I'm going to start off by saying that I loved the first two parts of "La Casa De Papel". The story felt intriguing, the characters all had distinguished personalities, and the plot had very few boring spots.
With this in mind, I was satisfied with the cliché, Hollywood-esque finale of part 2, where the main character meets with a former enemy, in a lush tropical cocktail bar. It felt like it had come full circle: the plan was set, executed, and had come to an end. After finishing part 2, I had selfishly hoped that there would be no part 3, for the same reason Breaking Bad, arguably one of the greatest TV shows in recent memory, only had 5 seasons: so it wouldn't become one of those "Oh is it still running? I used to love that show" type of series. In other words, from fear of saturation. And, in my opinion, rightfully so. Breaking Bad had left me with a hole in my stomach thinking "This is it?" when the final credits rolled. That is the mark of a great show, and I had genuinely hoped that "La Casa De Papel" would be brave enough to put an end to the fantastic series, and to fight against what today is more evident than ever: continuing a series just for the money. Returning to my Breaking Bad comparison, read any interview with Vince Gilligan about the length of his show, every time he'll say that the production company pushed for more seasons, reason being "it had just started to make money".
Ranting over, when I had found out that "La Casa De Papel" was getting a 3rd part in 2019, I had very mixed feelings. On the one hand, I would have loved to see Il Professor and the gang some more, but on the other, I was happy with the ending part 2 had offered, and felt there was little wiggle room for a possible third installment.
So July rolls around and I'm none the wiser, I hear from a friend that part 3 is out. Excited, I watch a few recaps, and when I feel that I was fully prepared and in the know for the continuation, I put on S3E1: "We're Back". 50 minutes later, I'm sitting on the couch sporting an ear-to-ear grin, thinking "THIS is classic Professor".
Long story short, I was satisfied by the direction taken in order to continue the story, but had a few minor gripes regarding the first episode, which prompted me towards the 8 I awarded it. I was relieved that it wasn't a prequel to the first two parts, describing each character's backstory, or something along those lines, for that was a worry I had previously had. This was a pure, simple and plain "what happens after we win" scenario, which, in my mind, worked perfectly, especially fitting the character mold created by a rebellious and reckless Tokyo in the previous seasons. As always, I am annoyed by the sheer stupidity caused by the double trouble couple of Rio and Tokyo, but understand that it's a typical behaviour for the type of character portrayed by her.
Another issue I had with the first episode was the fact that it felt like it would never end. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't hoping it would finish due to boredom or such, but instead I felt like what was otherwise presented to us in one episode, could have easily been made into 2 parts (episodes). A cut when Tokyo meets The Professor again, or after his flashback with Berlin. I felt like it absolutely had to end with the uncovering of the National Bank of Spain replica model, paralleling beautifully the unveiling of the Royal Mint of Spain model from the first ever episode, a truly goosebump inducing, deja-vu moment. But no, the episode continued so far as to actually show them flying their blimp over Spain and "bombing" people with 140 million euros. It was a ravishing scene, coupled with Alvaro Morte's soothing, yet skin crawling-ly clever narration in the background.
One thing I had loved about the first couple of seasons was the somewhat unpredictable plot twists during the heist, making the audience, and the police, believe that the robbers would be trapped in a corner, only to reveal an array of hidden trapdoors, that the Professor had laid out years prior, anticipating nearly every possible scenario. S3 is no different. A grand plan to rob 90 tons of national gold through a seemingly impossible plan, carried out by an apperantly amateur team, fact underlined by Rio's capture and subsequent torture.
All in all, I'm left pleasantly surprised by the direction season 3 is taking, but I felt that perhaps the first episode was a bit too jam-packed with too much action. I'll have to wait and see how the rest unfolds, clenching my teeth at every bad turn as usual.
Thank you for taking the time to read my first ever review on IMDb, and I hope that my point of view is not too polarising towards yours.
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