#flower tells everyone she robbed a bank every five seconds

[aflawedfashion]

Hetty & Flower | Ghosts 3x08

[oceanselevenism]

I've seen that most of the stories on ao3 about them are mostly canon-compliant (and I don't have anything against that tbh) but I was wondering if you have any aus that you think could fit them or that you'd like to see?

omg i have SO MANY aus!! (it got Very Long so its under a cut)

- college au! danny gets kicked out (hes on full scholarship and does Thiefly Things to cover his expenses so hes not endangered just fairly fucked up abt it) (does it count as kicked out if u only live w ur dad three months a year) in freshman year, he befriends rusty (1 year below him) in sophomore year, debbie also befriends rusty (she and danny dont talk much but shes 2 yrs below him at the same college), and when reuben comes calling for a job he thinks debbie has a boyfriend (thanks to debbie telling her dad that she does) so she fake dates rusty. who ends up joining the job. and danny is Very Jealous

- snl ripoff au! danny and rusty are the weekend-update-adjacent anchors and they get gay. i Would have this take place in la (reuben is taking A Risk producing a late night sketch comedy show on the west coast but the 11/12/however fuckin many are fantastic cast members so even though they lose revenue from the other timezones not watching as much as they watch snl or whatever, they still make BANK... but danny and rusty getting gay throws the equilibrium out of whack) BUT la sucks DICK so its happening in new york. also this way u get Ocean Sibling Banter (debbie and lou are the anchors for The Actual Weekend Update and when debbie/lou get together and also when danny/rusty get together there are so many ‘just switch out the blondes/brunettes nobody will be able to tell and we won’t have hr down our necks’ jokes)

- au where the caldwells, abt to go deep undercover on a Huge Fucking Case, have to give up custody of 6 year old linus to tess and danny. the case stretches on for twelve years and linus grows up w tess and danny (who get divorced like right after they adopt him bc tess finds out abt dannys Thiefly Activities-- he confesses to her bc he doesnt rly want to predispose the kid to said thiefly activities) and also isabel (she and rusty break up like Right Before tess and dannys wedding and its very funny; she then goes on to marry tess) parenting him (rusty isnt as much in the picture bc he doesnt feel bad at all abt stealing and tess doesnt want linus to pick up that mentality also rusty Feels Things abt danny)! then when linus is like 18 or 19 danny disappears (tess and isabel think its Thiefly Activities again and arent concerned, just disappointed, but linus is very concerned for his dad-slash-stepdad-slash-sort-of-uncle) and he tracks down rusty so they can find danny. they roadtrip across america and eventually catch up to danny, who is helping the caldwells, and the five of them take down whatever gang the caldwells were chasing. linus now has 6 parents

- au based on this post where some archaeologist finds a bunch of dannys [french person voice] Love Lettairs 2 rusty and so obviously the logical course of action is to rob the museum (which happens to be the museum that tess is curating. funny how things work out) without telling his team What Theyre Stealing. they successfully pull off the heist but turns out the letters were not among the items they stole!! danny is getting desperate. as a last-ditch attempt he calls tess and asks her to let them rob the museum. shes like Why The Fuck Would I Do That. he explains and she begrudgingly agrees. danny and livingston go break into the museum Again but rusty tails them bc dannys been acting Weird and he finds out abt the letters bc livingston sweats more whenever he tells a lie. they live happily ever after (literally, theyre immortal) the end. also even though dannys a werewolf the 11 all call him the new jersey devil (its not his fault that legend came to be ok!! he was very drunk!!)

- childhood friends au!! danny and rusty were best buds as very young kids and then the oceans had to move. flash forward 2 present day where danny and debbie r robbing a museum (theyre building a flower shop over the vault and tunneling in, the dudes in brazil who came up w it are very very clever) and guess which two people are the assistant curators (is that even a title?). guess. ill tell u its tess and rusty! danny recognizes rusty, rusty ‘does not recognize’ danny (which is valid. look at photos of child george clooney and tell me you would recognize him). the 11 demand that they use this to their advantage and so danny and rusty Sort Of Date while the rest set up for the robbery, and danny feels really bad abt it so on the day of (after everyone has gotten away, ofc, he might be a lovesick bitch but hes not a snitch) he confesses and rustys like lmao i was onto u from the start. what kind of a name is [insert alias here] anyway. then they go live a life of crime and its great

- @sanduschism came up w a fantastic au where danny pickpockets rusty and feels bad so he sends the wallet back and they strike up a Correspondence

- HOSPITAL AU!!! danny and rusty r er techs while theyre doing med school and nobody knows how they juggle their shifts w school but also rusty can do a tracheotomy in like 5 seconds and danny can tell when a person needs an mri before they even list their symptoms so nobody questions it and nobody splits them up Ever. when they eventually become surgeons, danny does cardio and rusty does neuro, and whenever they have to work together not only do they never have to say what theyre doing, they don't even have What Do U Want To Cook For Dinner convos fully out loud. tess is head nurse... she makes so many excel spreadsheets... they are ALL color coded. isabel is head er doc and nobody dares to halfass things on her watch. reuben is head hospital admin, saul is chief surgeon, basher is head of the burn unit, the malloys r the HUNKIEST nurses in town, frank does plastic surgery/ent (every patient loves him bc he is just So Calm), livingston is The IT Guy, yen does like orthopedics or physical therapy, and linus is their fav resident who they all lovingly tease 24/7. the ocean sibs r both Cardio Gods and each dominate their respective coasts. debbie is an nyc doctor and if she sees a mass gen doctor its on SIGHT. the few surgeries that she and danny collab on go so fast that the med students in the gallery Cannot tell whats happening. lou is also a plastic surgeon and she and frank r best buds. linus requests time off like 6 months in advance Every Time and everyone hates it bc then They have to be on call but he doesnt realize his Extreme Overachieverness is causing so much strife. whenever tess and danny get in an argument she colorcodes his rounds spreadsheet to be the most neon shit youve ever seen. can you tell i never fully progressed past my greys anatomy phase this one is like 93489302 lines long

- superpower au where rusty has midas touch and danny has corrosive touch and when theyre too young to have control over their powers (abilities develop throughout adolescence and the user gains control at the end of adolescence) they accidentally brush hands and are terrified they just killed each other but turns out their powers like. cancel out. so until they reach like 21 or 22 and can touch things without fucking them UP they just. hold hands all the time. bc otherwise they have to wear gloves to prevent Accidents and both of them “hate gloves” (and also love holding hands. gayasses)

- uhhh hallmark au where danny is a crime fiction writer out on some beach north of ocean city nj and rusty is his fancy nyc editor. everyone else is a thief including debbie who is just Very weirded out that her brother, who robbed boston’s institute of contemporary art at age 22 and got away with it, has decided to spend the rest of his life churning out books. he is very critically acclaimed and about half of the 11 are buds with him and use his published books as heist inspo. the other ~half of the 11 are buds with rusty, and they tell him if danny’s heists are feasible or not (they always are. scarily so.) anyway rusty and isabel break up 12 days before xmas and danny and tess break up 8 days before hanukkah so dannys heading to debbie’s place in upstate new york to mope for the holidays when A BLIZZARD HITS and he gets stranded in midtown. and he and rusty are buds but like. Email Buds. they dont hang out irl and therefore they dont let their Totally Bud-Like Feelings mess up their professional relationship. but danny is stranded and its hanukkah and he ends up crashing at rustys place for the duration of the blizzard. and then rusty ends up coming to debbies place for the rest of the holidays. and then they kiss on new years eve and debbie kicks them out bc theyre being gross

- And More! thanks for the ask, anon! sorry it got so long lol i just have Many Thoughts

[heyyyharry]

Harry thinks Y/N and the kids forgot his birthday

(a blurb from the Flatmate Series)

A little late to the party but I hope it's good 😅

Word count: 2.2k 

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It was Harry’s birthday. And he was excited.

He had been waiting for this day since the last birthday, and even though no one in his family had mentioned it in weeks, he knew they had something big for him as always.

Last year, he had woken up with a cake in the face. It wasn’t pleasant to get icing in your nostrils, but he had been so happy. The kids had made him lovely cards and his wife had made him a special breakfast. They had gone to a restaurant to celebrate with some of his close friends and the day had ended with mind-blowing sex.

He knew today would be different as Y/N and the kids tend to get creative when it came to surprises, but when he woke up and went downstairs, Y/N was running around the living room.

“Goddamn it!”

“Little Ria might have misplaced it somewhere, Mrs. Styles,” said the butler as Y/N plopped down on the sofa with her head in her hand.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

“Good morning, Mr. Styles,” the butler said.

Y/N exhaled sharply as she looked up at him. “Ria took my favourite pearl necklace and now we can’t find it.”

“You have so many pretty necklaces though.”

“But I love the pearl one!” she exclaimed and got up. “Never mind. I’ll just wear something else.”

The butler nodded and told Y/N the chauffeur was waiting for her outside. He left, and Harry followed his wife into the kitchen. He felt a little let down that he didn’t wake up to a cake in his face, but he told himself they probably had other plans for him.

“The kids left for school already?” he asked, looking at the empty plates in the sink.

“Yup. They were upset that you couldn’t drive them today but I told them daddy needed a few more hours of sleep.” She pressed her lips into a smile, grabbed a banana and came to kiss his cheek.

“Wait, are you going to work now?” he asked when she headed for the door. Y/N stopped there and turned her head, arching an eyebrow.

“It’s presentation day, remember?”

No, it’s my birthday!

He gave a shrug, and she rolled her eyes. “Our clients are flying here from Italy. If this all works out, millions of dollars will flow into our bank. Wish me luck!”

“Good luck, babe!” Harry shouted once his wife had left the room.

“Have fun at work!” she said from the living room, and then he heard the front door slam shut.

He stood there for a moment to let reality sink in. So he didn’t get a surprise just yet and nobody seemed to remember his birthday. Don’t worry, he told himself, it’s all part of their plan. They want you to think so.

Taking a deep breath, he came to the fridge to get some eggs and make his own breakfast.

“Rob! Where are all the eggs?!”

The butler immediately poked his head into the room. “I forgot to tell you that Ria and Jas ate the last ones this morning.”

“One egg, Rob!” Harry aggressively lifted a finger as he clenched his jaw. “One egg is all I ask for. We have a pool and a freaking gym and there’s no egg in the fridge!”

“We have other—”

“Never mind. I’m not hungry.” He breathed and marched out of the kitchen. “Get the car ready for me in an hour.”

.

.

.

Harry’s assistant bought him a cake and everyone at the company threw a little party for him, which was nice. He hadn’t received a single phone call or even a birthday text from anyone else, so now he knew this wasn’t some alternate universe in which it wasn’t his birthday. Unfortunately, it didn’t make him feel any better.

He came home early that night with a bottle of wine and a big bouquet of flowers from his co-workers. He still hoped that his family had a big birthday plan for him, but just to be sure, he had to walk in with this bottle and bouquet just to remind his wife of something she might have forgotten.

For all those years they had been together, he didn’t want to believe Y/N would forget his birthday. Niall had forgotten once, but Y/N never did. So he told himself to keep his hopes up as he entered the house and said hello to Rob the butler. It was awfully quiet. His house was usually full of laughter or screams because Ria and Jasper were never quiet, but now it was as if everyone he loved had evaporated somehow.

He was relieved to find his wife in the kitchen, making dinner. She was dressed down and humming her new favourite song. At this point, he really started to believe that she didn’t remember.

“You’re home, babe!” she said happily as he placed the wine bottle on the kitchen table. “Oh my god, are those for me!”

“Uh--”

“Thanks, love!” She grabbed the flowers from him before pulling him in for a kiss. He didn’t remember the last time he’d been this sad, but now his heart was broken.

“Where are the kids?” he asked.

“Ria’s having a sleepover with Marie from school, and Ben and Nam took Jas to the mall.”

“Oh…” The corners of his mouth lowered as his forehead puckered up.

Still ignorant, Y/N cupped his face and brushed the tips of their noses together. “I have a surprise for you.”

As soon as Harry heard those words, his eyes lit up as his heart skipped a beat. He looked around when she pulled away, expecting Ria and Jasper to jump out and scream “happy birthday, daddy” as his wife took out a big cake from the fridge. But no.

She opened the fridge door and he slumped as his heart fell to the bottom of his chest. There was no cake.

“What am I looking at?” he asked, making her chuckle.

“I bought a lot of eggs for ya! Rob said you were upset because we were out of eggs.”

“That was the surprise?!”

“Well, not really.” She shrugged and closed the fridge, still grinning from ear to ear. “I also got those Italians to sign the contract. They loved your wife’s ideas because she is a motherfucking champ!”

“I’m going to bed.”

His response made her smile drop. She raised both eyebrows. “It’s only 7 PM, dear.”

“I’m tired,” he mumbled, turning around. “It’s been a shit day anyway…”

“Okay. Good night, babe!” Y/N shouted from the kitchen as if it wasn’t obvious that Harry was upset. Though disappointed, he didn’t say anything else and headed upstairs.

He felt like that eighteen-year-old boy who got mad at his flatmate every time his feelings got hurt, even though most the time, she didn’t know what she’d done wrong. He could’ve told her, but then she would feel bad, and he didn’t want her to feel bad. But now he was feeling bad.

“Birthday my ass,” Harry mumbled to himself as he lay down and shut his eyes. He just wanted to drift off and forgot about this day, just like everyone else had.

.

.

.

Harry stirred awake as he heard a bang on his bedroom door. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms only to see that it was almost 9 PM.

“Jas?” he asked, but there was no answer.

He was about to lie back down when he heard a knock. The shadow outside the door moved as he took the second guess, “Y/N, is that you, honey?”

Still no answer. There was another knock and the shadow dashed away. Confused and nervous, he got out of bed and walked barefoot to the door. He thought his little son was just messing with him, but when he opened the door to the hallway, he found a piece of paper taped on the wall. It was an awkward drawing of a stickman with brown curly hair, a party hat on, and an arrow pointing to him with the word #1 DADDY.

Is it finally happening or am I dreaming? Harry thought when he saw the clues his little one had left for him. He followed the glitter sprinkled on the floor. The staircase was dark and the light switch didn’t work, so he watched his step as he carefully came downstairs.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

The light came on as his friends cheered loudly. The kids jumped right on him, causing him to lose his balance and fall onto his back. It was painful, but he was too happy to bother. He burst out laughing as Ria and Jasper showered his face with kisses.

“Daddy, daddy, happy birthday!” Ria said as she and Jas took his arm and helped him sit up straight. He got back on his feet and picked Jas up while Ria was hugging his legs.

“Wow, guys.” He chuckled, shaking his head and looking at everyone. All the people he loved were there in his living room, and Y/N emerged from the kitchen with a birthday cake.

“I made the cake, daddy!” Jas told him.

“Liar! Mummy did!” Ria scolded her brother, making everyone laugh.

“I helped!” Jas pouted. “Ria wasted so many eggs that mummy had to buy some more!”

Ria rolled her eyes and tugged at Harry’s shirt so he would look at her. “The cake is ugly but it’s delicious, daddy. I tasted it five minutes ago!”

“Aww, my loves,” Harry said as he pretended to sob and the kids immediately hugged him.

“Daddy, don’t cry!”

“We love you!”

Y/N cleared her throat to get his attention. He looked up and saw her holding up the cake with a smirk. “I know you hate the birthday song, so just make a wish. My hands are dying.”

Smiling, he kissed her forehead and shut his eyes to make a wish before blowing out the candle. He had the same wish every year, it was for their family to always be together and happy like this. He guessed it always came true.

“Did you think we forgot your birthday?” Niall asked.

“I did forget!” Trix raised her hand, making the others groan and facepalm themselves.

“Well, I was going to send you a birthday message before Y/N added me to the group chat,” Liam said.

“Group chat?” Harry looked at his wife, who tightened her arms around his waist.

“Yup, Niall, Layla, and I have been planning this day since two weeks ago,” she said.

“We were supposed to be here when you got home, but someone,” Ben shot Layla a glare, “made the rest of us delay the plan so she wouldn’t miss the party.”

“Excuse me!” Layla gasped as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, “I was in Milan, my flight got delayed. I couldn’t teleport here.”

“You went to Milan?!” Ria brightened. “Did you buy anything for me, aunt Layla?”

“Ria!” Y/N scolded the little girl who crossed her arms and pouted, but when Layla winked at her, she punched the air in excitement.

Harry chuckled as he pulled his wife close and pecked her on the cheek.

“Were you upset when you thought we didn’t remember?” she asked.

“No, not at all,” he said. It was obviously a lie. Y/N knew it, but she didn’t ask and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Daddy, I wanna show you my present!”

“Me too!”

Harry put Jas down so he could race his sister into the kitchen. They returned a minute later, all out of breath, each holding a different item. Harry got down on his knees as Jas came up to him with a little card with silly doodles on it.

“Happy Birbday! Best...dab in the word,” he read the misspelt words written in capital letters, making everyone ‘aww’ed and Jas scrunched up his face as he turned to Ria, who was tittering into her palm.

“You lied to me! You said it was correct!”

“My turn!” Ria ignored her brother and stepped forward to give Harry a colourful pearl necklace. It took him a moment to realise she had coloured each pearl with a different colour.

“Is that--” Y/N froze for a second. “Is that my pearl necklace?”

“No, your pearl necklace has pearls’ colour! This one has rainbow colours!” Ria said as she hid behind Harry’s back to avoid her mother’s rage, but Y/N only exhaled into her palm and gave her husband a smile.

Harry turned back to Ria as he put the necklace on and did a funny pose. “How do I look?”

“Prettier than mummy!” Ria threw her hands in the air, making Y/N scoff and playfully hit her bum.

“Gosh, this is so cute.” Niall turned to his wife. “I expect more than this for my birthday.”

“You already have me,” Layla said, not looking at him. “I’m the best present you could ever have.”

Seeing the look on Niall’s face, Nam dissolved into laughter and patted the poor guy on the back. “At least you tried, mate. At least you tried.”

“Can we pop the champagne now?” Louis asked and everybody cheered. Ria immediately rushed to Layla to ask about Milan, while Jas wasted not time to grab a plate and wait for Gemma to get him a piece of cake.

Harry turned back to his wife, holding her hips as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you so much. I can’t say it enough, love.”

“I have one more present for you,” she mumbled against his lips, trailing her finger across his chest. “I can’t wait for you to ‘unwrap’ it in the bedroom.”

“Fuck. I can’t wait.” He chuckled, kissing her throat. This was by far the best birthday ever.

[aion-rsa]

Money Heist: What to Know About the International TV Phenomenon

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

If you haven’t tuned into Money Heist yet, you’ve been missing one of the hottest series on Netflix right now. It’s sexy, absurdist fun, an action soap opera like no other, so addictively bingeable that it has stolen the hearts of a worldwide audience. But it’s more than escapist fare. Money Heist has also become a rallying cry of resistance that is changing the world. 

It almost didn’t happen. Netflix picked up Money Heist entirely by chance. If they hadn’t, the original series might have easily vanished into obscurity for English-speaking audiences. Once Netflix got it, it blew up and became their most watched non-English series.

Money Heist was originally broadcast on Spain’s Antena 3 channel in 2017 under its native title La Casa de Papel (The House of Paper). The first season was 15 episodes, told in two parts. The initial part garnered a healthy 45 million viewers but viewership plummeted when the second part was broadcast. With only half the audience remaining and the story complete, the show seemed at its end. Netflix acquired the series as part of an international catalog of titles, re-edited it into 22 shorter episodes, re-released it internationally later that year. The streamer didn’t even bother to promote it when they added to their queue. Nevertheless, it found a huge audience outside of Spain and viewership skyrocketed.

Season 1 is about a meticulously planned heist of the Royal Mint of Spain. The Professor (Álvaro Morte) is a criminal mastermind who assembles a gang of thieves. Each thief adopts the name of a city to conceal their true identities from each other, akin to the robbers in Reservoir Dogs. The story is told from the perspective of Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó), a brazen spitfire femme fatale who steals every scene she’s in. The thieves capture the Mint, taking dozens of hostages. Their plan is to print millions in unmarked bills. Meanwhile, the Professor plays a cat-and-mouse game with Inspector Murillo (Itziar Ituño) who is hot on his trail. 

Don’t Fall in Love During a Heist

Through Tokyo’s narration and copious flashbacks to the planning of the crime, Money Heist tells a gripping story of the ultimate anti-heroes. As tensions mount, the gang is at one another’s throats while navigating the Professor’s deceptive instructions. The Mint is surrounded by cops and time is running out. Gratuitous shots of ticking clocks increase the pressure, the same device deployed by original Mission: Impossible TV series to heighten suspense. Stockholm syndrome takes hold as the hostages fall for their captors. In classic Money Heist style, the main hostage who joins the gang adopts the name “Stockholm (Esther Acebo)”. The Professor and the Inspector engage in a deliciously dysfunctional romance. It’s all exceedingly sexy with the beautiful actors often scantily clad, and has a subversively sharp sense of humor. 

Despite its ludicrousness, Money Heist is so addictive in many ways. First off, it masters the cliffhanger. The suspense is relentlessly palpable and no matter how ridiculous some of the deus ex machina resolutions are, they’re still great fun to watch. Just like Game of Thrones, this show is merciless. Beloved main characters die in shockingly poignant death scenes. This keeps the suspense very real. You never know if your favorite character is going to make it. Of the seven thieves that enter the Mint with Tokyo – Berlin (Pedro Alonso), Denver (Jaime Lorente), Helsinki (Darko Perić), Moscow (Paco Tous), Nairobi (Alba Flores), Oslo (Roberto Garcia Ruiz) and Rio (Miguel Herrán) – three don’t make it out. 

Secondly, it’s about those characters. The ensemble cast delivers great performances across the board. Every role is rich, complex, and well-developed. Everyone has his or her strengths, weaknesses, and back stories and their emotional journeys resonate deeply. No one is entirely innocent. You can’t help yourself from rooting for them, even the villains. 

And third, Money Heist has style. Its passionate soundtrack has captured the ears of the world. The use of color, particularly red against darkly composed frames, is exquisitely captivating. Money Heist is a thrilling roller coaster ride that just has to be experienced. 

Enjoy It Until the Party is Over

The global following shocked the cast and crew. After season 1 wrapped, the show seemed finished. As the cast watched their social media following grow exponentially (an experience catalogued in Netflix’s documentary, Money Heist: The Phenomenon), they knew something was up. By 2018, Money Heist garnered several nominations and wins across the European awards circuit and even won the coveted Best Drama Series at the 46th International Emmys.

Consequently, Netflix reassembled the cast and crew for a second season, this time with a much bigger budget. Even though season 1 was self-contained, the show’s creator Álex Pina dreamed up a second season, one that was on a much grander scale, thanks to Netflix’s backing.

The second heist is in four parts. That may sound confusing because the upcoming season 5 will be split into two parts as well. Season 5 is actually parts 3 and 4 of the second heist story arc. “Heist 2” is already 16 episodes deep and it’s only the halfway point. 

For the second heist, the gang must reassemble to rescue one of their own after Tokyo makes another grievous mistake. And that rescue hinges upon robbing the Bank of Spain. New gang members join the survivors of the first robbery, and another more ruthless adversary, the pregnant Inspector Sierra (Najwa Nimri). Sierra is a more ruthless opponent than Murillo was for the first heist. When it comes to the Professor’s psychological chess game, Sierra flips the chess board upside down. Season 3 (Part 1 of the Bank of Spain heist) debuted exclusively on Netflix in the summer of 2019. Season 4 (Part 2) was released almost a year later in April 2020, and it was seen by 65 million households. That’s a million more viewers than watched Tiger King when it ran around the same time. 

Realizing they had a bankable hit, Netflix released Money Heist: The Phenomenon. The documentary showcases the astonishment of the cast and crew as they navigate their new found popularity from a show they thought was done. A season 2 opening scene, filmed in front of the historic Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence, Italy, was almost ruined when rabid fans rushed the crew. However, do not watch Money Heist: The Phenomenon before seeing the show because it drops some major spoilers. 

We Are Dali

To hide their identities, the gang wears masks based on the famous Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali, replete with a red hooded jumpsuit. They force their hostages to wear the same costume to confuse the police. This Dali mask has become a new symbol of international rebellion, supplanting the Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta on a global scale. Beyond Comic-Con cosplaying, the Dali mask has been appearing on protestors and in effigies around the world. Footage from these real life demonstrations appear in the show. 

Money Heist has had a profound effect on international football (“soccer” for we Yanks). Massive displays of Dali mask banners appeared at Saudi Arabia soccer stadiums. At the Karaiskaki Stadium, Greek soccer fans unfurled a huge Dali banner too. After their team won, they rushed the field wearing Money Heist costumes. Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar de Silva even makes a cameo in season 3 as a monk who wryly comments about his disdain for soccer. Silva claims Money Heist is his favorite show.  

There were even real life copycat heists. France fell victim to a shop hold-up and a hotel robbery where the perpetrators wore Dali masks. A 2019 daylight heist of the Mexican Mint was thought to have been inspired by the show. Perhaps the best one was when Justin Bieber’s five-billion-view music video ‘Despacito’ was hacked on YouTube. The hackers replaced it with an image of Money Heist in full Dali regalia with guns pointing out, accompanied by a call to ‘Free Palestine.’ 

Consequently, there has been some backlash. Cyprus banned Dali costumes for Carnival. Turkish journalists and politicians have admonished the show, describing it as rebel propaganda. The Professor describes it best in season 3. “The mask has become a symbol throughout the world of resistance, of indignations, of skepticism. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it has inspired many people.” 

Ironically, Money Heist pilfered Dali’s image. The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation never gave the show its blessing for the use of the artist’s likeness. There’s no doubt that Dali is spinning in his grave for not getting paid royalties, but he must appreciate the surrealism here. 

Bella Ciao!

Beyond the now iconic Dali mask, Money Heist also revived a rebel ballad, the Italian protest song Bella Ciao. Bella Ciao means ‘Goodbye Beautiful’ and it was the anthem of anti-fascists of the Italian Resistance during WWII. Originally about toiling in rice fields under an oppressive boss, the lyrics evolved to describe the Resistance’s commitment to the cause with their lives. When translated from Italian, the lyrics end with “This is the flower of the partisan who died for freedom.” 

The Professor’s grandfather fought in the Italian resistance so he sings it with Berlin, his older brother, and teaches it to the gang. The song is frequently reprised throughout the series, most tellingly during the season 1 part 1 finale end credits. A montage of black-and-white footage decrying the evils of money fades to red as Bella Ciao plays.

Since Money Heist, over a dozen new versions of Bella Ciao have climbed the charts across Europe, with the Professor’s rendition placing first in Austria, second in Germany, and in the top twenty in Belgium, France, and Switzerland. It’s been covered by several EDM DJs like Steve Aoki and Hardwell. Bella Ciao has become a common chant at soccer matches, and was heard at the 2019 World Cup. When Open Arms rescued a boatload of fleeing immigrants docked in Lampedusa, the refugees sang Bella Ciao to celebrate their newfound freedom. 

The Last Times are Beyond Comparison

What might the finale hold? When we last left the gang, they were reunited in the Bank of Spain and determined to win ‘the war’ in honor of their latest fallen comrade. But Inspector Sierra got the drop on the Professor. With a gun to his head, she declared “Checkmate, son of a bitch.” Anyone who knows the show understands that it is volatile and unpredictable so it’s anyone’s guess what happens next. 

It’s clear that this is the end. When production wrapped on May 14th, Netflix tweeted “Thank you to all the fans for being part of La Resistencia! We can’t wait to show you how this story ends.”  However, Netflix is never one to kill a goose that lays golden eggs. 

Money Heist creator Álex Pina already launched another Netflix series, Sky Rojo. Season 1 premiered back in March 2021 and season 2 is slated for July. It’s the story of three women on the run, somewhat reminiscent of Thelma and Louise, only the threesome are prostitutes. It’s stylish and sexy, and received some critical acclaim. But it has nowhere near the impact of Money Heist. 

A Korean adaptation of Money Heist is in the works with Kim Hong-sun directing. Cast as the Professor is Yoo Ji Tae, who is most remembered for his mastermind role in Oldboy, and also had a part in a Korean TV adaptation of The Good Wife. Playing Tokyo will be Jeon Jong Seo, aka Rachel Jun, a newcomer with two feature films under her belt. 

This summer, an immersive event “Money Heist: The Experience” is set to tour London, Miami, Mexico City, New York, and Paris. Each city will get a different version of the experience, adapted to the venue, and the venues won’t be announced until just prior to the events open. This is another collaboration between Netflix and Fever, who previously staged “Stranger Things: The Drive Into Experience” in Los Angeles. 

Most of the cast of Money Heist were too engaged with filming the final season under pandemic restrictions to take on any new projects. The notable exception of Úrsula Corberó. Corberó is cast as the Baroness in the upcoming G.I. Joe Origins film, Snake Eyes. 

Money Heist held the title of Netflix’s most watched non-English series until a French show, ironically also about a heist, stole the crown. Lupin robbed Money Heist of the title in January 2021 racking up 76 million views. Lupin Part 2 debuted on June 11. When Money Heist returns, will it steal back Netflix’s most watched non-English series crown? Hopefully so. For Nairobi!

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Money Heist, Parts 1-4, are available on Netflix now. Season 5 Volume 1 debuts on September 3, Volume 2 arrives on December 3, 2021. 

The post Money Heist: What to Know About the International TV Phenomenon appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3yesomz

[the-stick-scribblers]

The Womb

Crime is up five hundred percent since the Academy opened The Womb.

Twenty years ago, some newish academics who were still in their first century and therefore still hopeful, published a groundbreaking study on crime. They said the problem was simple: people committed crimes because somewhere in their past or current reality, they lacked security and love. Becoming a criminal was simply a call for help, too late. That part wasn't groundbreaking, but it bore repeating (and repeating, and repeating - hit the boring nail on the head, they did). Here's the important bit: they then asked what would happen if criminals could return to their childhoods and start from scratch, supported by the state? The ultimate rehabilitation program? 

Instead of prisons, they imagined a system of homes with specially trained and vetted "parents" to provide love; instead of cells, there would be small rooms they called nurseries filled with safely approved enrichment toys and lots of soft things for squeezing; there would still be community service opportunities and classes and career preparation, but capital punishment was firmly nixed.

It hinged on some pretty wild de-aging technology, but once they'd made the proposal it was only a couple of years before the tech caught up and then it was all hands-on deck "for the future of all children" and other such meaningless shit. There were some modifications - the cells are simply called rooms instead of nurseries, for example - but when they rolled out The Womb it was pretty much as presented.

Let's say you commit a crime. It's a little one, like maybe you didn't pay a traffic ticket, or some dick egged your apartment and you told them where they could shove it in front of the wrong soccer mom. The judge says hey, okay, that wasn't very good. But it was probably just a little lesson you forgot to learn along the way that led you to your Mistake, so you're sentenced to be de-aged a year and you're given a counselor who's supposed to help guide you onto a better path this time around.

But let's say the crime is bigger. You threw a major party and then drove drunk and high on heroin and ran over someone's dog. You commit armed robbery. Someone got seriously hurt, repeatedly. A guidance counselor for a year isn't going to cut it, so that's when the jury steps in and tries to figure out where your life went wrong. Was it at sixteen the first time you shoplifted and got away with it? At ten, when your teacher told you your work would never be any good? At eight, when your mom started working three jobs because she was suddenly raising you alone? And then you get zapped back to the pivotal age and placed in The Womb so you can be Reborn.

Somehow in all their planning the academics and the politicians forgot to bank on the allure of avoiding all those five hundred-year-old wrinkles and arthritis for a couple hundred extra years. Most people when they hit four hundred rob a bank at fake-gunpoint. That's the biggest crime that's least likely to get them killed rather than de-aged. That, or they get involved in some sort of tax fraud scheme. What's losing access to a couple million when you're going to die soon anyway? A second chance at life has got to be worth at least that.

The worst offenders get de-aged all the way back to babies, but that doesn't happen very often. It can seriously shorten your life if you end up a repeat offender, and anyway raising babies is more resource-intensive than the other kids. You have to kill a whole lot of people in a whole lot of lives to make it worth the parents' time.

The years you de-age get borrowed off the end of your life. As long as you avoid any more Mistakes, you get those years back and get to live out your original life span in full, with the bonus of a second childhood thrown in. But if you make another Mistake, you lose them forever, and have to live with it. That's how come I've only got two years left to take over the world.

I have been twelve years-old seven times. The last time I was Reborn, I'd made it all the way to age three hundred and fifty before I made another Mistake.

"You gonna eat that?"

We Reborn may have to use our manners, but for some reason the Womb Workers are exempt.

I sit up straight, elbows off the table, and look at my pudding. "My spoon is dirty."

They pick up the spoon, squint at it, rub it on their apron, then return it to the table. "You going to eat that now?"

The pudding looks delicious, actually, full of real chocolate shavings and cherry jam and cream liquor. If I let myself look at it any longer, I might cave. So I look at the Worker instead. They look like they could use some prune juice.

"This spoon is dirty. I would like a new spoon." 

The Worker opens their mouth, probably to tell me where I can shove the spoon, when Ren interrupts in a tiny voice, "You've got to say please."

This is Ren's second time Reborn. She's six years old now. When she was twenty-one she was sent back for planting an eco-bomb, and for again stealing an entire corporate farm when she was ninety. She's got an impressive file; we could be a good team eventually. I like her. But, regretfully, I no longer have the time.

"Please," I say, and smile real sweet.

The Worker takes the spoon from my hand with a measured precision that means they would much rather stab me with it, and give a little bow.

"Tell Jeremy he needs to pay more attention; the spoon was dirty!" I holler after them after they've passed into the kitchen, to everyone else at the table's disapproval.

Because this is my seventh time in The Womb, I've been placed in a high-security house, with experienced Grandparents rather than normal Parents and bars on all the windows under the cheerful blue and yellow curtains. I've also only got five siblings rather than the usual nine; Ren is the littlest, and Matthew is the oldest at seventeen. The rest of us hover around the dining room table in the throws of those terrible years right on the cusp of puberty, and we've all got the lanky self-awareness to match. Really, the jury should have forgiven me the second they realized my pivotal moment was at twelve, or at least written me off as a lost cause. What preteen doesn't want to take over the world? How was living through that desire again and again supposed to make me desire it any less? But we've established the establishment isn't very smart about the details of redemption. They just want to Save the Children, or at least look enough like they are to appeal to the constituents a couple times a year. Statistics to the contrary are handily swept aside as anti-love.

Everyone here has taken a wood chipper to someone else's moral fabric, most more than once. Even the Grandparents have been Reborn once each, although they won't tell me how come. Just that it's part of the job requirement, so they can relate to where we're at on our journeys or something disgustingly syrupy like that. I'll miss them the least.

The Womb Worker reappears at my left elbow. Another little bow, definitely sarcastic this time, and then they hold out a silvered fork. "Jeremy says all the spoons are dirty, but he offered an extra fork. The pudding is thick; this should serve just as well."

Finally. I accept the fork and dig in with an admirably restrained glee, I think. The pudding tastes sweeter knowing that it will be my last meal in this place.

Jeremy is old hat, been with the place since it opened basically, and is the only Worker authorized to visit every Home because he's worked his way up from day cook to Head of the Households. The first time I met him (on accident, during a poorly planned slip during my first sentence, involving a new bouquet of flowers every day until the home was buried in chrysanthemums and little baby's daisies and Womb Workers had to come and confiscate them all) he told me about his First Home, in Libya. It's taboo to talk about First Homes, not because it's illegal or anything or even really frowned upon. It just makes people sad. But Jeremy smiled as he told me about the fried dates and bsisa, the ironic wetlands and sprawling steppes and the big sky full of birds over everything all the time, the migrations. About the little lizards, the way they sashayed when he chased them down the streets. He made me forget almost everything and believe I'd grown up in Libya too. I volunteered for kitchen duty every night after in hopes he'd be that night's cook.

He climbed the ladder and I followed behind him to each new role, begging for stories about Libya, and about The Womb too, since he knows everything there is to know about it. Including, of course, how to get out. It wasn't hard to bribe him. Just two more rebirths of a little bit of smiling, a little bit of begging, and I've now had six life cycles to practice my hand at money laundering. Jeremy is four hundred and ninety-five this year. It's time for him to bail.

The pudding is gone too soon, and I lick my lips and immediately wish I had some Vasoline. They’re dry, and they sting. "I'm not feeling well. May I please be excused?"

Ren's tiny face looks doubtful and a couple of the other kids look intrigued, but Grandnanna is a warm, benevolent rock. "Do you need me to grab a basket?"

"I don't think so. I think I just need to lie down."

"Let me feel your head."

"It's my stomach," I protest, but go to her nonetheless. I'm up from the table, which means I'm almost in the clear.

She puts the back of her hand against my forehead and cheeks, then turns to rattle in the credenza behind her seat at the head of the table. "Richard, can you grab me the thermometer please? I forgot I moved it to the study when that cough went around last month."

"I'm kind of dizzy. I just want to lie down." I cross my arms and hunch my shoulders and do my best to turn excitement into flush agitation. Grandnanna (what a laugh; she's younger than me by a century, at least) purses her lips.

Then she steps back, and sighs. Good for her – she’s learned how to pick her battles. Probably why she’s still only been reborn once. "Grab a clean towel from the cupboard on your way up."

I finished my part of our plan this morning - digging out each of the security features in the home and bypassing them with a wire or a code I custom-wrote before my latest de-age debacle. The bars are just a formality now. But that's the most I could do on my own. It was up to Jeremy to arrange the rest - reaching out to my old contacts, setting up the weekend lecture series, making sure the Grandparents are out, finding a Sitter with enough moral ambiguity to agree to pack their overnight stuff in over-large luggage and to not ask questions. It was a lot of work, and he hasn’t said it but he’s going to negotiate for a better cut once we're free and clear. At least fifty percent. That's a cliché, but it’s fine. I can do those too. Not everyone makes it to five hundred. There won't be any questions when he’s never heard from again.

The corridor to my room is lined with photos doctored to look original, of the seven of us in this home, and each door has an initial painted in well-meaning green that comes off as military in the dim light. I dutifully grab a towel from the closet and go to my room, draping the towel over my pillow and curling up under the fluffy comforter. Once I bust out there will be no niceties, at least for a couple of months. Definitely no pudding. I close my eyes and sink into the bed. I dream myself a feast.

~D.E. Scevers