“Elite” and a sixth season that shows that the series is imprisoned in its own format | REVIEW

Back in Las Encinas, the most prestigious school in Spanish fiction that could already become a prison for adolescents. Because, beyond making good contacts, in this school their students are adding a fairly extensive criminal record. And it is from a visiting room in a correctional facility where this sixth season begins, which promises to resolve the doubts of its predecessor, but which leaves as a result a cocktail of doubts and many more questions to be resolved.

It is a fact that the “Elite” format, as I call all adolescent series that begin with a murder, began a style that has been replicated and that is far from losing public attention, however, to be the precursors the formula has gone stale.

The main problem is that it seems that nothing is threaded between the characters: their pasts, their encounters, their motivations. It’s chaos with nice clothes. Because if there is something to highlight this season, it is how well achieved the costume design by Cristina Rodríguez. Those threads are well placed and are very fine.

One week after its premiere, “Elite 6” remains the second most viewed on Netflix worldwide, with more than 36.8 million hours viewed. Despite this, the impact achieved by its previous deliveries has been diluted. With the departure of all its initial characters, in this new season led by Valentina Zenere, Manu Ríos, Carla Díaz, Martina Cariddi and André Lamoglia their plots have become so entangled that even reviewing the past chapters it is not known for sure if continuity is due.

The first big question is to know what happened to Samuel (Itzan Escamilla), who was murdered by the school’s rector, and father of Patrick, Ari and Mencía. Are there answers? None. But you must check that, dear reader, in the 8 chapters. However, having been such an important character and the one that had had the most seasons was fair to give it a coherent closure.

It is noteworthy that “Elite” is always open to touching on tricky topics. Here they endure sexual discrimination in sports, fan violence, impunity in cases of violence against women and intra-family violence, and manipulation on social networks. But with such a wide range, none closes completely and characters are introduced that feel forced. And it is not because the representation is, but because in the script they do not contribute anything. This is the case of the two Afro characters: Bilal (Adam Nourou) and Rocío (Ana Bokesa), who unfortunately were not given any introduction and context. They only appeared and gave their opinion without valid motivation or contribution.

The sixth season of “Elite” is lukewarm and labyrinthine. At the end of the 8 chapters, the viewer will be left with the feeling of having gone around the same circuit and again be expectant for a final scene that reopens this feeling.

The loop seems to continue, because in its seventh batch of chapters, there will be seven new actors, including the return of Omar Ayuso.

Rapes, murders, traffic accidents and the illegal sale of drugs are some of the crimes that remain unsolved in Las Encinas, and that not even the police, who are more common than teachers within the school, are going to give a follow-up that says ” case closed”.