This article, “did The Professor and his heist team win in the end” contains spoilers regarding Money Heist season 5 and the ending.
The final five episodes of Money Heist season 5 are intense. Everything is on the line. It’s no longer a physical heist, but a heist of minds, with The Professor boldly playing his last poker move on suspecting authorities. Nothing in this heist has gone smoothly. It’s gone wrong in every single corner. But, as we know, The Professor always has aces up his sleeve. Now, there’s no shame to admit that near the end of season 5 we possibly believed that The Professor and his heist team had lost. It did seem that after all. With the gold stolen by Berlin’s son (Rafael) and ex-wife (Tatiana), and the team in the bank captured, all hope looked lost.
And it even looked like defeat as The Professor decides to surrender and walk into the bank, handing himself over Tamayo, while Sierra finds the gold.
Money Heist season 5 – did The Professor and his heist team win in the end?
The Professor did indeed have one last ace up his sleeve. Firstly, he sent Tamayo and his team on a live goose chase around Spain for the gold. Secondly, he released footage to the public revealing that the gold has gone missing from the bank, making the stock markets collapse and Spain on the verge of bankruptcy. And finally, The Professor returns the gold in the back of trucks to Tamayo to end the debt crisis.
However, in one last twist, The Professor had one last play. The gold bars in the truck were gold-painted brass. Not gold. Tamayo is furious after already publically declaring that the gold had been retrieved. However, The Professor and Lisbon tell him that the debt crisis is over. The gold in the reserves has always been an illusion, and that the economy is always psychological. It doesn’t matter if gold is real or not. The Professor tells Tamayo that he can walk away with a state secret, and the secret stays with him and his friends forever. The alternative is, he will not be a hero, and the country will collapse.
Tamayo threatens to execute The Professor and the heist team in a tense face-off, but The Professor continues to tell Tamayo of the consequences if he decides to not accept the brass. Tamayo counts down from 10, demanding the real location of the gold, but The Professor tells him it is checkmate. They either win together or lose together.
Tamayo decides to go with the psychological economy and illusion — he goes with The Professor’s plans. He tells the public that all the heist team, except Denver (who is under witness protection), have been executed in one last resistance, and the gold has been returned. The heist team, The Professor, and Sierra are really alive, and in return, they are given freedom. “The secret dies with them”. But what about the gold? Well, The Professor sent a note to Rafael, passed onto him by Sierra, reminding him of his father’s legacy. He decides to take a share of the gold rather than stealing it all, knowing it is the right thing to do.
Professor, Sierra, and the heist team live a free life, without the need to rob a bank ever again.
