Money Heist Season 1 Episode 1 Recap

[00:00:06] A nightmare woke Tokyo up. It happened 11 days ago, when she pulled off a heist with her boyfriend. Her face was all over the news. The police are currently searching for her all over Spain. The love of her life was killed which led her to become a murderer herself. Tokyo killed the guard responsible for her boyfriend’s death. She would be imprisoned for 30 years, if the police were able to locate her. Tokyo planned to keep running or die trying.

[00:02:10] Tokyo called her mother to say that she’s leaving; she also wanted to see her. Tokyo told her that she will see her at the grocery store not knowing that the police are already waiting for her. As she was walking to the grocery store, a strange guy riding a 1992 Seat Ibiza approached her. He mentioned the conversation that she had with her mother on the phone which led her to believe that he was a cop. Tokyo was cautious as she hopped in the car and pointed a gun on the man’s genitals. The man anxiously explained that he’s not a cop and that she is headed into a trap. He just wanted to help Tokyo not to get caught because he needed her for his plan. With absolutely nothing to lose, Tokyo decided to accompany the man to fulfill his master plan.

[00:05:30] The man was known as The professor. Tokyo went with the professor where she met all the other recruits. The professor told them that they were to going live in an abandoned 2 story house for 5 months where they are going to study and plan the heist. The professor has 3 conditions for his eight recruits. Firstly, they were not to use their real names. Secondly, no one was allowed to ask personal questions. Thirdly, they are not to form any sort of relationships between them. As for their names, they will use aliases. The group decided that they will use names of cities.

[00:08:00] Tokyo, who we met at the beginning of the show. Berlin, a man wanted for 27 heists who is currently in charge of their heist. Moscow, a miner who’s wanted for digging into various jewelry stores, Denver, Moscow’s son whose wanted for various illegal activities including drugs and bar fights. Rio, the IT guy who’s an expert in coding, alarms and electronics, the twins, Helsinki and Oslo, both of them are Serbians who are going to be the soldiers of the group. The other woman in the group is Nairobi, who’s role is to be the quality manager for the heist, she has been counterfeiting money since she was 13 years old. Last but not the least was The Professor. He’s considered a ghost as no one knows who he really is, he doesn’t have any criminal records nor does he have a valid ID.

[00:09:45] The plan was simple; they were going to rob the Royal Mint of Spain. He told them that they will be seen as heroes. Their plan will only work if they get the public’s support. In order to do this, they cannot kill anyone.

[00:12:00] On the day of the heist, everyone was wearing the same thing, red overalls with a Dali Mask. Everyone sat in the back of a van. Tokyo was busy putting on her make up when Rio pulled off his mask and questioned who chose the mask because they were not scary. He began referring to masks worn in heist movies saying those were scary. Berlin pointed a gun to Rio’s face and told him that a madman with a gun is scarier. Things were getting out of hand. Moscow interfered and asked Berlin to stop what he’s doing. Denver decided to butt in and ask who the guy on the mask was, his father replied, “Dali, a very good Spanish Painter.” Children’s dolls are scarier, Denver implied. He couldn’t believe that they were robbing a bank as a famous Spanish painter.

[00:13:00] He continued by specifying doll characters such as Goofy, Pluto, Mickey Mouse. Denver came up with the idea that weapons and children’s cartoons do not go together. He continued that anyone who enters a bank with these masks will be seen as a lunatic hence it will be scarier. Berlin suggested that a Jesus mask will be the scariest of them all since he’s the most innocent person/character. Tokyo and Nairobi were in disbelief as the men continue arguing over their masks. As Tokyo explains, “A woman can spend two days choosing shoes for a wedding, but not a minute over arguing masks for a heist.” After a while, their van arrived to a undisclosed location and everyone took their designated place as they prepare to start the first phase of their heist.

[00:14:20] We see a woman sitting on a toilet holding what appears to be a pregnancy test. We presume that she’s a staff at the bank. Tokyo narrated that before the heist she was thinking of the people whose lives will be affected by their plan. The Professor told them that the only way to enter the bank with explosives was on a truck carrying watermark paper rolls that were used for printing money. The truck has a scheduled weekly delivery which means everyone knows it’s going to the bank hence no one will suspect anything, hence this is the first phase of the heist, their entry point.

[00:15:00] Tokyo explained that anything in Spain that has a double security escort is heavily guarded and extremely important. That being said, guards and drivers won’t risk their lives to be a hero for their meaningless job that doesn’t even offer a decent pay. Everything went according to plan; Berlin held the drivers at gun point and gave them specific instructions on how to respond to their radio communication. They swapped places with a few drivers and police escorts so that they can blend in with the convoy as they entered the bank. Berlin told Tokyo to keep an eye for a girl and that they cannot afford any mistakes. Tokyo told Berlin that the girl is just 17 years old and she can handle her as they drove off.

[00:16:50] At the same day of their heist, there was a group of students on the way to the mint for a school trip. The professor instructed Tokyo and Nairobi to follow the school bus on their way to the mint.

[00:18:40] As they entered the mint, the students received security badges. Tokyo informed the professor that the students have already entered the building. On the other side of the bank, one of the bank guards questioned the driver of the convoy as to where his friend was. Berlin pointed a gun to his kidney, so he just responded that the guy he’s looking for changed shifts. The guard allowed the convoy in, under the guise that it was a normal day; he no longer checked any other details.

[00:20:00] We are once again shown a glimpse of the woman who was holding the pregnancy test earlier, this is a confirmation that she’s indeed a staff at the bank. She’s speaking with a man who seems to be her lover as he whispers to her that he cannot breathe while being near her. She told him to keep breathing because in nine months he will be breathless. The man looks in awe. He seems bewildered at what he heard. The woman confronted the man, and it seems they are having an affair and that the man wants no part in her pregnancy.

[00:22:00] All the men were in charge of entering with the convoy, while Tokyo and Nairobi were to enter the bank posing as civilians. In one swift move, they were able to enter the bank and rounded up everyone within it. They took everyone upstairs and blindfolded them. The professor told Tokyo to locate a specific student once the heist started. She searched within the bank and found the student flirting with one of her classmates inside a bathroom. Tokyo took both students and blindfolded them to join the rest of the hostages.

[00:28:00] With everyone accounted for, they took off their masks and proceeded as planned. Denver and Rio asked everyone for their phones along with their names and passwords. Berlin greeted the hostages and offered his apologies. He acknowledged that this was not a good way to end their week but everyone of them is now their hostages and that they only need to obey to ensure their safety. Denver and Rio asked the man with the affair for his name and phone, he tells them his name is Arturo Roman. Berlin calms everyone down by instructing them to breathe slowly. Out of nowhere, the phone rang, Berlin called out for Monica Gaztambide. Monica had curly hair as she came forward. She was the one having an affair with Arturo.

[00:31:20] While everyone was busy rounding up hostages and setting up communications upstairs, Moscow and Denver were busy opening the vault. Once they got inside the vault, the two of them placed the money inside a gym bag.

[00:34:20] Berlin instructed Monica to answer the phone. Monica agreed and she picked up the phone, the caller was looking for Arturo. Monica declined the callers request and hanged up the phone. Berlin praised Monica for her cooperation and escorted her back to the hostages.

[00:35:30] Tokyo explained that 20 minutes into the heist, they started wiring their analogue communication systems so that they could speak with The Professor without the use of radio frequencies. After this, they closed off the bank and stopped the alarms from going off. No one knew that they had taken over the Royal mint of Spain.

[00:36:15] Tokyo placed all the hostages phone up on a wall as Rio entered the room. Before they continued with their plan, we get a flashback of Rio’s proposal to Tokyo. At first, Tokyo didn’t want to accept his proposal but she gave in eventually. Since Rio was unable to buy her a ring so he gave her his dog tags. They agreed that they will give their relationship a chance after they completed the heist.

[00:40:40] Denver arrives with the bags of money stating they already got the vault open. After a few minutes, Berlin entered the room as well. He ordered them to prepare for the next part of their heist. Per the Professors instructions, they were to open the front entrance and wait for the police to arrive. As they opened the gate, the alarm sounded off and the police were notified. Tokyo, Nairobi, Rio, and Denver were all positioned in the front gate ready to leave once the police arrive.

[00:44:20] Once the police arrive, the plan was to make the police believe that they were leaving with the money and that they would open fire and retreat back into the bank but everything didn’t go according to their plan. Tokyo got too excited. She decided to exit the bank earlier than anticipated. Tokyo started shooting the police but they didn’t expect them to fire back. As the police exchange gunfire they hit Rio and almost killed him. The police call for backup and it seems that Tokyo killed one of the police as well.