Rio De Madrid
The Professor and Raquel begin the episode by giving an update on the situation they now find themselves in. As it happens, the group tell them they’re ahead of schedule with melting down the gold ingots. Meanwhile, the authorities plan to break in to the bank no matter what. In order to do that, Sierra plans to bluff the newspapers, pretending the information in the red boxes are simply scandals while the real secrets lie inside the bank. Ignoring the pleas from the other officers, she leaks the scandals. With the secrets out, albeit the wrong ones, the robbers’ upper-hand is now gone. Out on the road, The Professor finds he’s being tailed and swerves off the road and onto the beaten track where he and Raquel find themselves stuck with no antenna to contact the others. They do manage to warn Palermo that the authorities are heading in their direction just before though but frustratingly are unable to follow up on this message. With their camper van stuck in the mud, they find an unlikely source of help in a group of villagers who recognize who they are. They band together and try to push it out but suddenly stop as they see the faint outline of a police car on the horizon. It’s too late. The police arrive, just as Palermo and the others concoct a plan to fight back. The villagers vouch for The Professor and hide him inside the caravan. In a strange twist of fate, the policeman helps get them out of the mud and the Professor and Raquel return to the road again after a tense few minutes. From here, they make it to the safe-house and try to establish contact with the bank once more while the Government give the green light for the special ops team to infiltrate the bank. Sierra suggests they shoot now and ask questions later but as the police move through the hallways they find numerous hostages knocked out by the gas. However gunfire rains down on them from the browning machine gun manned earlier this season, leading to a skirmish. A skirmish that sees the Special Ops team captured and held hostage. As the professor phones and negotiates with the authorities once more, he asks them to give up Rio. Eventually they agree and Rio is patched up, ready to return to the bank. As the episode closes out, Rio returns to the bank smiling and reveling in the rapturous applause. After 6 episodes we finally see Rio safe and back with the group. It’s been a rollercoaster ride up until this point and with Rio presumably now back for good, the hard part begins – getting out alive. With the authorities thwarted time and again this season, you get the feeling that a war is brewing between these two sides and despite some teasing glimpses of what could be, La Casa De Papel refrains from pulling the trigger. For now. Given how dramatic the final few episodes were last time out, the third season looks poised to follow suit, with a barrage of machine gun fire and more than a few casualties along the way.
