Money Heist Korean shows a joint economic zone, the customization of La Casa de Papel has a local heart with a ubiquitous feeling. It’s a reassuring ode to Netflix’s Spanish series with some great entertainment and new storyline twists.
In an episode of Money Heist Korea – Joint Economic Area, Professor Sean Woojin welcomes him to a restaurant named ‘Cafe Bella Siao’.
This blink-and-miss context to the original Spanish series is heart-touching, and it also serves as a prompt that the original Money Heist series has set a benchmark that’s hard to compete with.
Before tuning in, I had only one worry – would the Korean version of Money Heist be as good as the Spanish version? We knew this would be a familiar area, and I’m happy to report that the novelty of the concept helped keep me out of my seat for six hours in Money Heist Korea.
Credit to the authors for understanding the extreme expectations they had to meet. He does not give in to pressure but keeps his vision at the fore.
So, when a former North Korean soldier Jun Jong-Seo aka Tokyo opens the show by dancing to the DNA song of BTS, there’s a feeling that despite the Korean Peninsula being the only divided nation in the world, it’s still bound by boy bands.
The show’s basic structure remains the same
A mastermind professor who gathers a group of small-time criminals to execute his meticulous plan for the biggest heist in Korean history.
But unlike the Spanish series, which highlighted topics such as government oppression and economic freedom, it is set around a soon-to-be-unified Korea and the common man has to face the repercussions caused by the same.
They mark mint sets in a zone along the lines of the real-life Joint Security Zone, part of the Truce Village or the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where all tactful parleying between North Korea and South Korea take place.
The remake borrows its characters from the original, but with different backstories. This makes the new version all the more impressive as they all bring their local flavor.
They seem to have the same DNA as their Spanish twins, yet they are different individuals. In Spanish, Denver’s signature was an outburst of laughter, but here, she has a sarcastic accent. And both explanations are special.
Money Heist Korean series
The United Economic Area is Korean in everything from its color to geography and ideologies. Dali masks give way to hahoe masks. This isn’t old wine in a new bottle, but it is a standalone grind. The brilliance with which its authors bring to the story socio-political debates is its USP.
Joining a stellar star cast is half the battle won for Money Heist Korea. It can be very tough to choose and admire a single actor.
Yu Ji-Tae is perfect as the Professor, so even though he doesn’t shake his glasses like Alvaro Morte, he adjusts them as if during a delicate moment with Woojin, instantly quelling his alter-ego allow to play.
Kim Yunjin appears powerful as the leader of the crisis negotiation team, and we’re glad he pulled off Itziar Ituno’s Raquel Murillo with equal poise.
Tokyo is furious and thunderous, Nairobi is the calming force, Denver with an emotional core gives a respite, and Ryo is the rich, spoiled brat-minded.
There are many romantic tracks in the show, but the way the show creates sexual tension between the characters is very different from before.
However, the scene-stealer is Berlin. Squid game fame Park Ha-Soo gets the most for doing, becoming the highly unpredictable anti-hero. He’s black and scary, far more so than Pedro Alonso.
He is outstanding, to say the least. Money Heist Korea is filled with dozens of new storyline twists.
From the dramatic standoff between cops and robbers, to a mortgage crisis and a cop intrusion inside the mint, Money Heist Korea is a fresh and nail-biting show.
