Netflix’s Elite season five is here and we know what to expect by now more wealth, glamour, drama, crime; but each season I still find myself excited to see who will be this season’s victim and villain.
It that way, the latest season of the Spanish Netflix series didn’t disappoint. After being slightly underwhelmed by season four, hopes weren’t too high for season five, but I was pleasantly surprised.
By the start of season five, only two of the show’s original characters are still hanging around at Las Encinas, and I think that’s a good thing. While many high school shows are obsessed with preserving the youth of their original cast, Elite has accepted they can’t all stay at school forever, and I think it’s the better for it.
It feels like the writers are finally more comfortable moving on from the original characters. While last season, the Blanco siblings often felt like they were mostly there to interact with the existing characters, they were really given a chance to shine in season five.
Manu Rios gave a particularly great performance as Patrick this season, showing he’s not just a (very) pretty face. This season, Patrick is dealing with the aftermath of the attack on his twin sister, Ari (Carla Díaz), and forms a friendship with new-boy Iván (André Lamoglia). Without spoiling anything, this friendship leads to one of the strangest love-triangles I’ve ever seen on TV, but that’s exactly why I watch Elite. I want to see crazy situations that are completely alien from the world I live in.
Unfortunately, this season wasn’t all good. A lot of the storylines were a little confusing, for example, I spent the first episode thinking new-girl Isadora (Valentina Zenere) was Phillipe’s (Pol Granch) sister, then I thought she was his ex, before I finally realised she was just a stranger. This didn’t feel like it was done to make the new character mysterious, more like they’d forgotten to introduce her properly.
The relationship between Rebeka (Claudia Salas) and Mencía (Martina Cariddi), which was one of my favourite parts of season four, also felt like a drag this time around. They had more twists and turns than Spaghetti Junction, and I just couldn’t keep up. One moment they were together, and seemly out of nowhere they’d broken up again.
To me, however, the most important part of each season is the final episode. Endless relationship dramas and over-the-top parties, as fun as they are to watch, do blend together, but the main crime is what really separates the seasons. While the reveal of the perpetrator may not have been as shocking as past seasons, I still found one of the most compelling in all of the show’s five seasons.
I don’t think it will ever be as good as its first few seasons, but I’m glad it shows the writers aren’t stuck trying to recreate their former magic. Season four was something of a transition season, but now we’re in a new era of the show, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next. I’m sure some other reviewers might criticise Elite for being too unrealistic, having too much sex and partying, and altogether too over-the-top, but that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be, and I’m glad it hasn’t tried to be something it’s not.
3.5 stars
