(16): TV-show review: Money Heist; Chauvinism and What it Takes to Drop the Nuisance.

Genre: Crime Thriller. 

Year of release: 2020

Author: MA Iliasu.

First love is first love, a nostalgic lover once said. And perhaps that's the feeling at work in this regard. The psychological dilemma of the Royal Mint heist in season one and two was so dear to the watching folk I'm sure the events are still glued on the memory of watchers. And Berlin, the emotionally-cold protagonist was so adored by watchers many believe he was the soul of the Mint's Heist. The season three that followed shaded more light regarding what was engraved in season one and two of gender war, leadership distrust, managerial skepticism which turned into power struggle between the genderly different Money-Heisters. And at first attempt, a successful coup was staged which toppled the captain of the heist, Berlin, by the highly-spirited matriarchal protagonists, Tokyo and Nairobi. However, the power was returned before long because Berlin was an alpha-male, with psyche so tough it rightly couldn't bear the shame of acting subservient to a matriarchal control. The power struggle hadn't cooled down until the death of Moscow - an elder with unquestionable integrity, whom all the Money-Heisters adored - knocked on the Royal Mint door. And from there everyone relegated the greed into perspective to finish what had been started. Berlin, Moscow and Oslo got sacrificed along the way. And the Heist was successful. Likewise in season three when Spanish Central Bank was invaded, an egomaniac Sicilian-based engineer was appointed to serve as the captain, a controversial south-American nicknamed Palermo. Unlike the pragmatic and emotionally-intelligent Berlin, Palermo was a toxic-masculine who recognized no authority apart from himself. And not courtesy of his merits, but for the satisfaction of his ego. His insticts and integrity were openly questioned by the same women who doubted Berlin. She joined her compatriot and staged a coup against him, took over power, and unlike before, retained it. Palermo was a disgrace to patriarchy; matriarchy couldn't be more correct. Power is returned to it's rightful owner. The power struggle continued, breeding an untimely indecisiveness, courtesy of which one of the captains accommodated a bullet in one of her twin lungs. Among many other important key takeaways which included the incoherent advocacy of homosexuality, the poorly-timed panick of the Professór, the arrest of Lisbon, the growing emotional tensions and attachments between the Money-Heisters, etc. Season three ended.

To restore stability and bring the Heist back on its offensive feet, the mastermind of the Heist, Professór, had three major problems coming into the season four. First and foremost, the genderly struggle between the Money-Heisters must be put to rest, and it would take something big to restore unity, sense and prudence inside them, something similar to the death of enforcing figure like Moscow in season two. Secondly, the Money-Heisters were too emotionally invested in each other they lost most of their cutting edge and decisive cold approach towards the goal in sight. And surely that must be restored, for no organised crime can be accomplished with the perpetrators at such level of distraction. Thirdly, Lisbon, like Rio, must be rescued regardless of what it takes. For surely one Money-Heister on the loose means the plan is flawed. Now let's see how the plot responded. 

The plot kicked off with a very heated disagreement between Tokyo and Palermo over the surgery of Nairobi. Tokyo triumphed and Palermo got tamed on a chair. The power struggle was back to square one. Rio meanwhile was going through the mental and emotional trauma he was put through when he was arrested on Pellican. The young man must have blamed his clinginess towards Tokyo for that arrest, and realized that he was trapped by the shackles of love, and as far as he remained in that condition, he'll never be free to execute his independent ingenuity. “Love is a death of duty” - Maester Aemon stamped on our minds. And understanding that is the beginning of adult wisdom. Rio was liberating himself the hardway, which masterminded the beginning of fresh chaos. Palermo on his part, had an epic Sicilian guerilla warfare in mind; power must be returned where it belongs. He believed. And so, took advantage of Rio's condition to tip off Gandia, consequences be damned. With that risky madness, surely Turi Guilliano and Don Croce Malo would be proud. (Read: The Sicilian). From that very moment, three challenges facing the professór, which also followed him into the season were at work; power struggle, chauvinism and emotional tension. And that ensured the plan stay on defensive feet against the deadly Gandia, an aspect of strategy that's very difficult for Professór to bend; defense - which is his biggest weakness. 

In whichever endeavor, it takes proper understanding and command of peripheral information to thrive on defense. Mainly because not every attacker is strategic, intelligent and thoughtful. Mostly it's direct and disorganized, which is harder to defend against. In organized crime for example, life on the run is a constant. And good defense is the most pivotal factor that determines the survival of tge fugitive. Michael Scofield epitomised the prowess of an untouchable fugitive on the run; who can attack and defend all at a time. Who can craft a plan that'll take care of all. Thanks to his unmatchable processing of peripheral information. And sadly, Professór was no master at that. So Gandia enjoyed proper period hunting the Money-Heisters, kidnapping Tokyo and Murdering Nairobi along the line. A very touching moment for the watcher. Which should be well-recieved and understood from the angle of strategy. Allow me to explain. 

Despite her unwavering popularity amongst the Money-Heisters, as perhaps the only good and innocent soul in the entire crime-thriller, the most charismatic, gentle and kind, Nairobi must be sacrificed for a reason: her integrity was unquestionable and the aura of her leadership was undoubtful. She exudes affection, confidence and inspiration. When she speaks everyone listens. Just like Moscow in the first couple of seasons; only that she's more vocal and aggressive. Her character is perhaps the only unifying force amongst the Heisters and she naturally owed them an emotional debt. Everyone can do anything for Nairobi and that presented the producer with a prolific weapon to neutralize the idiosyncrasy taking place in the team. If she was to die like Moscow did, everyone would be focused again like it happened when Moscow died. And so she did. And everyone become focused, unified, cold and determined to not only avenge her death but to make sure the endeavor upon which she lost her life doesn't go to waste. The goodness in Nairobi's character was the beginning of it's own downfall. Just like Ragnar Lothbrok. Both of them would have encountered difficulty pulling their people's attention together on one course. But their death would prove more effective, and more than capable of bringing everyone together back on board. That's if the plot was allowed to flow base on human psychology, and not by turning it into a science-fiction or super hero movie. It succeeded with Ragnar, and it'll succeed on Nairobi. Just wait and see. The event ensured that Palermo and Tokyo have forgotten who should be the captain. Rio no longer remember his trauma. Monica and Denver have no idea who is misbehaving anymore. Bogota and Helsinki have activated monster mode. The remaining stupidity in the Heist is Arturo (A fool at fourty). And hurtful as it'll be on the emotions of the watchers, the only unforgivable pain was that Nairobi was sacrificed to nurture a means to an end, rather than to wrap up an end itself. Nairobi's death is a thematic betrayal that occurred not because the plot doesn't care deeply about the watchers, but because of the extent of the inherent dilemma the nature of the plot was presented with. As Berlin would say. Gandia was caught, which means Professór is relevant again. Thanks to the suppression of attacks, airmarking the end of the demand for the professór to craft how to defend. 

On the other side, like defense with the procession of periphery, the most brilliant attempt towards solving every misbehaving plan is going back to basics. The professór knew that better than you and me. Which is perhaps his biggest strength. And his impeccable attacking-minded brain responded to the death of Nairobi well by neutralizing the Spanish intelligence agencies like it was nothing. Which yet again brought another key takeaway: the weakness of a constitutionally idealistic society in any event of such against a mastermind like Professór. Someone capable of leveraging any structured information. Allicia and Priesto had blood in their hands, but not so much as to destroy all the efforts they put in trying to apprehend the professór and his crew. Just imagine if the same was to happen in human rights deprived monarchical middle-east or in semi-dictatorial Africa. 

The fourth season of Money Heist eliminated all the threats facing the internal stability of the plan. Like the first and second seasons did before the triumph in Royal Mint. And the way I see it, the season four was sacrificed for that alone. And that may prove the critics of the show right, who believed the third season can be seen as a season that was dedicated to creating chaos alone, like some random first season of any crime-thriller series, rather than a third season of a popular TV-show, which could well explain the disconnection in the third season's plot from the two initial seasons. But the producers did well in season four to mend the flaws, by answering a lot of questions raised in season three, one of which was showing why the Central Bank Heist was abandoned for the Royal Mint Heist in the first place. Which also confirmed that Berlin is truly dead, and all that plan-crafting lecture sessions were done before Royal Mint's. But that'll also present another critique; the manner in which the Professór gathered the players in the first season, which looked like they were meeting for the first time, when as shown in season four, they indeed knew themselves already from the sessions in crafting Central Bank Heist, since it was considered before Royal Mint first.

Likewise despite Professór's hideout being neutralised by Allicia, the season five would be expected to flow without any destruction if it was to comply by the rendition of the initial seasons. And any failure towards making that happen, would cast bad rating upon the overall TV-show.

In the end, the entire Money Heist TV-series from my viewpoint is teaching the world one thing; that it doesn't matter if you're man or woman; this is just a sociological grey area that was already neutralised by education, sheer willingness and effort. That it doesn't matter if you think you're superior or not; ego and entitlement would only bring chaos and stagnation. That gender conflict would not make the world any better place; it would only grow tension and animosity. That throwing tantrums at each other due to biological difference would not achieve the world any great goal; it would only make people ridicule themselves with no relevant reason in sight. Money Heist is urging men and women to unite and work together, only that way the threats facing humanity can be neutralised. But like the Money-Heisters who always needed death as the common enemy to unify them, what does the global gender agitators need to get unified? 

Netflix meanwhile has done great this time to contain it's desire to advocate its anti-virtue principles. The fourth season of Money Heist entertained us with philosophical and thought-provoking dialogues, unlike the third season that enraged us with homosexuality. Still, some elements of transgender advocacy was still detected, in perhaps their attempt to take advantage of the unity between patriarchal ego and matriarchal spirit. Well in any case, gender unity can't mean enveloping the two genders into one, rather putting them together as biologically different species who agree to work together. With this much being said, the TV-Show merits a whopping 7/10 rating. 

MA Iliasu writes from Kano and can be reached through his twitter handle: @MA_Iliasu. And facebook through: MA Iliasu. Stay safe and strong in this difficult time in which the world is being threatened by a pandemic.