[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 5 finale of Money Heist, "A Family Tradition."]
The heist is over. One of Netflix's most popular series, Money Heist, has come to a resounding end. With Dali masks on, this gang of robbers turned found family with an affinity for the Robin Hood imagery try to make it out alive one last time. Ending on a symbolic note seems fitting for a show dedicated to long-winded voiceovers, voiced by Úrsula Corberó (Snake Eyes) as their very own Tokyo, philosophizing the very nature of morality and ethics. A series dedicated to dissecting the same structures of Spanish society through its morally ambiguous lead, "El Profesor" (or The Professor), played by Álvaro Morte (Wheel of Time). It's also an all-encompassing dialogue of our society's relationship to money and greed.
It was never about the gold or the money; well, maybe not all of it. The Professor has always shouldered the entirety of moral ambiguity since the start of this series. It doesn't stray all that much, even at the end of the series. The Professor brokers a deal with Colonel Tamayo, played by Fernando Cayo (Sky High), ensuring he'd become Spain's hero by saving it from a permanent economic crisis after news of the stolen gold reserve gets out, causing a market crash. In this deal, everyone involved in the heist gets a clean slate—a new life. However, The Professor's final monologue leaves Tamayo with a lasting impression. A final lesson, if you will.
Why does it matter, or not matter in this case, that the real gold doesn't make it back to the chamber? Because The Professor knows that "money" itself is a construct. A relationship one has with it. Almost like a marriage. Both parties sign a contract, but there's no actual physical tie. The Professor tells Tamayo that know ever has to know the gold isn't real because that's already the established relationship. He's banking on the imposed structures at hand to save his entire team and still help Tamayo save face. It's a slight jerk back of the neck. A small wake-up call. It also calls back the original heist of this series, where they printed as much money as they wanted, endless amounts of paper money. In the end, value is assigned according to who gets to and how much.
While all of this shrouds the entirety of the series, the finale is also a potent reminder of interpersonal relationships that are more real than any piece of gold or paper. In the ever-changing shifts of alliances, one of the most surprising is between The Professor and former police inspector Alicia Sierra, played by Najwa Nimri (Locked Up). What did it take for her to renounce everything that she believed in? Well, The Professor's constant need to nurture and care for others that need it. That he recognizes in himself, after helping Alicia give birth to her daughter, there's a shift in their dynamic. Once ever hostile, The Professor realizes Alicia is just a grieving wife used as a scapegoat by the same government she swore to protect. Just another cog in the machinery.
It's an ending that sticks closer to the humanity of these characters than the action. Of all the last-minute plans The Professor seems to pull out of thin air, this final one is his most astounding yet. Watching Alicia shake hands with renounced former inspector Raquel Murrillo, played by Itziar Ituño (The End of the Night), at one point in odds with one another, is a symbolic ending to the series. Two become one in solidarity and understanding as they both sigh with relief at being given a chance at a second life.
With the tons of hold on its way to a secluded place in Portugal, embedded in the walls of a moving house, the rest of the team is flown away into undisclosed locations. Away into unknown new lives where robbing and thieving are no longer part of their lives. There's only love and happiness as they cheer inside the helicopter and quite literally ride off into the sunset.