Berlin Season 1 Review Berlin Returns To His Plans
Berlin Season 1 Cast: Joel Sanchez, Begoña Vargas, Julio Peña Fernández, Michelle Jenner, Pedro Alonso, Tristán Ulloa, and Maria Isabel Rodríguez
Author: Álex Piña
Directors: David Borracal and Albert Pintó
Netflix is the streaming service.
Spanish is spoken (with subtitles)
Eight episodes, each lasting around an hour.
Berlin Season 1 Review: Overview of the Story:
Berlin Season 1 : Berlin, the most recent Spanish-produced Netflix series, is a spin-off of the well-liked Money Heist, which is referred to in its original Spanish as “La Casa de Papel.” Fan-favorite character Andrés, better known as Berlin, returns in the prequel series, teaming up with one of his former crews to pull off another incredible robbery; but, as usual, things will not be as simple as he anticipated.
Script Interpretation:
Not because of the plot or the style of filming, but for other reasons entirely, Berlin is a very peculiar show. The very fact that it exists makes it an odd program. The show serves as a prequel to Money Heist, which was a huge hit on Netflix and one of its first foreign hits. Berlin, a character in Money Heist, gains popularity among viewers; nonetheless, something occurs in that episode that forces Berlin to temporarily leave the plot. Within the show’s universe, the character’s leave elevated him to a legendary status, but that status was quickly shattered.
The creators of Money Heist were finding it difficult to defend the inclusion of Berlin in the narrative as new seasons of the show continued to air. The character’s continued existence after everything that happened seemed absurd at times, but the writers felt compelled to keep him around because he was a “fan favorite.” Berlin, the television series, unfortunately falls short of reliving the magic of the early Money Heist seasons and instead seems to be a continuation of that drive to keep this character alive.
Review Berlin Season 1
Berlin remains the same, and the storyline feels very much in step with the rest of the Money Heist universe. Pedro Alonso gives it his all in the Berlin part, making it obvious that it must be the most significant role of his career. Unfortunately, the script has the same problems as the original show, which means that we are forced to listen to endless narrations from Berlin about his thoughts, feelings, plans, and much more. All of this is done with a severe amount of verbosity and a disdain for the economy of language.
Though Berlin emphasizes all the elements that made the first few seasons of Money Heist so captivating, sometimes less really is more. The end product, though, is a program that makes no effort to differentiate itself and instead strives too hard to recreate the original show’s enchantment. As the season goes on, there are more and more references to the original program. While some viewers may find it amusing to recognize these allusions, in actuality, this just shows a lack of imagination.
Star Performance:
Naturally, Berlin is not traveling alone on this trip; in fact, the entire cast of characters that accompany him appear to have been hand-picked to play the parts of the original Money Heist crew. This is the reason the entire series feels like a massive throwback rather than a unique creation. It’s not the performers’ fault, though, because they all do a fantastic job portraying these characters, even when they occasionally go too close to cartoon land.
Even though Berlin has outlived its welcome, Pedro Alonso’s portrayal of the character never ceases to be endearing, and it is obvious why Berlin gained popularity in the first place. Begoña Vargas and Julio Peña Fernandez, who portrayed Cameron and Roi in the new Tokyo and Rio, are no longer there, so they essentially reenact that connection here. The performers have chemistry, which adds humor to their flirting and gives the character a real dynamic that transcends the story—something that other characters don’t have.
Direction & Music.
The way the show is presented, it feels like it is following closely behind Money Heist’s previous seasons. These scenes feel like imitations only because there is an overuse of narration to explain things that are obvious in the scenes, which gets pretty annoying. There is also an overuse of the iconic “cool” moments from the original show, which are recreated here knowing full well that they are meant to be iconic.
Despite having excellent settings and sets and well-shot content, the series nevertheless has too much in common with Money Heist. This could have been Berlin’s moment to do something special for the character and move the program in a different direction, but the Professor’s shadow still hangs over us. The same applies to the usage of music, with rock music occasionally used to highlight the interesting scenes and other, more dramatic pieces prepared to up the drama and tension to new heights.
Final Thoughts on Berlin’s First Season:
If you know what you want, Berlin can be rather amusing. It is a continuation of the Money Heist that you loved so much in the past. Nonetheless, the program finds it difficult to defend its own existence in each and every episode, and there were times when I found it difficult to understand why we were still following this guy. Especially because we already know how he will die, it seems meaningless. Fans of the heist genre will be delighted to return to this universe, though, as there is still plenty of suspense and outrageous moments.
