Money Heist made Berlin. Not in the sense that the show created the character — he was already there, clearly drawn, distinctive, morally complicated in ways the show often avoided examining directly. But the show's global success created the conditions for a spin-off, and the spin-off tells you exactly what happens when a production wants to capitalise on a character's appeal without understanding what made the character interesting in the first place.
This is Watchaao's honest assessment of both shows.
The Short Answer
Watch Money Heist. Watch the first two seasons, which were made as a standalone story and are genuinely excellent. The third through fifth seasons are for viewers who cannot let go.
Skip Berlin unless you have finished Money Heist and are specifically curious about what a prequel that softens its protagonist looks like. The answer is: less interesting than the original.
What Money Heist Actually Is
Alex Pina's heist series follows a criminal mastermind called the Professor and his team of city-named thieves through two major heist operations. The first two seasons — the Royal Mint heist — are tight, ingenious, and emotionally invested in their characters. The show operates in the tradition of great ensemble crime fiction, where the plan and its complications reveal character under pressure.
What makes it exceptional: The ensemble is genuinely well-drawn. The Professor's meticulous planning, the way plans collapse and are improvised around, the use of Bella Ciao as an emotional and political anchor — these are the elements that made the show a global phenomenon. Berlin, in the original series, works precisely because the show is willing to let him be difficult. His episode in season two is among the best the show produces.
Where it loses the thread: Seasons three through five trade character-driven tension for spectacle and nostalgia. The show's emotional logic softens, and the plotting becomes increasingly reliant on resurrecting what earlier seasons resolved. Watch with appropriate expectations.
Runtime: 5 seasons, 41 episodes.
What Berlin Actually Is
The spin-off follows a younger version of Berlin in Paris before the events of Money Heist, executing a jewellery heist with a new crew. The show attempts to give Berlin a romantic interiority that the original series never gave him — and the attempt reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of why the character was compelling in the first place.
The problem: Berlin in Money Heist is interesting because he is allowed to be cruel, elegant, and unflinching about his own nature. Berlin the spin-off wants him to be romantic, wounded, and sympathetic. These qualities do not belong to the character as originally conceived, and the show pays for the contradiction in tonal inconsistency and narrative slack.
What it gets right: The production design is strong. The Paris setting is well-used. Pedro Alonso commits fully to the material he has been given.
What it gets wrong: It confuses aesthetics for character and nostalgia for story. The show exists because an audience loved Berlin in Money Heist, but it does not trust that audience to love him for the same reasons.
Runtime: 1 season, 8 episodes (second season announced).
The Core Difference
Money Heist built Berlin's appeal by refusing to make him likeable. Berlin the series undoes that work by insisting he must be.
One show created a character. The other tried to rehabilitate him.
Watchaao Verdict
Watch Money Heist seasons 1-2 regardless of what you decide about the rest. They are the complete version of the story the show set out to tell, and they hold up.
Watch seasons 3-5 if you cannot leave the characters and are prepared for a different kind of show — more operatic, less precise, with moments of genuine quality alongside significant sprawl.
Skip Berlin unless you have run out of things to watch and are specifically curious about the prequel format's limitations. It is not a bad show. It is an unnecessary one.
Related Watchaao Collections
- Best Prison Escape Movies — the heist and escape genre that Money Heist belongs to.
- Dark vs 1899: What Should You Watch First? — another case of a beloved show and its complicated sibling.
- Movies That Are Worth Rewatching — for when the Money Heist heist sections leave you wanting rewatchable cinema that operates with the same precision.
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