‘Money Heist Korea’: A faithful remake of the original, with unique Korean flair

Disclaimer: This story contains minor spoilers for Netflix’s ‘Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area’. Read at your own risk. Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area was perhaps one of Netflix’s most hyped K-series to ever premiere on the platform this year, beaten only by that of Squid Game back in September of 2021.

While many of you may have already watched the original La Casa De Papel , if you haven’t yet watched the Korean remake, I urge you to do one thing: Stop making comparisons. You’ll begin to appreciate all the little details and nuances that make the show a uniquely Korean production. Sure, those words are kind of difficult to follow if you were a huge fan of the original.

On the surface, Money Heist Korea is an almost one-to-one remake in terms of plot, general story development, and even character behavior. But the point of it all is to show us viewers that something great can still be made out of a critically-acclaimed series from a different continent altogether. Hear me out.

Money Heist Korea centers on the two Koreas as they prepare to reunify as one nation. But of course, the new unified Korea can’t have two different currencies. Simply adopting one or the other doesn’t help things either.

Instead, their respective governments come up with a unified currency, something that symbolizes a new beginning. And in the name of progress, the ‘Joint Economic Area’ is established as a place where both North and South Koreans can travel to and conduct free-market business with each other. But it also happens to be the home of the Unified Korea Mint – where this new currency is being printed.

But like all things capitalism, when borders disappear and countries seemingly become friends again, only the rich stand to truly benefit from new economic cooperatives like this, while the middle class and the underprivileged continue dreaming about success. Wanting to change that is the Professor (Yoo Ji-tae) and his team of bandits who, if you haven’t noticed by now, share the same names as the ones in La Casa De Papel . Each of the bandits come with their own reasons to take part in this heist.

But if they share one thing in common – it’s the yearning for a better life. And perhaps a good start to that ‘better life’ is money, a share of ₩4 trillion (or over US$3 billion) to be exact. And so, just like the original, the Professor devises a genius plan to break into the mint, hold the people there hostage, and buy time while they print their money before making their great escape.

So far, everything seems to ring a bell with viewers who watched the original. That’s okay, it’s kind of expected. What sets Money Heist Korea apart is its distinctive Korean nuances.

Looking at the jumpsuits, they’re the same red ones used in the original. The masks, however, don’t bear the likeness of Salvador Dalí. Instead, the remake uses traditional ‘Hahoe’ masks, considered to be one of the most beautiful and well-known representations of Korean culture and heritage.

Without diving too deep into spoilers, while I definitely noticed that the characters in the remake behaved almost surgically-similar to the bandits in the original, the fact that they all had uniquely Korean problems in their own lives makes this show a standalone product, in my humble opinion. For example, Berlin (Park Hae-soo) is a native North Korean who spent a couple of decades in a North Korean labor camp after his failed attempt to flee the hermit kingdom with his mother (who gets shot point blank as they try to swim across the border). When he finally makes his violent escape as an adult, we see the man as a disheveled, jaded personality who only cares about himself.

But can you blame the guy? Going down south and looking at the father-son dynamic of Moscow (Lee Won-jong) and Denver (Kim Ji-hun), we’re reminded of the concept of filial piety that’s still prevalent in Korean society today. But of course, this also comes with its own set of internal conflicts. As Denver grapples to be his own man, he struggles to come to terms with his absent mother, who he resents for leaving him and his dad.

Moscow, while tough and burly on the outside, is just as delicate as his son. Yet, he still feels the need to care for him, despite his worsening health. I could go on about each character and their uniquely Korean personas, but I really don’t want to ruin everything for you.

This brings me to my next point, or rather, question: Why do we compare? If, for example, I had no prior knowledge of La Casa De Papel , I’d say I would’ve enjoyed the Korean remake so much. That’s not discounting the fact that I still enjoyed it despite having watched the original, especially as an avid K-drama lover myself. But perhaps the remake marks a significant change in direction for the overall K-content slate on Netflix, something I’m sure many of us are looking forward to explore throughout the year, and something I’ll personally be diving deeper into in a separate story.

Looking at the wider scope of things, Money Heist Korea is, in itself, a series in its own right. Even if you haven’t watched the original, you can still appreciate this remake. After all, it follows the same direction.

And that’s what makes it an advantage, not a crutch, in my opinion. It helps open up the Money Heist ‘universe’, so to speak, to a much larger, more diverse audience. But the beauty of it is the fact that the show can still be enjoyed by people who have seen the original.

You just have to keep a few things in mind, or rather, discipline yourself into reducing mental comparisons. All this talk about it being a ‘boring copy’ of the original is a little unfounded, I’d say. It only makes sense that a remake of La Casa De Papel won’t necessarily come off as a huge surprise in terms of plot.

So why expect it to be surprising in that aspect? The actors – as well as writers Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, and Choe Sung-jun – worked hard on this, and their toil is clear as day. To put it bluntly, Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area is a series for die-hard Money Heist fans, or people who are completely new to the story in general. For those who refuse to do anything but compare, you’re going to have to look elsewhere, sorry.

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