Since its launch on Netflix in 2018, "House of Bills" has blown an unstoppable wave around the world, becoming one of the most influential Spanish series in the past two or three years, and this epic story also ushered in the finale of the fifth season in 2021.
The origin of all stories is romantic chivalrous feelings
The fifth season of "House of Bills" as a whole feels like a love letter to fans, rearranging the most core romantic spirit of the story and the influence brought to the fans in the plot, and saying a final goodbye to everyone.
The first two seasons of "House of Bills" were attractive to his twists and turns, but what really made it blossom around the world and attract a large number of fans was the setting of the incurable romanticism and rogue story of each important character.
As can be seen from the narrator who chose Tokyo as the main axis of the story, the leader of the robbery may be the professor, but the driving force of the core characters is the obsession with living vigorously like Tokyo.
This spirit is especially reflected in Berlin, whose popularity is still high even after the character is hung, he is an ultimate romantic, and his obsession and fantasy of robbery have been deeply affecting the entire robbery.
In the second part of the fifth season, we see Berlin confronting the professor and asking, "What if the robbery fails?" For people who love to dream and spread their dreams, the process of working hard for goals is more important than the outcome.
The story of the third, fourth and fifth seasons of The House of Bills can take place because of the rescue of Rio, but this is really only a superficial reason, the professor has long inherited his brother Berlin's legacy to rob the Spanish bank.
Retrospectively, robbery as a means of expression and protest can recover the tribute and nostalgia of the two people at the moment of their father's death, making Berlin and the professor the most shrewd robber in the world.
In the fourth season, from Palermo being out of control after being removed from power, to declaring war with the police after losing Nairobi, then to losing the arsenal after a series of decision-making mistakes in the fifth season, and finally being defeated by the special operations squad in the battle, to the professor almost being overturned by Sieira alone, all kinds of chaos are actually only from these characters being led by impulse and emotion, if everyone follows the perfect robbery blueprint, all losses can be avoided.
Heartwarming and heartbreaking characters resonate
But why do we still love the characters so much and are willing to follow their adventures? Because their imperfect actions are in line with real human nature and echo our innermost impulses.
From Tokyo's memories of her ex-boyfriend to the memories of interacting with her son throughout Berlin, "The House of Bills" wants to tell us that these life-threatening characters are carrying out their tasks with a romantic mentality of only one chance in their lives, and if we really put ourselves in the mood of the characters, we will understand that their seemingly brain-rushing behavior is actually very reasonable, and it is in line with each of their character settings:
Berlin values robbery more than anything else, so in the first and second seasons, no matter how much asshole he is, he has to make sure that the mission is completed, and finally even sacrifice himself.
Palermo's ultimate wish is to complete the task for his beloved Berlin, and this love obsession makes him unable to bear the domination of his own robbery by others.
Tokyo has had no chance to resist when she lost her ex-boyfriend in the past, so when she has the opportunity to avenge Nairobi, she chooses the most extreme way.
The professor gradually loses his previous coolness in the second two seasons of the story, and as Sieira said, he has been pretending, and he is actually a beast-like person with a beast in his heart like Tokyo.
As viewers, we are also supporting characters in the story
In the finale, the professor's final negotiation method is to stud all the chips, threaten the general with both hands, and the opponent will either pull the country into the abyss with both defeats and injuries, or the win-win situation will take what it needs.
Anyone who has played Texas Hold'em knows that people who can do this are not only smart enough, but also crazy enough to be willing to gamble on this game, and the professor is obviously crazy enough to use this kind of gambling.
What gives the professor confidence is the crowd around the Spanish bank, and the original appearance of these masses is actually just to let the fans in the real world also have a projection target in the plot, as if we broke through the fourth wall, and also waved the flag there to support the favorite characters.
Happily, at the end of the fifth season, these viewers actually played some role, and finally opened the brass fake gold in front of the masses to open the inspection of the setting quite cleverly, directly pulling a group of witnesses to give pressure to the general, and also echoing the money thrown at the beginning of the third season to create a mass riot.
It will be said that the fifth season is a love letter to fans, the masses really have influence in the plot, it is a Fan Service in a broad sense, after all, this operation will integrate fans into the plot of only "The House of Paper Money".
In addition, I think the fifth season also pulled back a lot of elements from the first and second seasons, including the professor's one-shot transfer of Siera through midwifery, the reappearance of The two of them in Denver and Stockholm, dancing in front of gold, the appearance of the Eastern European, and there are a lot of small thoughts that pay tribute to the original story, so that this story still has a perfect ending back to the starting point after Netflix takes over.
The true spirit of the story is the pursuit of ultimate freedom
The most crucial point of discussion in the finale of the fifth season of "House of Bills" is what the professor wrote to Raphael (the son of Berlin), and I think the most likely speculation at the moment is that it has something to do with family tradition.
Since the independence of Berlin is to be released later, it is certain that what legacy Berlin has left behind or what great plans Berlin and the professor have not yet completed, which can be used as a chip in the present to exchange with Raphael for a peaceful transfer of gold.
What I am most looking forward to for the Berlin sequel is to see how he becomes a legendary thief, if there is less layout and shackles of other characters in the biography, I believe I can see more creative stories.
Finally, let's talk about how the core story of "The House of Bills" has become such a popular theme, which is obviously the story of a group of "bad guys".
In fact, it is very simple, "The House of Paper Money" is the "Arthur Robin" of our time, and the story presents people who achieve their goals for their own ideals, and they are not bound by the rules and opinions of the world, and they can live freely.
This is something that many viewers can only practice in their dreams, we have too many untouchable loads in real life, too many secular norms that we have to abide by.
We also don't have the courage to gamble with our lives like the characters in the fictional story, and we can hardly afford to lose the gamble, so there is a sustenance at this time to satisfy our yearning for true freedom, and this story naturally touches the deep desire of our hearts.