It’s high time that La Casa De Papel aka Money Heist from Netflix gets included in debates about the greatest show of all time. The show follows a genius called The Professor as he executes two mega heists with his chosen group of robbers who have all assumed names of popular cities. It has a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. No critic had anything bad to say about the show. Totally impressive!
Money Heist has characters that you either love deeply or hate deeply, and they’ve been developing in exciting and jaw-dropping ways. Regardless of your feelings for each of them, the show would never be the same without them. So, without further ado, let’s rank the best characters on the show!
Updated April 10th, 2020 by Mariana Fernandes: With the fourth season freshly squeezed and transported into our screens, it’s time to re-think who the best characters on Money Heist really are. The show became exceedingly more popular than anyone was expecting, and thanks to Netflix’s format, fans get to binge-watch the entire new season in one sitting. We simply couldn’t let the occasion slide without giving this list another go. Enjoy!
15 Ángel
Ángel didn’t bring much to the table as far as moving the narrative forward goes. He was just kind of there, following Raquel around like a lost puppy in the hopes of getting her to love him. And while this situation of unrequited love should grant him some level of sympathy from the audience, he just wasn’t likable enough for that.
Had he kept his wits about him and actually done his job, he could’ve been of great help to catch the Professor. Instead, he got drunk and crashed his car. One could almost render him useless, but he does add some sort of substance to the show.
14 Oslo
Poor Oslo didn’t get to shine as much as the other members of the original gang did. Even though he had plenty of charisma, the only thing he had to offer was his brute force.
We still mourn the fact that we didn’t get to see more of Oslo and his relationship with Helsinki, because there was a lot of potential there. But at the end of the day, he made too many mistakes that could’ve jeopardized the Professor’s master plan and ended up dying because of it. He still deserves a spot on the list for being a good sport!
13 Moscow
Moscow deserved so much better than what he got. His relationship with his son was one of the most heartwarming parts of the show, and his death scene has endless tearjerking potential.
Coming from an extremely hard background, Moscow had to make tough decisions to provide for Denver. His character left a void on the show that no one managed to replace – and hopefully, no one will try.
12 Mónica aka Stockholm
Mónica started off on the wrong foot. She was Arturo’s mistress, the one he wanted to force an abortion on so as to avoid the consequences of his infidelity. As the show progressed, audiences were quick to warm-up to Mónica, and even though her love story with Denver is somewhat questionable, it’s still enjoyable for its layers.
In the end, Mónica runs away with the gang and decides to raise her baby with Denver. Over the course of the show, she showed her commitment and appreciation for the team and is worthy of a pot on this list.
11 Gandía
The characters from Money Heist have had to face their fair share of antagonists over the past few seasons, but no one comes close to Gandía. He is the kind of villain that makes Arturo cry out for his mother, and other well-established television bad guys would have to fight tooth and nail against this guy.
He is completely insane, but that’s exactly what makes him such an incredible character. The addition of Gandía to the cast of the show elevated it to completely new levels, and the stakes have never been higher for everyone involved.
10 Rio
Rio is brought on due to his hacking skills but the criminal life seems to overwhelm him. He’d rather be playing Mortal Kombat on a computer. But he is very vital to the plot. At some point, he almost surrenders to the police. But he is in love with one of the gang members called Tokyo so he has to stay. It’s also his fault that police get to know the identities of the crew.
At the start of the third season, he is the first to get captured after Interpol tracks his location via a phone call. He gets tortured by the authorities as they try to make him rat out the other robbers. This forces everyone to come out of their luxurious hideouts to try and save him. Damn you, Rio! Why did you have to cut short everyone’s holiday?
9 Denver
Denver is introduced into the world of crime by his dad Moscow who has quit the mining industry due to the lack of proper pay. During the heist at the Royal Mint, he ends up falling for one of the hostages called Monica (who also happens to be the mistress of Arturo, the mint’s director). In a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome, Monica also falls for him.
The two fall so deeply in love that Monica ends up joining the robbers. After the successful heist at the Royal Mint, the lovebirds decide to jointly raise Monica’s child that she got from her affair with Arturo. When the crew reunites to rob the Bank of Spain, Monica assumes the name of Sweden’s capital Stockholm. Ha! Very creative. We definitely see what the show’s writers did there.
8 Inspector Raquel aka Lisbon
Initially, she is the woman tasked with leading the unit that’s trying to take down The Professor and his crew. However, after several encounters with the genius criminal, she ends up falling in love with him. She later joins the robbers and adopts the name Lisbon.
Raquel gives the show most of its human elements. She is total proof that love can hit you when you least expect it and make you do crazy things. Eventually, she quits her career in law enforcement and starts working with The Professor. Throughout the third season, she stays by his side as he directs and monitors the crew from a hidden location.
7 Helsinki
A veteran Serbian soldier, Helsinki is the muscle of the group. He has the tough-guy look and he does his best to maintain order among the hostages. Interestingly, Darko Peric, the man who plays Helsinki began his career as a dentist before becoming an actor and film school teacher.
What makes Helsinki likable is that despite being a big guy with combat experience, he doesn’t come off as too much of a bully compared to someone like Berlin. He gets along with the rest of the crew just fine. He also comes out as gay later on in the series.
6 Nairobi
An expert in minting and forgery, Nairobi was tasked with ensuring the money that was being printed during the Royal Mint heist was of the highest quality. She was a mother and a fairly disciplined character who always did her job well.
At the end of the third season, she gets shot by a police sniper after Inspector Sierra tricks her to looking through the window to see her son. It’s still not clear whether she will die or survive. But since the showrunners of great TV shows enjoy killing off characters, we can bet that she is dead. Why do bad things happen to good people?
5 Arturo
Arturo has threatened to dethrone Tariq from Power as the most annoying character on TV. But it’s the annoying mannerisms that make him such an interesting character. Every minute he appears, you pray that someone punches him in the face.
During the first heist, Arturo, who is the director of the Royal Mint, tries to be a hero but he’s mostly kept in check. He talks too much and also tends to be impulsive in a manner that inconveniences other hostages. He even manages to make himself famous after the first heist by writing a book that portrays him as the savior. And uring the second heist, he voluntarily takes himself to the Bank Of Spain to relive the experience once again. It is obvious that he is obsessed with the group.
4 Inspector Alicia Sierra
She is evil but there are plenty of reasons to love her. Despite being heavily pregnant, Inspector Sierra brings hell to The Professor and his crew. She is the only one in law enforcement who finally manages to outsmart him and make him lose his cool.
At the end of the third season, she not only tricks Nairobi into getting close to a window in The Bank of Spain then orders a sniper to take her out but also tricks The Professor into thinking Raquel is dead. Given how sly she is, Sierra is a character that should have been introduced earlier.
3 Tokyo
Tokyo is sexy, smart and unpredictable. She also serves as the narrator of the show. Despite not being well-mannered, The Professor likes her. This is evident from the fact that she was one of the very first people he recruited for his mission.
However, her stubbornness tends to cause trouble for the group. In the third season, her decision to leave Panama, where she’s been hiding with her lover Rio is what puts the authorities on alert. Eventually, most members who were enjoying relatively peaceful lives are forced to meet again for another mission.
2 Berlin
When the crew was conducting the heist at the Royal Mint Of Spain, The Professor’s half-brother Berlin was the second in command. Rarely do you find TV characters that are both annoying and interesting, but Berlin was the perfect blend. He was both charming and arrogant. One of the most memorable moments in the series comes when Berlin and Professor sing the Italian revolutionary song Bella Ciao.
Actor Andrés de Fonollosa puts up a superb performance as Berlin. He is carefree because he knows he is going to die anyway since he was diagnosed with a muscle disease called Helmer’s Myopathy. However, it isn’t the disease that kills him. He sacrifices himself so that his fellow gang members can escape.
1 The Professor
Albert Einstein would be jealous of this man if they existed in the same era. All criminal masterminds probably wish to have a brain like his too. As the orchestrator of the heists at the Royal Mint Of Spain and The Bank Of Spain, The Professor is just too smart. He prides himself on being a master of trickery since he always manages to fool the authorities.
A perfectionist, he always has everything planned out to the minute details, although at the end of the third season, he is finally outsmarted by the authorities after they tricked him into believing they had killed his lover Raquel. However, chances are that he’ll still come out on top in the next season.
