by McKenzie Murdoch

     Elite is among one of Netflix’s original shows created by Carlos Monte and Darío Madrona. This show was originally made with the actors speaking Spanish, but there is an english voice-over available to those who prefer it. Elite presents an addicting plot and characters who make it easy for viewers to get overly involved in their lives, which are filled with a ton of drama, lies, and secrets. 

     Elite is a takeaway on what the children of rich and successful people are supposed to be like. How their lives are supposed to be filled with petty drama. These teenagers’ lives are not quite like that. They are tainted with murder, loss, betrayal, and disease. Elite faces realistic topics like religion, strict parents, unrequited love, absent parents whether separated by divorce or death, and the separation of different social classes. It also gave us a fresh new view at the chaos of teen romance with a polyamorous relationship not only in season one, but again in season three, along with many love triangles throughout the whole show.

     The most current season was packed with a detailed plot and new characters. I liked how even though they followed the same format of how they presented the show in season one, where they tell the story of it all through flashbacks along with events going on in their present day as they figure out who really murdered their classmates, it is still just as interesting as the other seasons. 

     In season three, the characters are still reeling over the death of Marina, played by María Pedraza, their classmate murdered in season one. Although, Season three faces a new murder. This time Polo was murdered, and all the students close to him are getting interrogated.

     Elite producers certainly know how to keep the audience at the edge of their seats and always guessing. Throughout the show you can predict who is to blame for the murder, but you never end up right. I enjoyed how all the events were pieced together and fit into a timeline that actually made sense, instead of rushed nonsense.

     I liked how even through the individual struggles the characters went through, they were brought together in the end when they all banded together to try and get the truth out of Polo, a character they all shared a dislike towards. They all wanted to know whether the murder of Marina was an accident or not. Also, I liked the bond between the characters, how strong and real it was. 

     Elite presents strong female characters played by good actresses. When we see these characters they can give off an impression that they are selfish, but in reality they are resilient and caring. In the end, they put their friends before they put themselves. This includes the characters Samuel (Itzan Escamilla), Gusmán (Migiel Bernardeau), Nadia (Mina El Hammani), Carla (Ester Expósito), Lucrecia (Danna Paola), Ander (Arón Piper), Omar (Omar Ayuso), and Polo (Álvaro Rico). Along with newcomers from season two: Valerio (Jorge López), Cayetana (Georgina Amorós), and Rebeca (Claudia Salas). All of them have given us good performances. You’ll come to love the newly formed friendships, couple developments, and some of the parents.

     There still is the question of where Christian went. Christian who was played by Miguel Herrànn, knew who murdered Marina in season one and was going to tell the police everything to get his friend Nano (Jamie Lorente) out of jail because he was the one charged with the murder. He told Carla, his girlfriend at the time that he was going to do it. She told her father. That night Christian was in a car accident and then sent away to a medical center in Switzerland. After that he was never heard from for the rest of season two and is still nowhere to be seen in season three.

     I don’t like how Nano just left after he got released from police custody, I would have liked to see him stay. And I would have hoped that Nadia’s and Lu’s graduation speech was more heartfelt and dedicated to Marina, and how she was supposed to be there graduating with them. So, when they called out Polo it would have been more shocking and gut wrenching. Instead it was more towards the students who are still here, but could not graduate for various reasons. Then Polo’s mother’s shut the whole thing down without really letting them finish.  

     Throughout the season, we saw connections being made that showed us the more vulnerable side of each character and made me like them more. While heartfelt, it was also very frustrating because we as the audience knew Marina’s real killer, but no one in the show believed it. It has been this way all three seasons until finally her real killer admits it in the last episode of season three. It feels that with the similarity it has with season one, how someone was murdered and the season shows the events and true killer, that this season was left off on a closed end rather than a cliffhanger. Like during the last episode when the couples we wanted to get together took steps in a good direction. Although, I feel bad for how Cayetana ended up. She wasn’t a great character, but she didn’t deserve what she got. 

     Whether season four is in this show’s future hasn’t been announced yet, but it has been reported that season four is already in production possibly along with season five. Since the producers of Elite don’t usually wait a full year for releasing a new season it is rumored it may be released in September of 2020. Season four would be a clean slate, so viewers will not know what to expect, and it may even feature new characters and a new storyline.