💰 Finished Money Heist late, and the ending worked for me

Finished Money Heist last week, years after everyone I know had watched it and moved on. I'd seen so many posts saying the ending was a letdown that I went in expecting disappointment. It didn't turn out that way. I sat there at midnight with Bruno asleep on my feet, quietly happy. My wife asked how it ended and I said, fine, which in my house means very good. I do get the complaint about pacing. A few episodes near the end stretch things. There's a stretch where I kept checking how many minutes were left. But the emotional part still got me. I cared about those people when it mattered. That's more than I can say for plenty of finales that are supposedly better. What I liked most is that bad things do happen to people. Not everyone gets a soft landing. Some outcomes felt earned. It would've been easy to rescue everyone and the show didn't. A colleague who watched it when it came out said too many side characters spoiled the group. She wants the original tight crew back. I see her point, though it didn't bother me as much. Watching it late meant I missed all the waiting and the arguments online each week. But I also knew it was well liked, and that changed what I expected from it. So I want to ask the people who watched it as it came out. Did the ending work week by week, or does it hit better when you binge it like I did?

I disagree a bit about the side characters. A couple of the newer ones became my favourites by the end. I do understand missing the tight original group, though. That was the best part of the early seasons. Bigger casts always risk this trade off. A show grows, and then you can't give every person enough time. For me it still worked out, but I'd say it was close.

I watched it live as it came out, and the waiting between seasons made some scenes hit harder. You can't get that feeling from a binge, no matter how good the pacing is.