Élite Season 5: A show that ran its course two seasons ago

It took us some time, but we finally finished watching the fifth season of Élite, Netflix’s once-great Spanish smash hit, and as y’all can guess from the title of this review, we have many thoughts about it – and not necessarily good ones. *sorry fans of the show* 

With only eight episodes, this new season of Élite attempts to take us on yet another turbulent ride of mystery and crime, unfortunately, the story not only feels repetitive and directionless, but it completely lacks what once made this show the success it was.

With the departure of even more members of the main cast, including Miguel Bernardeau (Guzmán), Mina El Hammani (Nadia), and Áron Piper (Ander), and the inclusion of a set of underdeveloped new characters, this new season of Élite tries but fails miserably to return to its former glory. The writers of the show continue to fall short when it comes to innovation, forcing ill-fated and chemistry-deficient new romances, pointless drama, and new mysteries that, instead of surprising us as an audience, have us all wondering why we’re even bothering to watch this show in the first place.

But anyways, y’all know we do it for the gays, so let’s get deeper into this mess of a season, shall we?

Élite season 5, the same formula over and over again

When we last saw the students of Las Encinas, Guzmán, Samuel (Itzan Escamilla), and Rebeka (Claudia Salas) had banded together to hide Armando’s (Andrés Velencoso) body after Guzmán accidentally killed him. In what seemed like a smart idea at the time, the trio tied an anchor to Armando’s body to sink it to the bottom of the lake. But then his corpse surfaced in the middle of a party at the Lake Club and chaos ensued.

The first episode of this new season picks up right on the night Armando was killed, depicting a new dramatic event involving Phillipe (Pol Granch), the French prince who moved to Spain after being accused of sexual assault. In season 4, Phillipe attempted to assault Cayetana (Georgina Amorós) and then tried to make the situation seem like nothing but a misunderstanding. But we start this new season with a video that says otherwise. His French ex-girlfriend, Elodie (Louvia Bachelier), not only names and accuses Philippe of sexual assault, but she also announces that she will not remain silent.

However, in very classic Élite fashion, the reveal is quickly interrupted with a scene from the future showing a handcuffed Samuel being interrogated by a detective about his confession. And before Samuel can even say a word, we flash forward further in time and see yet another bloodied body dressed in the Las Encinas uniform floating in a pool. 

We’ll be honest, we’ve seen this same ‘plot twist’ so many times on this show that that moment – which we’re sure was meant to be shocking – is quickly forgotten and only comes back to us around episode four, when we learn it’s the body of one of the main characters of the show…again.

The new characters

While the new mysterious murder of that character and the discovery of Armando’s body should be the season’s focus, Élite instead wastes time introducing the new characters. We’re not going to list them all because it’d be pointless, so instead, we’re going to focus on the queer characters and/or those that have a direct impact on an existing queer character.

One of the first additions introduced to us this season is that of the character of Iván (André Lamoglia), the son of the Portuguese professional soccer player Cruz Carvalho (Carloto Cotta). Like Rebeka, Iván is the grown-up person in a family with a dysfunctional parent. But the addition of Iván and even Cruz to the show was really just to create a story for Patrick (Manu Ríos). Last season, Patrick (who was a newcomer) began a casual romance with both Omar (Omar Ayuso) and Ander and created all kinds of problems for the couple. With Ander out of the show this season and Omar focused on work, it was only natural that the writers wanted to give Patrick a new (and stable) love interest.

Because exploiting stereotypes in their storylines has always been Élite’s strong suit, at first Iván tells Patrick that he’s 100% straight. But as their friendship develops and things between the two begin to turn romantic, Iván instead of trying to come to terms with his sexuality also starts to pursue Patrick’s own sister, Ari (Carla Díaz). Patrick, tired of feeling lonely and used by every partner he’s had, does what you would expect him to do: he starts a secret sexual relationship with Iván’s dad.

Yep, you heard that right, folks! Over the course of five seasons, Élite has thrown at us just about every wacky and weird love triangle polygon they can think of, but this one between Patrick, Iván, Ari, and Cruz has to be one of the oddest they’ve featured on this show to date. If we’re honest, we’re not sure how they’re gonna handle The Awkwardness™ between Patrick, Iván, and Cruz next season with Patrick and Iván becoming a couple, and Patrick having slept with both father and son. 😬

Another character introduced this season is Bilal (Adam Nourou), a homeless teenager who works with Omar at the Lake Club. Bilal, who is also the only Black character amongst the teens this season, is highly underdeveloped and doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose onscreen other than being used to create drama between Omar and Samuel, who have been best friends since forever. 

One more addition to this season is Jess (Isabel Garrido), who is introduced early on as Rebeka’s new girlfriend. Like Bilal, the incorporation of Jess into the show doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose besides being the ‘obstacle’ so that Rebeka and Mencía (Martina Cariddi) cannot be together.  

But enough about the newbies, we’re sure you’re wondering what happened to our old folks, so don’t worry ’cause we’ve got all the answers.

The old characters

If your main concern is to know what happened to Omar and Ander, commonly known, as Omander – one of the fan-favorite couples – after Piper’s departure from the show, we have some sad news for y’all. Nothing new happens. Things are exactly as they were between the two at the end of Season 4. During the first episode of this new season, it’s addressed that they’re still in contact despite the distance – Ander is traveling the world with Guzman – but they don’t seem to be properly together. And we’re not really surprised, it was only fitting that that relationship followed the path that all the other couples on Élite have followed when one or two of the actors have left the show.

Omar does get some sort of solo storyline this season, but it’s entirely focused on his work at the Lake Club and his friendship with Samuel. And we’re not going to lie, at times he gets terribly sidelined, which makes his final scene all the more bittersweet as the actor has confirmed that he won’t be coming back for the sixth season of the show.

Rebeka and Mencía’s storyline is all over the place this season. With Rebeka becoming more comfortable with her sexuality and being in a new relationship, and Mencía still trying to process what she went through with Armando last season, the two seem to be at odds all the time. But when Rebeka discovers that Mencía has in her possession an SD card that could potentially save Samuel from jail, the two get back together and we’re not gonna lie, the whole thing is pretty messy.

We were rooting for them, but the way they got back together wasn’t good, and let’s not even talk about how things ended between them this season because we want to throw hands. The couple had a lot of potential, but to no one’s surprise, they ruined it. It’s still unclear if Rebeka will return for the show’s sixth season, but with that final scene she shared with Omar and Salas’ own Instagram post when the show premiered last April, we think it’s safe to say we can’t expect to see Menbeka (Mencía and Rebeka) in future seasons.

So there you have it, folks. One of the main problems that we found with this season of Élite is that it focuses a lot on creating drama for the sake of drama instead of centering the season around the mystery, that is, how Armando’s murder will be handled (without exposing Guzmán) and what events lead up to that (allegedly accidental) murder. There are so many storylines this season that the show feels lost in itself. What was once Élite’s biggest appeal is now what’s making this show excruciating to watch.

For some shows, using the same formula over and over again works. But for Élite, this type of approach (both in storytelling and character building) seems to have stopped working. The plot has become bland and increasingly surreal, not to mention that touching on so many controversial issues without a clear intention seems problematic, to say the least.

Élite was once a captivating show that had us all on the edge of our seats. Now? Now we’re just begging Netflix to stop renewing it and forcing us to see it fall apart before our eyes. There’s no more story to tell, the show has run its course, and it’s time to leave Las Encinas behind and move on. Really.

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All seasons of Élite are available to stream on Netflix. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!