Money heist is back sort of but this time it's in korea is this new series one worth watching. Let's do it what is up netflix fans, it's a remake it's a very quick remake or a revival. If you want to call it that but we're going to talk about how this stands out from the original. Is it too soon answering all of those questions and of course the summary goes like this. We have a genius strategist and people with very different personalities and abilities are fighting an extraordinary variable and engaging in an unprecedented hostage.
Play episode one starts with the professor recruiting eight thieves to storm the united korea mint. As we have police pulling together a task force to take them down sound familiar. Well there's a reason before we get into that reason. Let's start with the rating it is tvma tv mature for violence and cursing references. Basically everything you expect from a show like money high. So not one for the children and i'm gonna say these names they're gonna sound familiar berlin moscow, rio denver, tokyo the professor it's the same names the same characters except this time their origins are given to us in a different location with some variables here and there. There are distinct moments in money heist korea there's also a second part to this name it's titled joint economic area and like the summary says they are storming the unified korea mint. Which is a location in between north and south korea. So the political touch and overall feel in that way is distinctly different in this series compared to the last.
So that i can appreciate and the characters have their similar quirks that we know from like your tokyo and your berlin from the other series. But slightly different obviously played by different actors. So you're going to have mannerisms and line delivery that comes across as okay. Well that's different and that's the word to talk about here different because we're really close to the first season of the original money heist and to take that concept bring us the same characters in a different location. Essentially the same story just tweaked every now and then with a style that feels similar. Some shots are all their own there were sequences. One in particular in episode three that was distinctly different from what we've gotten in the other money heist show. But at the end of the day we're always heading towards the same goal and when i say the same goal i mean that's essentially what you're going to get with the remake and the question i kept asking myself. Because what we were getting in this series wasn't in my opinion as compelling as what we got in the original is this too soon. Because for me i'm gonna constantly be playing that comparison game as things play out in this season compared to the original and while it's not matching moment for moment it is playing out in the same manner at the same pace. We're getting these stories told out of order obviously we start in. That first episode building everything up with a series of flashbacks this heist is developing. we're evolving learning about these characters and learning about the korea unified mint which is again a very different direction than what the original money heist gave us.
So that i appreciate as we know the group attempts to take control. You have berlin who is taking these hostages and dividing them based on their nationality. The north and south korea aspect comes into play and from that story point comes heightened tensions all throughout the show. You have that narration from tokyo that's giving us that perspective into the story which i really do appreciate. It's continuing to give us those moments that seem extremely complicated on their surface. But as the voiceover comes it unfolds and plays out a bit more simplified.
So that's another element of what worked extremely well about this series and a style that's not all its own. But there are some things in play here that i did appreciate from a filmmaking perspective. The show does a very nice job of showing us the history of the korean peninsula and for fans of like your k dramas on netflix that k drama spin on money heist is going to really elevate it for someone who is looking for that in this series. So if you're going into this without knowing what the original money heist is and having a love for. This type of story and these types of characters i have a feeling a lot of people are going to love this show. But for someone like me who's seen the original money heist and knows almost beat for beat. How this is going to play out and so far albeit in a different way it is playing out on that level. I can see everything coming as it comes and again i just didn't find the interpretations and really the characters in general maybe one or two i liked more here but for the most part i still know and loved the characters from the original money heist.
So as we played out it's predictable for me i could see where it's going i can see those story beats from a mile away and i'm trying my best to get super invested in this as a standalone thing. But we're five years out. So i just think it's a little quick for a remake and that really hurt me as i was going through this series.
Another big question i have at the end of the day is are people going to see this as an adaptation a copy a full-on remake. can you appreciate the quality storytelling that is there and there are a lot of quality elements about this series. It's just the fact that they haven't truly distinguished it yet.