‘Money Heist’ Season 3: Breaking Down That Ending, D-Day, and What Happened to Nairobi

It’s impossible to predict anything that happens in Money Heist, aka La Casa de Papel — and Part 3 took the series elaborate planning, backstabbing, and jaw-dropping robberies to a whole new level.

Created by Álex Pina, La Casa de Papel is a heist show done right. The Spanish series follows a group of criminals who were specifically selected and trained to rob the Royal Mint of Spain. Part 1 and 2 followed them throughout that robbery, reveling in their skin-of-their-teeth escapes and steamy will they, won’t they affairs. But Part 3 is all about bigger, better, and more ambitious crimes. For its third season our favorite gang took on the Bank of Spain and all of the meltable gold inside.

Did they win? What exactly is D-Day in Money Heist? And what happened to Nairobi? Here’s everything you need to know about this season’s ending.

What Is D-Day in Money Heist?

The first episode of Money Heist Part 3 starts with an ominous countdown to something called “D-Day.” However as Episode 2 “Aikido” explains, D-Day isn’t really as bad as it sounds. Rather it’s all part of a brilliant and manipulative plot. All throughout Part 1 and 2 the team mentioned Plan Chernobyl, a drastic escape plan that was only to be enacted if everything else failed. In Part 3 we learn what that plan is — dropping tons of money on Madrid.

By raining tons of money down on a major city, the team was able to create mass chaos, chaos that had to be addressed by Spanish authorities. While these officers are distracted, the team could escape. The actual day when this money was dropped was known as D-Day.

It’s a brilliant, if not expensive plan. But as Part 3 proves it’s a plan that either intentionally or not inspired longterm good will. As the authorities tell the world about how dangerous these people are and put a bounty on their heads, average citizens routinely come to their defense. Can a bunch of people handing out free money really be that bad? Even when our team has barricaded themselves in the final episode of Part 3, groups of civilian protestors can be seen in the background. D-Day was more than just a one time distraction. It was an act that transformed these criminals into Robin Hood figures.

Did Nairobi Die in Money Heist? Does Nairobi Die in Money Heist?

It’s unclear if the no-nonsense Nairobi (Alba Flores) is actually dead, but things aren’t looking good for her. Inspector Alicia Sierra (Najwa Nimri) knew she couldn’t take down the entire team while they were hiding, but she knew she could get to one of them. Alicia strategically leaves a giant blue teddy bear outside of the team’s fortress, which confuses everyone. Everyone except Nairobi.

That blue teddy bear is the same one that used to belong to her son. It’s also how she used to smuggle drugs. As Nairobi later explains, she used to pack the bear full of cocaine, pills, and whatever else she needed, give it to her son, and then take him to the park to meet her clients. No one suspected this young, innocent boy of being a drug mule, so it worked perfectly.

Alicia’s teddy bear was also hiding something: a cell phone. The inspector tells Nairobi that she has her son. But when Alicia takes the young boy outside to show him to his hiding mother, a sniper shoots Nairobi. Of course this being Money Heist, this is all part of a bigger plan from Alicia. As the team tends to the wounded Nairobi, the Spanish authorities attempt to break into their lair in the Bank of Spain.

So is Nairobi actually dead or can she survive this brutal trickery? At the moment all signs point to Nairobi dying. That gunshot cost her a lot of blood, and she even gave a heartfelt monologue to her bestie Helsinki (Darko Peric) which sounded an awful lot like final words. Basically, if Nairobi pulls through for Part 4 it will be a wonderful surprise, but don’t count on it.

How Does Money Heist Season 3 End?

With oh-so-much trickery. Just like with Part 2, Part 3 ends with our team desperately needing to escape a place they’re trying to rob, only this time it’s the Bank of Spain instead of the Royal Mint of Spain. Once again they’re surrounded by officers, and once again the Professor (Álvaro Morte) has a plan for this seemingly hopeless trap.

Knowing that the Spanish authorities are desperate to spy on them, the team knowingly lets them listen in on their conversations. They then act out a fake escape plan complete with an outboard motor, running in puddles, manufactured echoes, and one brave microchipped ferret named Sofia. They want the authorities to think they’re re-enacting El Chapo’s Altiplano jail escape, and that’s exactly what happens.

While he’s orchestrating all of this, the Professor is hiding in a tree after being separated from his former foe turned lover Raquel / Lisbon (Itziar Ituño). They were both on the run from the cops but had to go separate ways. That’s how the Professor comes to control everything from his walkie talkie and Lisbon ends up hiding in a barn with an uncomfortable chicken.

Unfortunately for them Alicia is just as quick and crafty as the Professor. After her forces find the ferret, she rightly guesses that the Professor’s latest plan was a last-ditch effort. He’s feeling the heat, which means she’s close to winning. That’s when she enacts an elaborate plan of her own: baiting Nairobi with a teddy bear. Nairobi falls for her plan hook, line, and sinker and is ultimately shot, leaving the rest of the team vulnerable as they tend to her wounds.

As this is happening, Lisbon is having a terrifying standoff of her own. Two farmers find her hiding in their barn and threaten to turn her into the cops. She begs them to reconsider, promising them €15 million, €5 million more than the bounty on her and the Professor’s heads. As they grapple with this offer, the cops catch up to Lisbon. They break into the barn and corner her as the Professor listens to this whole exchange. The last thing he hears is the woman he loves begging for her life before gunshots are fired.

This paired with Nairobi’s fatal wound is too much for this typically calm man. He contacts his new second in command Palermo (Rodrigo de la Serna) with new orders. “This isn’t a robbery or a challenge to the system,” the Professor says. “This is war. Act accordingly.”

Palermo immediately knows what the Professor means by war, and apparently he means rocket launchers. He gives the order for his team to fire two missiles at the waiting tanks outside, marking the first time the robbers have ever been the first to use violence on the police.

Obviously the rocket launchers are super effective because they’re rocket launchers. But all of this was a trick to get the robbers to shoot first so that the cops would have more authority to take more drastic action. In the final moments of Part 3 it’s revealed that Lisbon is still alive, despite what the Professor heard. In the words of our impulsive narrator Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó) “The professor had fallen for his own trap.” Part 3 ends with our criminals still trapped in the Bank of Spain facing a government that can now take drastic measures like never before.

Watch Money Heist, aka La Casa de Papel on Netflix