From Money Heist to Honey Heist !!

From Money Heist to Honey Heist : My quick take on two web series “Money Heist - Berlin, Jewles of Paris & The Lady with an Ermine”

Have you ever watched a prequel after watching a sequel?

I recently did.

After watching Berlin: Lady with an Ermine, I realized that this was actually a sequel to another Money Heist spin-off, Berlin: The Jewels of Paris. So I decided to sit through nearly 16 episodes of Berlin and his band of lovable lawbreakers before writing my take.

My spontaneous verdict?

These heists are nowhere near as bingeable as the original Money Heist.

If Money Heist was a high-speed Formula One race, Berlin is a vintage convertible cruising through Europe. It slows down to admire the scenery, pauses for romance, takes a detour for another romance, and occasionally remembers there is a heist to execute.

While the Professor’s gang kept us glued to the screen with edge-of-the-seat moments, these spin-offs seem to follow a rather predictable formula:

Planning → Love Lafdas → Heist → Self-created Mess → Wriggling Out of Self-created Mess.

Repeat.

The character of Berlin is undoubtedly charming. Pedro Alonso carries enough charisma to power a small European nation. He deserved a spin-off. Whether he deserved two spin-offs is a debate for another day.

The Jewels of Paris

This is a heist wrapped in Parisian glamour, expensive wine, smooth talk, and enough flirting to make the stolen jewels feel like supporting actors.

The robbery is clever, the locations are gorgeous, and Berlin strolls through every scene as if the universe is merely a supporting cast in his personal production.

A croissant stuffed with diamonds. Stylish, entertaining, occasionally a little too flaky.

The Lady with an Ermine

This time the target is not just wealth but art itself.

The famous da Vinci painting becomes more than a prized possession. Like Berlin, it represents elegance on the surface and danger underneath. Everyone looks sophisticated, cultured, and refined. Scratch the surface and you find thieves, schemers, romantics, and professional troublemakers.

The title painting is actually the perfect metaphor for Berlin himself: polished, fascinating, impossible to ignore, and usually hiding something.

Ironically, the most difficult operation in the series isn’t stealing the artwork. It’s managing the emotional rollercoaster of the people involved.

For fans of the original series, there are a couple of nostalgic breadcrumbs.

In Lady with an Ermine, you get a brief appearance from the Professor. In The Jewels of Paris, you run into the lady inspector from the original series.

Beyond these moments, both series stand comfortably on their own. You don’t need to have entered the Royal Mint or robbed the Bank of Spain to enjoy them.

Final Take

The scale and grandeur may not quite match the mother series, but there is enough fizz to keep you engaged.

As someone who loves high-stakes heist dramas, I could comfortably sit through both series. If elaborate robberies, ingenious plans, stylish criminals, and beautiful European backdrops are your thing, these spin-offs are worth a watch.

And as an added bonus, you get to witness a bunch of ‘loose langotiwale lafadebaaz’ repeatedly proving that no heist is as complicated as human relationships.

Not quite the adrenaline-charged brilliance of Money Heist, but entertaining enough to steal several hours of your life.

And unlike Berlin, you won’t be getting them back. 😜