Money Heist Season 3 Recap: Everything to Know Before Starting Season 4

From Oprah Magazine

• The fourth season of Netflix's La Casa de Papel (a.k.a Money Heist) premieres on Netflix on Friday, April 3.

• Need a refresh? This is exactly how the third season ended and how fans reacted on Twitter.

• Just like the previous parts, this season took viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions and introduced brand new cast members.

Warning: This article has spoilers for season 3 of La Casa de Papel/Money Heist.

La Casa de Papel (a.k.a Money Heist) returns for more fast-paced heist drama. The fourth season of the hit Spanish show drops on Netflix on Friday, April 3.

Since the eight-episode season picks up immediately where season 3 left off—in the middle of a heist at the Bank of Spain—it's best to brush up on the last finale's events.

And it was a characteristically wild season. Season three of Netflix's La Casa de Papel (a.k.a Money Heist) premiered back in July 2019, and fans dropped their jaws at the finale. jaws after the eight and final episode.

Here's what you need to remember.

Wait! What happened in the lead-up to the finale?

Before the season finale, we saw Tokio (Úrsula Corberó), Denver (Jaime Lorente Lopez), Nairobi (Alba Flores), Helsinki (Darko Peric), Monica/Stockholm (Esther Acebo), Bogotá (Hovik Keuchkerian), and Palmero (Rodrigo de la Serna) enter the Bank of Spain under the direction of The Professor/Salvador "Salva" Martin (Álvaro Morte) and Raquel/Lisbon (Itziar Ituño).

Their goal? To steal 90 tons of solid gold bars by melting them into tiny grains —and to retrieve Rio (Miguel Herrán), who was captured and getting tortured by the authorities.

Meanwhile, the Professor and Lisbon (Itziar Ituño) were on the run from the police, trying to prevent themselves from getting captured. The Professor spent his time communicating with negotiator Alicia Sierra (Najwa Nimri) in an effort to get Rio back, without getting traced. As if that weren't enough, this all goes down as the Professor also gets in touch with Marsella (Luka Peros), who at this point is just seen riding around on his bicycle.

Eventually we see that the Professor and Lisbon's genius plan to trick the police by running into a forest doesn't work. They didn't take into account Lisbon's climbing gear, and yep, she ended up having to hide in a chicken coop.

Once again, all of that went down before episode eight even began, which, if you're reading this, you know.

Ahead, a recap of the season three finale—because we also have so many questions.

How did season three of La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) end?

In a flashback scene with the Professor and his brother Andres, who viewers only met as Berlin in part one, we learn that Andres has a girlfriend named Tatiana. Andres told Tatiana all about his and Palermo's plan to rob the Bank of Spain and about the Professor's plan to rob the Royal Mint of Spain, which viewers got to see in seasons one and two.

Assuming there will be a season four, we expect to find out more about Tatiana since she could blow everyone's cover by revealing what she learned from Berlin. Or, in another twist, she could help them out since she's a skilled thief herself. That is all, of course, hypothetical.

While Lisbon (a.k.a Raquel) is hiding out in a chicken coop and The Professor is up in a tree in the nearby forest, he finally confesses his love for her with a heartfelt monologue.

He says, "I'm sorry, Raquel. I'm very sorry. I really am. Look, I’m quite old and you’re my first love. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to talk. I just know that I need you in my life. I’ve held on to everything you’ve taught me… Raquel, everything is better because you are with me. Because I’m in love!” Drama!

Sadly, that loving moment doesn't last because Lisbon is caught by the owners of the farm (a husband and wife) where she's hiding out. She puts her skills as a negotiator to good use and tries to come up with a deal in which she'd give the couple 20 million Euro to let her go.

While this is going on, the Professor tells Palermo to kick off the Alcatraz Plan. Its purpose? To make the police think the thieves were escaping—not actually robbing anything—by inserting a GPS chip onto Marsella's ferret, Sofia. As expected, Sofia's whereabouts led the police on a wild goose chase.

Then, Alicia realized the Professor was trying to create a distraction because "he's on the verge of collapse." So she suggests that the police attack and "go straight for the heart. Break them from the inside out."

How did she plan on doing that? By going after "the heart" of the group (a.k.a Nairobi). Thanks to her criminal record, Alicia figures out that Nairobi has a son, Axel, that could be used to lure her out of the bank.

Still with us? We know, we know. It's complicated.

Because of a blue teddy bear that Alicia brought out as a signal to attract Nairobi, viewers learned that Nairobi used the teddy bear to store pills, cocaine, and heroin, using her young son (who had no idea) as a mule.

Alicia makes good on her promise by bringing 9-year-old Axel out so Nairobi could take a peek at him through a window. What Nairobi doesn't know is that, in that moment, Alicia gave the green light for a nearby sniper to shoot her through the window.

Now that the thieves are busy trying to save Nairobi's life, since, uh, she was just shot in the chest, the police plan to go into the bank guns blazing.

While that's happening, The Professor is listening as Lisbon gets captured by Suarez, the police captain and her former colleague. He begs her to tell them that he's running towards her but she refuses to give up his location.

Viewers and the Professor are led to believe that Suarez kills Lisbon and frames it as self defense. That moves The Professor to break another one of his rules: not to kill anyone.

"This isn't a robbery or a challenge to the system. This is war. Act accordingly," he tells Palermo via their walkie-talkie system.

Palermo takes that signal and has Tokio and Rio launch two RPGs at the tank headed towards the bank. What no one knew at the time was that Lisbon wasn't dead. On Alicia's orders, Suarez only pretended to kill her to trick The Professor and, instead, took her into police custody.

"The Professor had fallen for his own trap. The ear's ability to elicit paranoia. That's the card that Sierra had played to destroy us," Tokio, who also narrates the series, says. "Then, it was war."

How did fans react to season three of La Casa de Papel (Money Heist)?

Needless to say, fans were stunned by the way season three ended and took to Twitter to express their feelings.

"Nairobi is the best. periodt.," @amenanrahman wrote.

"Me after watching money heist part 3 My heart is 💔," @kendraArtoiss wrote.

@hulk_sed tweeted, "Tokyo is such a badass bitch. yea I stan 🙌 ."

"These lines! Fucking GOOSEBUMPS! It's about to go down, Espanya!," @mateoandreee tweeted.

"#LaCasaDePapel3 waiting for part 4 like," @the_ewuraesi tweeted along with a picture of someone sitting on the couch wearing a similar costume as the thieves.

What might happen in season 4?

The Casa de Papel season 3 finale leaves us with lots of loose ends to tie up in season 4. Here are our biggest questions:

• Where are the police taking Lisbon?

• What the heck is the Professor going to do now? Will he find out Lisbon is alive?

• How will the thieves move on, now that they've declared war on the Spanish government by blowing up a tanker?

• Is Nairobi going to survive that blow to the chest?

• What is Alicia's plan now?

• Is Tatiana, Berlin's former girlfriend, ever going to show up?

And you better believe we'll be waking up early on April 3 to get answers.

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