Berlin Review – More Romance Less Heist
There are places where Berlin comes on top of its predecessor, but there are many places where Money Heist still rules over.
TV Show: Berlin (2023)
Creators: Esther Martinez and Alex Pina
Release Date: 29 December 2023
Maturity Rating: 18+
Being a ‘Money Heist’ spin-off, the story of Berlin: Season 1 should have been more focused on its trademark which is the conduct of a deliberate and successful heist, however, after watching it, I am confused about whether to call this story a worlds greatest heist or a perfect romantic story.
Before continuing our review, we recommend you check out our Rebel Moon review.
Berlin – Review
Plot
The story of Berlin is the same as that of the Money Heist (less the excessive romance part). The story revolves around Berlin (Pedro Alonso), who leads a team of robbers, to rob €44 million in jewels and frame the one who provided the security for it.
Well, things get complicated when all the members of the heist apart from planning and executing the heist, fall in love either with each other or in the case of Berlin fall in love with the wife of the victim who was supposed to be framed for the heist.
Was the heist successful or not can only be ascertained after watching the season? The heist team includes; Pedro Alonso as Berlin, Begoña Vargas as Cameron, Michelle Jenner as Keila, Julio Peña as Roi, Joel Sánchez as Bruce, and Tristán Ulloa as Damián.
The Heist Team ‘Berlin’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)
A story more about love
The viewers who had the storyline of Money Heist at the back of their minds, after watching Season 1 of Berlin will be completely bamboozled as to whether they are watching a heist story or a love story. Though the character of Berlin was already introduced in Money Heist, however, the image which was established by the viewers then was different in this season.
Berlin, a very professional, hard nut-to-crack Money Heist character is shown as a soft and compromising character who can jeopardise his mission, just for the success of love (in my opinion this is pretty cliché). Moreover, the character of Berlin shown was physically fit as compared to the character which was shown in Money Heist who has a terminal illness (a good sign).
Berlin and Camille ‘Berlin’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)
The creative elements of the season, including dialogues, characters, use of color, and camera techniques were excellent. However, the storyline of the heist was as simple as ABC. To make things complicated, three different love stories were made part of the story.
These love stories did not add any value to the story rather they ensured that the viewer gets extremely bored. The thrill level of the season was good, however, it could not reach the level of its predecessor, Money Heist.
Rio & Cameron and Keila & Bruce ‘Berlin’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)
Where the story lacks
Talking about the negatives, the Berlin series storyline is very simple and is inspired by Money Heist. This makes it too much predictable. There were no twists in the story, and one could always predict what would happen next.
Instead of focusing on Heist, the story focused on romance, which, at times, becomes very boring. Very little time was given to the heist (in total maybe three or four episodes covered it). The remaining run time of the series was for romance and running away from the police after the heist. What most viewers wanted to see, me included, was the heist, its planning, and execution, however, that was devoid in the series.
Pedro Alonso ‘Berlin’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)
If we compare Money Heist with Berlin, Money Heist was created with too many details (the heist conducted was too elaborate and technical). However, in Berlin, this aspect was not seen, it was a hastily planned heist and no such technicalities were observed.
Rating of The Berlin Series
My Rating: 8/10
Pros
IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer 50% – Audience Score 62%
Summary
In a nutshell, I can conclude that this series had too much drama in it, as compared to Money Heist. It was a balanced series and left an impact on the audience, however, to reach the level of Money Heist, the next season of the Berlin series needs to be more focused on the important aspect of the planning and execution of the heist. Moreover, if you see the show keeping in mind Money Heist, then you might get disappointed.
