Elite Season 8 Review: A Bittersweet Farewell to Las Encinas
If you’ve been following our reviews, then you know we’ve made no secret of our disappointment with Elite’s recent seasons. Firm believers that the show should have wrapped up after Season 3, we went into Elite Season 8 with very, very low expectations. Surprisingly, we didn’t hate it as much as the previous ones.
So, was this final season like the old Elite, the one that, along with La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), put Netflix Spain on the international radar? No, but it did remind us of it, and for that alone, we don’t consider this season a total waste of time. It’s not good per se, but it’s not bad—if you know what we mean.
And listen, we’re not trying to be mean here. The first three seasons of Elite worked because they were all interconnected. In Season 1, Marina (María Pedraza) was killed by Polo (Álvaro Rico). Season 2 focused on Samuel (Itzan Escamilla) and Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau) teaming up to make Polo confess, as Nano (Jaime Lorente), Samuel’s brother and Marina’s boyfriend, was wrongly accused.
Season 3 culminated with Polo’s death at Lu’s (Danna Paola) hand, and with these teens taking the secret of what really happened to him to the grave as they happily graduated. We think this dark ending really reflected the ruthless nature of how these upper-class circles actually work, something Elite has always tried to show.
Seasons 4 to 7 attempted to replicate the original formula but fell short, keeping a few original cast members here and there while introducing a slew of underdeveloped characters. And listen, though these seasons had their moments and boosted some actors’ careers, they never recaptured the show’s initial popularity.
Elite Season 8 tries to reclaim the show’s former glory, and it’s arguably the closest it’s come to the original Elite. However, this attempt comes too late. But before we get into all the details about this final season, and whether the loose ends from Season 7 get resolved or not, we must warn you that the following text contains some spoilers for the new season.
So, if you haven’t caught up on Elite Season 8, you might want to hit pause on this review and come back once you’re ready. From this point forward there will be some spoilers for the final season of Elite. You’ve been warned, so tread carefully.
Elite Season 8: A Nostalgic Return, Alumni, and New Drama
Elite Season 8 kicks off with a dramatic party scene. Isadora (Valentina Zenere) raises a toast to the soon-to-be graduates, eagerly declaring her excitement to finally leave Las Encinas behind (and we can’t blame her—it’s a pretty toxic place). As the students revel in the celebration, two girls wander into the trees because one of them feels sick. In the midst of this, the other one stumbles upon a horrifying sight—a naked, blood-covered body, which we later discover is Joel (Fernando Líndez). How did this happen? Who is responsible? We don’t know yet, but in classic Elite style, the mystery will unravel over the course of the season’s eight episodes.
In a flashback to the beginning of the year, we see Omar (Omar Ayuso) returning to Las Encinas to collect documents from his internship at the school (which he did last season). He’s surprised by his sister Nadia (Mina El Hammani), who’s visiting from New York and is there to support him, knowing the trauma he’s endured in that place. While they’re in the hallways catching up, we’re introduced to a new group—Alumni, former students of Las Encinas, who are there to recruit this year’s graduates.
Nadia explains that Alumni is a network that helps former students connect and succeed in their chosen fields. Omar, who attended the school, questions why he was never informed about Alumni. Nadia reveals that scholarship students are excluded from the group. She learned about it from Lu, who called in a favor in New York to help Nadia with her internship at the UN. Nadia shares that she faced some resistance from Héctor (Nuno Gallego) and Emilia (Ane Rot), the current leaders of Alumni, but that they eventually helped her.
This season, Alumni has decided to create a social club at Las Encinas, thanks to a donation from Héctor and Emilia’s parents, who renovated an entire pavilion for this purpose. As Héctor and Emilia introduce themselves to the graduating students, Héctor becomes particularly interested in Joel. Considering that Joel is the victim in this season’s mystery, Alumni is immediately thrust to the top of the suspects list.
The introduction of Alumni in Elite Season 8 feels like a nod to the early days of Elite (Seasons 1-3). It’s clear the writers aimed to bring back that classic Elite vibe, but unfortunately, this idea arrived a bit too late. If this concept had been introduced at the end of Season 3 and developed in Season 4, the show might have maintained its peak longer. Still, better late than never right? This plot at least managed to send off the series on a somewhat positive note.
Anygays, the rest of the season revolves not only around Alumni’s turbulent and toxic activities but also ties up some (and it’s really just some) unanswered questions. We see Isadora struggling financially now that her dad, Martin (Leo Sbaraglia ), is in prison while being harassed by Luis (Alejandro Albarracín). This season, Luis’s character takes a strange turn from being an unorthodox undercover cop acting as the school principal in Season 7 to becoming Isadora’s crazy stalker. It’s an odd shift, but given the show’s post-Season 3 trajectory, it’s not the strangest plot twist we’ve seen.
Speaking of Isadora, if you’re wondering about Didac’s fate, we have to report that it remains a mystery. Álvaro de Juana, the actor portraying him left after Season 7, and in typical Elite fashion, his character’s absence is never addressed in Elite Season 8. So if you ask us, only the writers know what happened to him, to be honest.
Chloe (Mirela Balic) and her mother Carmen (Maribel Verdú) are trying to cover up their involvement in Raul’s (Alex Pastrana) death. Their storyline tightly connects with Delmar (Iván Mendes) and Sara (Carmen Arrufat). Let’s all remember that Delmar has a video of Carmen pushing Raul off the rooftop, which could help him stay in the country if shared with the authorities. Meanwhile, Sara is still grappling with Raul’s death, convinced that Chloe had a hand in it, whether directly or indirectly. She blames her for what happened and is determined to uncover the truth.
Omar’s journey this season is particularly emotional. He’s still getting over Joel, and being near him is painful. He starts working at Isadora’s House, which at some point puts him at odds with Hector, who unsurprisingly abuses his power and ends up sending Omar straight to the hospital. Omar’s storyline stands out as one of the most realistic portrayals the show has ever done in its entire run.
While imperfect, it resonates as a genuine depiction of a kid who never belonged in this elite circle and how all the traumatic experiences they’ve had at Las Encinas can have a long-lasting impact on their lives. We won’t spoil the specifics of Omar’s fate, but we’re satisfied with how his story concludes.
Nico’s (Ander Puig) storyline this season, much like in the last, is closely tied to his cousin Eric (Gleb Abrosimov). While we would have loved to see more of him as an individual, given how scarce trans representation is on mainstream TV, we’re grateful for his presence. His character brought a necessary perspective to the series, and thankfully, he wasn’t one of the kids who didn’t survive to tell the tale.
And what about Iván (André Lamoglia), you ask? Well, let’s dive into his and Joel’s story. After Iván returns from South Africa, the two try to reconnect, but things are rocky at first with a lot left unsaid between them. To be honest, their relationship gets pretty messy this season. They eventually find a way to make things work, but then everything goes sideways, and well, we all know what happens: Joel dies. So yeah…
As a queer publication, we really feel for Iván—he’s lost and gone through so much already. So when he was listed as a suspect in Joel’s death in the first episode, we were practically yelling at the screen. We knew it wasn’t him, but as always with Elite, we don’t find out who the real culprit is until the very end. Watching Iván suffer through the season, not only from fighting and eventually losing Joel, who he truly loved—though maybe not in the same way he loved Patrick (Manu Ríos)—but also from being blamed for his death, was tough. But it is what it is.
As with previous seasons, the show is anchored by Elite’s more seasoned actors. Omar Ayuso, André Lamoglia, and Valentina Zenere deliver strong performances, but Fernando Líndez, who we were unsure about last season, really shows his potential this time around. He impressed us with his growth as an actor. The newcomers, Ane Rot and Nuno Gallego, also make a solid impression, though Gallego stands out more due to his significant involvement in Joel’s storyline and the plot surrounding his death.
We don’t want to spoil the major plot twists to keep the show’s magic intact, but we do have some thoughts. While we enjoyed this season more than the others, it disappointed us by not tying up some loose ends from previous seasons. And listen, this wasn’t deliberate to leave things open for possible spin-offs, but rather because the show seems to forget or ignore them. Characters from past seasons vanish without explanation, and crucial elements like Alumni, which is suddenly so important, were never mentioned before.
As we previously said, we really think this season’s plotline could have been a great idea if introduced back in Season 3 and developed in the following seasons. There was huge potential with the Alumni concept, but as stated before, it came too late. However, if you overlook the continuity errors, the character shifts, and the predictability of it all, Elite Season 8 is somewhat enjoyable.
In our previous reviews, we’ve mentioned again and again how ready we were for Elite to end, and now that the day has come, it’s a tad bittersweet. We loved the show for some time, but in all honesty, it outstayed its welcome. We know that since its conception Elite has been all about excess, and the creators certainly stretched the show’s lifespan, but sometimes it’s important to know when to stop.
This final season is a decent send-off for a show that started strong and that, despite its decline, put Netflix Spain’s content into the international spotlight. We’re excited to see what other shows this division will bring us. In the meantime…
…Adios, Las Encinas. ¡Ha sido un placer!
Elite Season 8 is available to stream exclusively on Netflix. Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!
Featured Image: Courtesy of Netflix
