Élite Season 6: Yet another failed attempt to return this show to its former glory

We said it in our previous review of Netflix’s Spanish smash-hit Élite and we still stand by it, this show ran its course a long time ago and while no one can deny its popularity, the truth is that it’s running on empty. With no original cast members left on the show, Élite Season 6 attempts to take us on yet another crime-infused turbulent ride over a span of 8 episodes with very little success. And although no student at Las Encinas was killed this season, one was seriously injured and a supporting character did suffer a fatal fate.

So yeah, nothing new to report as far as the main plot goes. Sadly, it’s the same old song, folks.

Last season, the show left us feeling uneasy with the way they handled certain storylines, and while in Élite Season 6 they try to fix some of their wrongs and actually address the issues they brought into the story, the truth is that once again, they fall short. With the inclusion of yet another set of mostly underdeveloped new characters, the story feels repetitive and predictable at best.

But we’re here for the LGBTQ+ representation, and while we have to say that in this show it’s far from perfect, at least in this season they put a lot of important queer issues front and center and we’re grateful for that.

So let’s talk about some of them, shall we?

Élite Season 6, the same formula…again

The last time we saw the students of Las Encinas, Samuel (Itzan Escamilla) was revealed as the fatal victim of the season. After confronting Benjamín (Diego Martín) over some confidential information that he [Samuel] had acquired with some help from Rebeka (Claudia Salas) and that could destroy Benjamín’s dirty business, the student was pushed into a pool causing him to hit his head and bleed to death.

Patrick (Manu Ríos) and Iván (André Lamoglia), who had been in this weird love polygon with Patrick’s sister, Ari (Carla Díaz), and Ivan’s father, Cruz (Carloto Cotta), all season long – seemed to finally be together. While old-time favorites, Omar (Omar Ayuso), Cayetana (Georgina Amorós), and Rebeka – the last remaining members of the original cast from the first three seasons of Élite (aka the good seasons) – all left the show. What happened to them? Don’t ask us because we don’t know. They simply disappeared into thin air and, in classic Élite style, were never mentioned again.

Élite Season 6 opens with a hit-and-run accident in which Iván is run over outside Isadora’s (Valentina Zenere) new club and is left bleeding out in the middle of the street. At this time it is unknown who was driving the car and the state of Ivan’s health. But if you’ve been watching this show from the beginning, then you know we’re going to get the answers to what happened and how it happened, but when that time comes, it won’t be much of a surprise. Sadly, this is the same formula we’ve been watching over and over again for 6 long seasons, so the surprise factor has long lost its force.

But anygays, in the past, the students – still healthy and thriving – are back for a new school year. Las Encinas has a new principal, and as has happened since the original cast started departing the show after Season 3, a set of new faces show up to add some drama to the mix. As we said, nothing we haven’t seen before. It’s the same old story of messy love affairs, scandals, and deaths.

However, as we also mentioned when we started this review, Élite Season 6 brought the queer characters front and center, so we’re going to focus on that.

Patrick, Ivan, Cruz, and Ari

Listen, when we finished watching Élite Season 5, one of our biggest questions was how they were going to handle The Awkwardness™ between Patrick, Iván, Cruz, and Ari this season with Patrick and Iván becoming an official couple. In case you don’t remember, Patrick slept with both father and son, and Ari slept with Iván, so yeah, it was a pretty weird family affair. And we can tell you without spoiling too much that it turned out to be exactly what we thought it would be: a big mess.

At first, Patrick and Iván seem fine. They are official Boyfriends™ *cue to us screaming* and everything seems to indicate that they enjoyed their summer together very much. Ari is nowhere near them since, for now, she has her eyes set on the new guy Nico (Andre Piug) – more on him later – and Cruz seems to have kept his word to forget about Patrick and let him be happy with his son.

But this is Élite, so of course, in less than an episode, Patrick and Iván’s relationship starts to crumble down. During Isadora’s back-to-school party, Cruz, very drunk, kisses Patrick, and Iván sees them. He immediately loses it and calls out both his father and boyfriend on their bullshit. Some partygoer films the kiss and it goes viral (because of course it does), and so what should have been just a problem between Patrick, Iván, and Cruz to deal with,  turns into an international scandal. Cruz is a famous soccer player and he was caught on camera kissing a young man. This is bad news for everyone.

Patrick, in an attempt to protect both Cruz and Iván (who he calls his first real love *melts*), publicly blames himself for everything, but this only leads to more friction with Iván. Cruz tries to intervene, telling his son how lucky he is to have such a special love with Patrick, but Iván is too hurt to listen. Cruz, determined to be a better father to Iván, does something no one expected: he calls a press conference and comes out as a gay man.

Homophobia and hate crimes

We wish we could say that Cruz’s coming out was a happy story that had us grinning for the rest of the season, especially with how LGBTQ+ folks are being treated at the Qatar World Cup right now, but unfortunately, it was not. The aftermath of Cruz’s coming out was heartbreaking, to say the least.

After a heart-to-heart talk, Patrick and Iván get back together and they appear to be moving to a healthier place in their relationship. But they soon find themselves in the middle of a hate-fueled riot at Cruz’s first soccer game since coming out that culminates with Cruz’s own death hours later when a group of men bashes him outside his own home.

We’re not going to detail the entire sequence of scenes that take place during the episode, but suffice it to say that they manage to portray the reality that many LGBTQ+ people still experience today simply by the mere fact of existing. If you’re easily triggered by these types of events, we advise you to just fast-forward from the middle of episode 4 up to five minutes before it ends and wait for the tragic reveal to happen. It’s a really hard sequence of scenes to watch. Were they necessary? Yes, because sadly that’s still the reality of many.

With Cruz gone, Iván doesn’t know what to do with himself. He’s not coping well with the loss of his father and starts pushing Patrick away, to the point that at the memorial that his friends are hosting for Cruz at Isadora’s club, he goes and has sex with Ari. Yeah, folks, we’re back to that plot again *rolls eyes*. When Patrick eventually discovers them and confronts his still boyfriend and sister about it, Iván tells him that he blames him for everything that happened, that maybe if Patrick had never been part of their lives, his father would still be alive.

The whole exchange is excruciating to watch and honestly? We don’t even know what to say about it. We understand what happened, and we understand what both of these boys are going through, but we wish our LGBTQ+ couples could catch a break for once, you know? But it is what it is with this show.

Nico and Ari 

One of the new faces this season is Nico, the first trans character in the Élite universe. Nico is first introduced in a scene in the boys’ showers, where it’s mentioned that he had already been part of the student body but hadn’t transitioned, so the plot works to easily integrate him as part of the established group of friends. 

Finding trans representation on TV is still scarce, so the addition of this character was a breath of fresh air. When we first meet Nico, we quickly discover that he not only has a sound support system at home with parents who love and support him for who he is (his father, who is a surgeon, helped him start his medical transition during the summer) but that he also has a girlfriend/crush, Sonia (Nadia Al Saidi), who loves and accepts him without hesitation; and a lot of friends who are genuinely happy that he’s officially living as his truest self.

Like we said, having this kind of representation for our folks in the trans community is incredibly rare, so the moment we saw him share a look with Ari (aka one of the most toxic characters this series has ever created), we immediately yelled at the television. We knew what was going to happen and we didn’t want it. Everything Ari touches gets destroyed and we didn’t want Nico to be her next victim.

It happened though, the entire season is a will-they/won’t-they dance between them, but after many painful exchanges in which Nico has to educate Ari and call her out on her transphobia, they get together even if only for a brief period of time. Fortunately for our Nico, Ari gets involved in the whole mess with Iván and after realizing how good Nico actually is, she decides to leave him and allow him to be happy with someone else. So we could say that this was a win for this character, but that’s just for now because with Élite you never know.

We won’t spoil what he goes through as a result of getting involved with Ari, but his character arc is wide open for next season – we’ll see how they handle that. 

And Mencía, you ask?

Without Rebeka in sight (seriously, what happened to her? It’s like she never existed!), Mencía tries to connect with a new student, Sara (Carmen Arrufat) – an influencer the school hired to help them clean up their image – but their relationship never develops into more than a friendship, which is good. Lady gays are allowed to have lady friends and not end up with them. 

Would we have liked to see her find a new romantic partner? Of course! We need more sapphic rep, but honestly, right now we think that maybe she’s better off single. No couple on this show survives for more than one season. Just look at what they did to Patrick and Iván this season. Le sigh.

But anyway, other than that, her storyline this season was very sidelined and only used to help develop the arc of Sara and her very toxic boyfriend Raúl (Alex Pastrana) for the next season. So yeah…double le sigh.

There was a lot more going on this season both in terms of characters and storytelling, but as it happened with the previous season, one of the main problems we had with Élite Season 6 other than the predictability of it all (seriously, stop using the same plot over and over again, we beg you), is that they tried to fit so many characters and stories into the season that the show got lost in itself. There’s no connection between past and present characters and nothing EVER comes full circle.

We know that the show has already been renewed for a 7th season and original cast member Omar Ayuso has been confirmed to return after leaving the show in Season 5. So, of course, we’ll be there tuning in for our beloved rainbow characters (and folks), and hoping that one day this show either gets canceled or finds a way to return to its former glory. Whichever happens first, but we guess only time will tell.

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Élite Season 6 is available to stream exclusively on Netflix. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!