There’s an inherent problem with the idea of the weekend binge. While there are series that are worthwhile taking in, others are too long to fit into the parameters of Friday night to early Monday morning, too mundane and repetitive to watch all at once, or are simply unbearable from the start. A weekend binge needs to be engaging and, ideally, doesn’t require sitting on one’s butt for the entire weekend. (That pile of laundry can’t wash itself, after all.) The good news is that among Netflix’s multiple offerings there is a hidden, 8-part gem that fits the bill, a series that rewrites the weekend binge formula: the dramatic comedy Cash Queens.
In Netflix’s ‘Cash Queens,’ a Bank Heist Is Just the Beginning
“Five women walk into a bank” sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it’s not. It is the first criminal act of a group of women who have run out of options, opening the door to a series of events that will change their lives forever. Produced in France and based on the true story of the “Gang des Amazones” (“gang of the Amazons”), who robbed banks between 1989 and 1996, Cash Queens, or Les Lionnes, tells the tale of five women each desperate to make their lives better: Rosalie (Rebecca Marder), whose husband is jailed for operating a restaurant used to launder money for drug kingpin Ézéchiel (Olivier Rosemberg), forcing her to live and raise their children on 30 euros a week to pay off his debt; Kim (Zoé Marchal), who wants to open her own massage therapy salon; Sofia (Naidra Ayadi), a single mom, who wrongly loses her job and has social services knocking on her door, threatening to take her children; Chloé (Pascale Arbillot), trapped in a loveless marriage to the town’s unethical mayor; and Rosalie’s cousin Alex (Tya Deslauriers), whose skills as an architecture student might come in handy.
Why would Alex’s skill-set come in handy? Well, Rosalie has a plan: rob a bank of 100,000 euros and split it. Not just any bank, mind you, but the one she works for as a receptionist. She knows the daily routine, when the ATMs are reloaded, who can access the safe, when there are fewer people around, and so on. They run ideas on strategy, settling on disguising themselves with fake beards, hats, and sunglasses, while using voice modifiers to sound more intimidating. Looking like a bad ZZ Top cover band, they do a test run at a convenience store, a hilarious scene where they apologize to the new clerk behind the counter and tell him to keep the money. Armed with confidence, a plan, and ammunition-less weapons, they stage the robbery successfully, returning home with a cool 20,000 euros each.
‘Cash Queens’ Is the Perfect Weekend Binge
All’s well that ends well, right? Not so fast. The robbery has put them on the radar of Chloé’s husband and mayor, Michel (François Damiens), the police, including Sofia’s brother Malik (Sami Outalbali), and Ézéchiel and his gang. Soon, circumstances and events turn that one act into many, forcing the women to creatively dodge suspicion while carrying out the deeds that push them farther down the proverbial rabbit hole. But when the dream dies and all hope is lost, the women fight back, with a final episode that has the viewer cheering them on to a satisfying conclusion… to a degree.
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Cash Queens is full of action-filled heists, funny moments — an opening scene where Kim encourages Rosalie to shoplift by adding items to her “pregnant belly” is hilarious — and dramatic, even terrifying moments. The cast is excellent — particularly Marder and Marchal — portraying characters with flaws and humanity, crafting a believable, strong friendship along the way.
What Cash Queens has that rewrites the weekend binge formula is its running length. The longest episode, its first, clocks in at 55 minutes, but after that, each episode runs from 35 to 45 minutes each, a total runtime just short of 6 hours. Freed from the restraints of having to fill a complete hour, Cash Queens runs lean, where every moment actually means something and isn’t just there to fill time. As a result, the Netflix series is more engaging than most, keeping the focus on its key characters without minimal sidetracking. And on this side of the screen, Cash Queens is a manageable, one-time couch sit-down that allows you the free time to do that laundry after all. You’re welcome.