Critical reception The first two parts of
Money Heist received positive reviews from Spanish television critics. While considering the pilot's voice-over narration unnecessary and the sound editing and dialogs lacking, Natalia Marcos of
El País enjoyed the show's ensemble cast and the ambition, saying "It is daring, brazen and entertaining, at least when it starts. Now we want more, which is not little." Reviewing the full first part, Marcos lauded the series for its outstanding direction, the musical selection and for trying to innovate Spanish television, but criticized the length and ebbing tension. At the end of the series' original run, Costas commended the series for its "high quality closure" that may make the finale "one of the best episodes of the Spanish season", but regretted that it aimed to satisfy viewers with a predictable happy ending rather than risk to "do something different, original, ambitious", and that the show was unable to follow in the footsteps of Pina's
Locked Up. After the series' move to Netflix for its international release, foreign critics also praised the series. Adrian Hennigan of the Israeli
Haaretz said the series was "more of a twisty thriller than soapy telenovela, driven by its ingenious plot, engaging characters, tense flash points, pulsating score and occasional moments of humor", but taunted the English title "Money Heist" as bland. In a scathing review, Pauline Bock of the British magazine
New Statesman questioned the global hype of the series, saying that it was "full of plot holes, clichéd slow-motions, corny love stories and gratuitous sex scenes", before continuing to add that "the music is pompous, the voice-over irritating, and it's terribly edited". Jennifer Keishin Armstrong of the
BBC saw the series' true appeal in the interpersonal dramas emerging through the heist between "the beautiful robbers, their beautiful hostages, and the beautiful authorities trying to negotiate with them." David Hugendick of
Die Zeit found the series "sometimes a bit sentimental, a little cartoonesque," and the drama sometimes too telenovela-like, but "all with a good sense for timing and spectacle." The third part also received positive reviews, although they were slightly less so than those of its predecessors. On
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, it received an approval rating of 100% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "An audacious plan told in a non-linear fashion keeps the third installment moving as
Money Heist refocuses on the relations between its beloved characters." While lauding the technical achievements, Javier Zurro of
El Español described the third part as "first-class entertainment" that was unable to transcend its roots and lacked novelty. He felt unaffected by the internal drama between the characters and specifically, disliked Tokyo's narration for its hollowness. Alex Jiménez of Spanish newspaper
ABC found part 3 mostly succeeding in its attempts to reinvent the show and stay fresh. while Pere Solà Gimferrer of
La Vanguardia found that the number of plot holes in part 3 could only be endured with constant
suspension of disbelief. Though entertained, Alfonso Rivadeneyra García of Peruvian newspaper
El Comercio said the show does "what it does best: pretend to be the most intelligent boy in class when, in fact, it is only the cleverest." The South Korean remake,
Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area, also enjoyed mixed-to-positive reviews from professional critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it had an approval rating of 83% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 6.40/10. On
Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Joel Keller of
Decider appreciated the performances of
Yoo Ji-tae as the Professor,
Jeon Jong-seo as Tokyo and
Kim Yun-jin as Seon Woo-jin, writing, "each providing just the right tone to make the show less an over-the-top heist series and more of a layered treatise on the economic gap that everyone is suffering through at this stage in world history." Keller concluded, "If you're a fan of Money Heist, you'll like
Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area." Pierce Conran of the
South China Morning Post rated the series with 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "the purpose of Money Heist is to entertain rather than educate, and entertain it does with a story that hums along with all the thrills and twists required of a well-planned and inventively thwarted heist narrative." Daniel Hart of Ready Steady Cut graded the part 1 of season 1 with 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "The production is impressive, the script is punchy, and the characters do well to represent their original counterparts." In conclusion Wilson wrote, "this remake is worth the time and investment, at least for the purely invested performances and production. Money Heist is back, so we shouldn't grumble." Kate Sánchez writing in Butwhythopodcast rated the part 1 8.5/10 and praised the cast writing, "
Money Heist Korea is a phenomenal series because of its cast," Sánchez liked the chemistry between cast, writing, "chemistry that crackles between each and every cast member that pushes
Money Heist Korea to be a dynamic show with uncertainty running through every scene." Concluding her review Sánchez wrote, "Ultimately Money Heist is expertly crafted to push tension and showcase action while also managing to investigate the way people interact with each other." S. Poorvaja of
The Hindu wrote, "The first season of
Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area gets right in terms of its setting and characters, but here's hoping the makers push the envelope and take some risks in the second season."
Public response in
Patras, Greece, in 2019. . After the move to Netflix, the series remained the most-followed series on Netflix for six consecutive weeks and became one of the most popular series on
IMDb. and author
Stephen King. While users flooded social networks with media of themselves wearing the robbers' outfit, The
Musée Grévin in Paris added statues of the robbers to its wax museum in summer 2018. sports presentations, and in porn. There have also been negative responses to the influence of the show. In numerous incidents, real heist men wore the show's red costumes and Dalì masks in their attacks or copied the fictional robbers' infiltration plans. The robbers' costumes were banned at the 2019
Limassol Carnival Festival as a security measure as a result. The series was used in an attack on YouTube, when hackers removed the most-played song in the platform's history, "
Despacito", and left an image of the show instead. In unrelated reports, a journalist from Turkish TV channel AkitTV and an
Ankaran politician have both warned against the show for supposedly encouraging terrorism and being "a dangerous symbol of rebellion". and the
New Statesman explained the show's resonance with international audiences as coming from the "social and economic tensions it depicts, and because of the utopian escape it offers." The series was one of two Spanish language TV series to be featured in
TV Time's top 50 most followed TV shows ever, currently being the fifth most followed series on the platform.
Accolades ==Music==