Credit: Netflix

The story of Money Heist has long been over. However, Netflix couldn’t really promise the same about the theatrics of one of the show’s fan-favourite characters, which brings us to the streamer’s latest heist thriller, Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine.

Set in Seville, the Spanish crime drama centres on Berlin and his crew as they embark on an unlikely mission to rob the Duke of Málaga, Alvaro Hermoso de Medina. Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine follows the titular character and Damian, coming fresh off a world tour, when the latter suggests robbing the Marbella Bank.

Berlin, however, is far more interested in wiping out the coffers of Alvaro. So, he takes his usual route, setting his sights on the duke’s wife, Genoveva. But when the plan backfires, he discovers the duke has been two steps ahead of him at all times. In fact, Alvaro likes Berlin so much that he has a special task just for him: steal Leonardo da Vinci’s legendary Lady with an Ermine.

The painting typically stays in Poland, but it is set to land in Seville, which gives Alvaro the perfect opportunity. While Berlin accepts the deal, he’s not someone to backtrack on his own mission. So, with his team, who are basically on wholly different wavelengths at the moment, he tries to gather more information on Alvaro’s secret painting collection. But the question at the centre of it all is: what exactly happens to those paintings?

What happens to the paintings in Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine?

As the titular character tries to assemble his army in Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine, the group runs into a peculiar problem. With Roi, Cameron, and Keila, it’s a matter of the heart, far more complex than the heists in question. As for Damian, he’s hesitant about betraying someone with whom they have an agreement.

However, when the expert crew of thieves learn about the content in Alvaro’s hidden vault, packed with stolen and lost historical art, Berlin doubles down on his plan to rob Alvaro for real. But the cupid soon finds Berlin and Damian with the first one falling for a local pickpocket, Candela and the latter, all charmed up by Genoveva. As the mess of these characters’ respective lives takes centre stage, a crucial detail emerges.

Alvaro’s wealth is entirely stored in an underground safe with top-notch security: a two-layered network, between which, if an unidentified person enters, a ring of fire lights up. But is that nearly enough to stop Berlin and the gang? No! They plan to pull off two heists, starting with raiding Alvaro’s safe beneath the ground and then making it to his painting collection.

While they easily trick Alvaro with manipulation, leveraging his greed for Lady with an Ermine, the automatic high-profile security of the safe makes stealing the cash a bit difficult. And there comes The Professor, to caution him against risking his life for the cash, and instead, seizing the opportunity to collect enough proof of Alvaro’s crimes. That said, Berlin does get hold of the paintings the duke stole, which he sends to the respective museums they originally belonged to.

Since the theft of the paintings was never really part of his original plan, and Berlin’s twisted way to say checkmate to Alvaro, whatever he decides to do with them doesn’t come as a surprise. As for the Lady with an Ermine, it does end up in Alvaro’s collection as the sole surviving artwork. But that’s not its permanent place, as Berlin later reveals in the series that the painting was presumably sold off at a low value.

Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine then flashes a message, a real-life fact stating that the real-life painting was sold in 2016, along with several other artworks, to the Polish government for 100million euros. Although the show is based on a fictional premise, the real-life piece of information does put a funny conclusion to the story.