Locked Up/ Vis A Vis Season 5 Review: The Elf From Hell Is Back

"Locked Up/Vis A Vis" premiered in 2015 on the Spanish network Antena 3 and later moved to Fox Spain. Since it's launch, "Locked Up" has become very popular and may be the top Spanish international export to date. See my previous reviews here The fifth season is currently available on NetFlix. There are 8 episodes total. Since it's technically a spinoff, it's called "El Oasis" instead of season 5.

It's been two years since Macarena (Maggie Civantos) picked up Zulema (Najwa Nimri) outside the prison gate. They've spent that time robbing jewelry stores, casinos and banks. They make for a complicated duo. At once point each recounts all the times the other has tried to kill her. Too funny!

For some reason Zulema now has a tattoo of a line under one eye. Macarena declares she's tired of being on the run and wants out. She's pregnant but we never learn who the father is. As you will recall, Zulema caused her to abort previously while in prison. Zulema convinces Maca to do one more job.

They're going to crash the wedding of Narco King Victor Ramala's daughter Katy. She will be wearing a $20 million tiara during the ceremony. The plan is to pretend to be wait staff and nab the tiara. Their inside contact is Monica Ramala (Victor's step daughter). She a junkie who spent time in prison with Zulema. She'll be singing at the wedding. Monica is out for revenge against Ramala after finding out he killed her parents. Meanwhile bride Katy is in love with Monica's brother Diago (who works for her father). Victor has arranged for Katy to marry a different guy and she is none too happy.

The crew consists of Goya (who we met last season), her girlfriend Triana (she's a safe cracker) and Slim (ex military light weapons expert). After stealing the tiara, they are to head to the Oasis Hotel. They're then split up the diamonds. A helicopter will take them to Morocco where they'll all go their separate ways.

But of course things never go as planned. Robbing a drug kinpin is probably not a good idea. We eventually see what went wrong at the wedding. Zulema is having hallucinations due to an inoperable brain tumor. She guns down a large number of guests. Slim is shot. They all eventually get to the Oasis with Ramala hot on their trail.

But things at the hotel are not as they appear. We meet the owner Ama and her epileptic son Cepo. What we dont know until later is Ama is really the mother of Sandoval. She blames Macarana for her son's death. She has the hotel rigged so she can spy on what is happening in each room. This is of course slimy Sandoval's creation. Wow, Ama is playing a very long game.

Besides Ama and Cepo, we have a few other side stories. TBH I didnt care for them very much. But I guess the show had to have some filler. We have a girl (Vivi) whose father is a serious perv. We have a bullied kid (Lucas) who almost commits suicide.

I wont give away the rest of the details of the show. Suffice to say, the great gun fight at the end made up for my being bored with the other stories.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). I'm so happy to see "Locked Up" again. Macarena and Zulema are two crazy chicks. Previously we saw the gals at two different prisons. Now they teamed up to rob a King Narco of his daughter's diamond encrusted tiara on her wedding day. What could go wrong? As it turns out, pretty much everything.

This season had some great cinematography/ camera work. There are split screens, the camera following characters from room to room and great use of slow mo At one point, we see both women (Macarena and Zulema) through the lenses of a pair of sunglasses. There are lots of 360 scenes.

While I enjoyed "Oasis" overall I have two slight criticisms. 1. This season utilizes lots of flashbacks. Not sure how effective that was. 2. The format at times caused the show to drag. . In prison there was lots of other inmates to interact with. Here it's just the ladies, their crew and the bad guys. I wasnt riveted to the show (like I was with previous seasons). Over all though I still love these characters. I know their is controversy over the finale but I thought it was a fitting end to the series.