Diksha Sundriyal
Bringing back one of the most beloved characters in the ‘Money Heist’ universe, Netflix’s ‘Berlin’ presents another chaotic ride to the audience with the titular character at the helm. As expected by him, nothing goes as planned, even though the whole thing was meticulously concocted to be fail-proof. Berlin’s own unpredictability becomes the biggest unstable factor in the heist, and one can’t help by blame him for how things turn out. But then, like everything else, things are not so simple with him. His actions at the end of the season prove that. SPOILERS AHEAD
Berlin’s Last Act for Camille Shows He Really Loved Her
Every carefully laid-out plan has a wild card that threatens to spoil everything. In ‘Money Heist,’ Tokyo often played that role, though other members of the Professor’s crew (including himself, at times) took over that responsibility. Berlin, however, always seemed incredibly dedicated to the plan. In his own heist, however, he is even more volatile and unpredictable, and his fickle heart is to be blamed for it.
At the beginning of ‘Berlin,’ the anti-hero is heartbroken over his third divorce, but it doesn’t take him a lot of time to find his next attraction. He falls for Camille, the wife of Francois Polignac, the man whom Berlin plans to rob. His intense infatuation with the woman is called into question by several of his teammates, whose concerns are justified when time and again, Berlin seems to favour Camille over the heist. Damian worries that Berlin’s temporary love affair might cost them their lives, and he is not wrong, but in the end, it becomes clear that it wasn’t just (to reiterate Berlin) some trivial love affair. And even Camille has to admit it.
Torn between her love for Francois and Simon (aka Berlin), Camille receives one shock after another when the truth about both men comes to light at the same time. She discovers that Berlin is the one who robbed her husband’s auction house. He’d been keeping an eye on her and Francois all this time, which meant that he targeted Camille to use her against her husband. While still processing this betrayal, Camille discovers Francois isn’t so innocent either. In fact, his betrayal is even worse. All this time, when Camille was feeling guilty for having cheated on him, he had not only been cheating on her but also had a child with his secret mistress, whom he’d apparently married.
In the end, Camille decides to prioritize herself. At first, she thinks about giving up Berlin to the cops but encouraged by her sister, she decides to get her due. If she was used in the heist, then she should have her share. Months after Berlin and his crew disappeared without a trace, Camille finds him at the Buenos Aires Cafe in Madrid, which he’d once told her about when they were still together. She finds him there and gets his confession on tape, hoping to use that as leverage. But she forgets that Berlin is a career criminal. When she shows up at his house the next day with the tape, she discovers that not only is the original tape replaced, but Berlin has also destroyed all the copies she kept.
When Camille loses her leverage, Berlin has every reason to turn her away. She’d asked for a forty percent share, and considering that she threatened him, he could have simply turned her away. But that would have meant that he had no love or compassion for her. Even though Berlin claimed that none of his actions were directly responsible for whatever happened in Camille’s life, that her marriage had already crumbled before he met her, he couldn’t disagree that everything came crashing down only when he entered the scene.
Berlin feels a sense of responsibility for what happened with Camille. He also had a hope that she might return to him, but he knew that it would be difficult for her to move past the fact that he’d lied to her all this time. To make up for that and to show her that he’s not the conman she thinks him to be, that his feelings for her are entirely real, he decides to give up his share of the money. He gives her close to 4 million pounds in cash, promising to round off the figure when the rest of the money arrives. This is a purely selfless act on his part because he had all the excuses in the world to reject Camille. But to show that his love for her was not some fleeting infatuation or an elaborate web he created for the heist, he gives her the money.
It’s a gesture of goodwill on his part because he still has a soft spot for her. In fact, he still hopes that she might come back to him, based on which he leaves her a little note with the money. He gives her a date and a location where he’ll wait for her. It’s her choice to be there and reunite with him or skip it and live her life without him. She doesn’t have to decide at the moment, but the presence of an option keeps the possibility of their reunion open. All of this proves that Berlin, no matter how fickle-hearted he might be, really did love Camille.
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