plan from collapsing. With frequent flashbacks, the show takes us back to give us the details of the plan and also to develop the background stories of its main players. It has some genuine surprises in store for the viewers in terms of plotting and the deviousness of the plot shines at some moments.

La Casa De Papel starts off at a fast pace with events happening breathlessly in the first few episodes. But if one starts off a 1000 meter run in a speed fit for a 100 meter run, then that person has to slow down somewhere in the middle. The same happens in the show with the middle episode losing their steam and some unnecessary flashbacks and dialogues slowing down the pace. The editing could have been definitely better in some of these episodes.

The show picks up pace again in the last phase with the suspense and action mounting up as more layers of the plot get exposed. The creator of the show Álex Pina does a great job with the details and intricacies of the plot while keeping implausibility to the minimum. Having said that, there are quite a few comfortably positioned coincidences to make things fall in the right place for the plot to advance and that does scar the overall impact of the plot.

The acting is remarkably good throughout the entire season with most of the actors doing justice to their characters. Álvaro Morte as The Professor, Itziar Ituño as Raquel Murillo and Enrique Arce as a slippery hostage Arturo Román, excel in their roles. Úrsula Corberó who plays Tokyo, comes off as the only odd performer of the season being more effective as a seducer than a hardened criminal. The English dubbing is quite decent and does not make the series lose much of its native charm. The cinematography is praiseworthy at some points though the series tries to grab attention through the plot and performances instead of other technical aspects.

La Casa De Papel takes a well used theme and makes it interesting by injecting some fresh concepts. It develops interesting characters in detail and adds enough smart touches in the plot to keep the audiences hooked. The tenseness of a heist drama can be enjoyed more if it is interspersed with some humor but the show lacks it and at times the tone does get a bit monotonous through its thirteen episode length.

But in the end, the show creator crafts an enjoyable thriller in its first season and since the second season has nine episodes instead of thirteen, I hope that it gets better. If you want to try out something out of the standard production range with a new flavor, this heist drama made available by Netflix is definitely worth a watch.

 

By Ananya Lahiri

 

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