Netflix's 5-Part Crime Thriller Series Is Perfect From Start To Finish

While Money Heist is rarely listed among Netflix’s biggest hits in history, the streaming service’s crime thriller was a massive success that has earned a re-watch. Netflix has made masterpieces in every genre, as well as plenty of duds. For all its flaws, the streaming service deserves credit for investing in a lot of inventive, original, and innovative shows.

Since a lot of Netflix’s crime thrillers are great, it takes a lot for a show to stand out in this particular genre. To become a major Netflix hit like Stranger Things or Wednesday, a crime thriller must be truly noteworthy, considering how much competition there is in the genre. However, 2017’s Money Heist more than managed this.

Money Heist Is One Of Netflix’s Best Crime Thrillers Ever

Originally planned as a one-off limited series, Money Heist is a Spanish crime drama that follows two heists led by Álvaro Morte’s Professor. Ursula Corbero’s narrator, Tokyo, tells the twisty story of the series, which messes with chronology to keep viewers guessing throughout. The two heists, on Spain’s Royal Mint and national bank, eventually turn out to be part of a bigger plan.

To say anymore would be to run the risk of giving away too much, but suffice to say, the show blends the ingenious plotting of crime mysteries like The Usual Suspects with the pure playful fun of heist movies like Ocean’s Eleven. By Money Heist’s ending, viewers have been double-crossed, deceived, and hoodwinked as many times as the show’s heroes.

Money Heist Started An Iconic Netflix Trend

It is always risky for a show to tell its story in real-time, and even riskier for a series to do this while also juggling flashbacks, time jumps, and switching POVs. However, Money Heist’s fleet-footed approach to these classic genre tropes not only revitalized them but also made the show’s next twist impossible to predict every time.

A Spanish production that originally aired on the TV channel Antena 3 from May to November 2017, Money Heist’s first season was recut from 15 episodes into 22 shorter episodes by Netflix. After Money Heist proved a runaway success, Netflix drastically increased its budget and announced a second season.

In the years that followed, Netflix began to embrace this winning policy of buying up international shows and releasing them on the streaming service in their original language instead of creating expensive English-language remakes. Thus, Money Heist’s success indirectly allowed shows like Squid Game, The Asset, and Lupin to find massive audiences worldwide.

Will Money Heist Season 6 Ever Happen

Sadly, since Money Heist season 5’s ending was planned in advance, it is unlikely that the crime thriller will return for a sixth outing any time soon. That said, Money Heist's story was wrapped up perfectly, something that is tough to pull off in such a twisty genre, so the show’s conclusion might be for the best.