Netflix is best known for its original content and wide variety of movies and TV shows, but with the latter, it’s also known for various trends – and one of the worst started with a crime masterpiece. Despite now having a lot more competition, Netflix continues to be the biggest and most popular streaming platform.
When it comes to TV shows, Netflix has stood out for its original productions and those shows that are acquired under the Netflix Originals label. However, Netflix has some unfortunate trends with its TV shows, such as ending them after three seasons or fewer, but there’s another controversial trend that began with one of the platform’s best shows ever: Money Heist.
Money Heist Began Netflix’s Trend Of Splitting Seasons Into Two Parts
Created by Álex Pina, Money Heist (original title: La casa de papel) is a Spanish heist crime drama that ran for three seasons between 2017 and 2021. Money Heist originally aired on the Spanish network Antena 3, and after Netflix acquired global streaming rights to it, its final two seasons were released on the platform.
Money Heist takes the audience to Madrid, where a mysterious man simply known as the Professor (Álvaro Morte) puts together a group of eight people, all of them with nicknames based on cities. The plan is to take 984 million euros from the Royal Mint of Spain, with a second heist planned for the Bank of Spain.
Money Heist was a huge critical success, with most praise going towards its concept, complex and morally ambiguous characters, tension, humor, emotional depth, and unpredictable plot. Money Heist is one of Netflix’s best TV shows of all time, and it’s also the one that started its trend of splitting seasons into two parts.
As mentioned above, Money Heist’s first season aired on Antena 3 in 2017, and it did so in two parts. After Netflix acquired the show’s global streaming rights, it re-cut it into 22 episodes, and seasons 2 and 3 followed the same format.
Season 2 was divided into two parts, while season 3’s episodes were split into two. Thanks to this, Money Heist has three seasons and a total of five parts, and was the first Netflix show to do this division.
Money Heist Benefited From Split Seasons
Luckily for those who watched the original run of Money Heist’s first season, Netflix’s re-cutting wasn’t drastic, and its division and organization of scenes and cliffhangers turned out to be quite effective.
Thanks to this, Money Heist kept its audience engaged from beginning to end, and because it’s a crime show, the anticipation between parts of each season was bigger, but it benefited the show. Splitting its seasons played in Money Heist’s favor thanks to its story and quality, but Netflix has since used this format on other shows, and it hasn’t always worked.
Why Netflix’s Split Seasons Is One Of Its Worst Trends
Netflix has split seasons of shows like Lucifer, Bridgerton, Emily in Paris, The Witcher, and Stranger Things, and it has become one of the platform’s worst and most criticized trends. The problem with Netflix splitting seasons is that it doesn’t always work, mostly due to their pacing and story.
Splitting seasons disrupts a season’s pace and forces unnecessary mid-season breaks, which also mess with binge-watching – and even for those not binge-watching the season, it’s a frustrating practice. Netflix also leaves big gaps between parts or chooses weird schedules for them, as happened with Stranger Things season 5.
There will be a one-month gap between Volumes 1 and 2 of Stranger Things season 5, with the series finale arriving six days after Volume 2’s release. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely Netflix will stop splitting seasons, as it’s a way of keeping subscribers for longer, but the platform should learn when and how to do it.
Money Heist
- Release Date
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2017 – 2021-00-00
- Showrunner
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Álex Pina
- Writers
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Álex Pina, Javier Gómez Santander
