Elite - Season 3 - Review

It’s hard to know where to start with season 3 of Elite. This was once a show that was a deliciously trashy murder mystery, filled with unscrupulous characters backstabbing every 5 minutes, with twist after twist, but it was fun and an enjoyable ride. Even if the characters were for the most part bad, there was the odd moment where humanity would shine through & you could find something in them to root for.
Season 3 was seemingly the last season with many of the original characters, as the writers intend to start over fresh with season 4. That feels like a move happening a little too late as for the first time, I can honestly say watching Elite felt like a massive chore instead of an enjoyable ride.

For a quick recap the second season ended with Carla confessing all to the police on Marina’s death, having being left convinced that something terrible had happened to Samuel. That it transpired had all been a ruse by Samuel & Guzman, realising the only way justice for Marina was going to come was by playing Carla at her own game. Worked to an extent since she did confess all to the police but unfortunately Cayetana was acting as Polo’s guardian angel and made sure the trophy used to kill Marina couldn’t be found.

The third season picked up where those events had left off & teased another mysterious death at the school. Rather predictably Carla bowed to pressure from her father & took back her claims against Polo, allowing him to get away with murder much to Guzman and Samuel’s chagrin. Soon Polo was reinstated into the school with his innocence having been found and life was to go on as normal. Except that wasn’t the case as the end of the first episode and indeed the trailer for the season revealed that Polo was to meet his demise.

What we ended up with was a season that was very much a repeat of the shows debut season, each episode zooming in to focus on particular characters and why they might have possibly wanted Polo dead. With the first season this gimmick worked as from the outset Marina was a likeable enough character. Deeply troubled, with an overbearing brother, falling into a relationship with Samuel, despite harbouring feelings for his brother which resulted in an affair of sorts, and the troubles she encountered over the season which in the end resulted in her death felt like a series of extremely unfortunate events. By the time we reached the point where Polo smashed Marina’s head in, we could still feel sad for her, knowing that despite her faults she was a likeable enough person and life just sometimes happens.

With Polo’s death none of that feeling is there. Throughout the first season he was revealed to be an incredibly weak character, no backbone in sight. He was far more sad over Carla ending their relationship than he was at killing his best friends sister, and spent most of the second season desperately trying to keep Carla in check to make sure she didn’t crack and land him in trouble, before acting as Cayetana’s guardian angel and having the favour returned. He’s sat back and watched his best friend grieve for his sister, an innocent man forced to live a life on the run and his family destroyed as a result of this, and still Polo’s been rather unrepentant only really caring for himself, even trying to kill himself not as a result of the guilt eating away at him but because he was so afraid of Anders turning him in. Through the third season we had to sit back and watch as Guzman & Samuel were branded bullies for wanting a murderer to suffer consequences of his actions, Polo’s mothers using their influence to buy his way back into the school and keep him somewhat protected from his classmates. Everyone suffered at some point during the season because of Polo and for the most part he remained unrepentant, once again playing the role of the victim when Guzman tied him up and beat him to try to get Polo to reveal where the trophy that killed his sister was hidden.

Polo’s final moments of life were spent telling Lu that Guzman didn’t love her, because no-one has ever loved her or would ever love her, whereas he’d at least been lucky enough to be loved by Carla at some point. As Lu stood tearfully begging Polo to stop, he continued to taunt her by proclaiming everyone either despises her or feels envious of her because of how good her life seemingly is, but loveable is just not on the agenda.

So when Lu accidentally plunged the broken champagne bottle into Polo’s heart? It felt like justice was finally being served. Of course that wasn’t quite to be the end of it as Polo then staggered through the Club, fell through glass that needed repairing and before he met his maker, got Guzman to finally say that he did indeed forgive Polo for killing his sister. It seemed to be a moment that was supposed to be sentimental, pulling at the heartstrings but it had the complete opposite effect as it was unearned. Sure by the end Polo was finally willing to give himself up to the police, putting an end to the nightmare, finished his relationship with Cayetana & Valerio after coming to see how toxic it was, confessed his guilt to his mother’s and persuaded them to reinstate Lu & Nadia’s scholarship, but none of it really makes up for what he’d done.

The writers would’ve been far better off finishing the Polo storyline at the end of the second season, and then allowing the third season to start off as a fresh slate with new characters and new storylines, instead of what we wound up with.

Like with the second season, two new characters were introduced this year. Malick on the surface seemed like a good Muslim boy who was soon pairing up with Nadia. The relationship seemed to be going ok at the start until it was revealed that Malick was gay and he ended up cheating on Nadia with her own brother, who cheated on his cancer-stricken boyfriend and then had the audacity to act the injured party when Anders attempted to free him from his obligations by lying about cheating on him.

Despite the fandom, Anders and Omar’s relationship has always struck me as being slightly toxic and problematic and the third season did nothing to quell that. Anders even admitted that he treated Omar as badly as he did fully in the knowledge that Omar would always still be there & just take the punches. Hardly loves young dream.

Nadia & Guzman spent the season doing…… well nothing. They admitted their love for each other, but love wasn’t enough, and could never be enough because they were far too different. Nadia & Lu put their differences aside to choose hoes over bro’s and headed off to New York together, with Nadia promising Guzman she would come back for him one day. Theirs is a relationship that has often followed the extremely cliched Cruel Intentions trope of the bad boy falling for the good girl. Her influence on him supposedly makes him a better person, whilst he helps her to loosen up and gain the courage to stand up to her extremely strict parents and mark her own destiny.

The second new character introduced this season was Zeray. A former fat boy bathing in his own wealth and setting out to win Carla’s heart. His reasoning for liking her was kindness she’d shown him in the face of bullies, and Carla’s reason for liking him was being pimped out by her father in order to save her families fortune. It’s never a good sign of a relationship when a person has to indulge in drugs to try and make your company a little more bearable, and then admits to you that being with you feels like a prison sentence they just can’t escape from. After her overdose let to her falling unconscious into his swimming pool, both of them came to realise they’d never have romantic feelings for each other, with Zeray merely liking the image that Carla represented to the world, and Carla deciding to stand up to her parents and decide her own fate, which included going to Samuel.

Carla & Samuel’s relationship was probably the biggest surprise of season 2. Considering the characters and story, it’s not a relationship that should’ve worked but the chemistry between Ester and Itzan was electric enough to power a village. The cat and mouse game played between the characters was gripping, and the end result was the two of them genuinely falling for each other. Carla bowing to pressure from her father to rescind her claims against Polo, therefore allowing him to get away with murder and continuing Nano’s life on the run would’ve been more than enough drama to keep the two at odds for the season.

Carla’s father taking on board Samuel’s influence over his daughter, threatening his life and forcing Carla’s hand into a relationship with Zeray wasn’t needed in the slightest. Neither was having Samuel and Rebecca’s relationship. None of it served any overall purpose towards the plot or moved any of the characters forward. We’ve known since the beginning of the show that Carla has quite an intoxicating impact on guys, something she admitted herself during a conversation with Samuel during the second season, so Rebecca pointing out just how besotted Samuel was with her was just beating a dead horse. In the end with Polo’s death probably weighing on her conscience a little, along with the fact he essentially killed Marina for her, instead of professing her feelings for Samuel, she instead decided to let him go and study abroad instead. Samuel meanwhile remains left behind along with Guzman, Omar, Anders, Rebecca and Valerio to complete another school year.

Granted season 2 and season 3 were filmed back to back so the writers and producers won’t have been able to take on board the fan reaction to Samuel/Carla emerging, and nor should any writer or showrunner allow their story to be dictated by fan demand because that’s when shows fall into incredibly dicey territory that they very rarely recover from….. but I don’t know how anyone sees chemistry like THAT between two actors, and instead of bathing in it decides to keep them apart and stick them with other actors instead. There’s trying to create juicy dramatic angst and then there’s being idiotic.

Standout character of the season was surprisingly Lu. She’s come along way from the bitchy Queen bee we met in season 1. She came clean to her father in order to clear Valerio’s name of wrong-doing, and as a result was left family and penniless. She tried to keep Anders & Nadia from discovering Omar & Malick’s cheating, and then gave Nadia the encouragement she needed to continue pursuing the scholarship even if that meant Lu missed out. She refused to allow Guzman to again come calling for her when Nadia turned him down, realising she didn’t need him in a romantic sense to be happy. She & Nadia risked losing the scholarship to publicly denounce Polo & Lu’s love for her friends was to prove Polo’s undoing.

Polo giving Lu a speech about how she’s such an unlovable person, and her friends then proving how much Lu is loved by saving her from a murder charge is irony at its finest but it also provided Lu with the chance to make an impassioned speech on love & friendship that sums the show up quite well.

They may not always agree or get along with each other, in fact most of the time they tend to be backstabbing and engaging in one-upmanship, but when they’re in trouble, they do all come together to form one big protective unit.

Anders in the face of death was willing to take the wrap for Polo’s murder so Lu’s life wouldn’t be wasted. Nadia took part in the cover-up, even whilst knowing it could undo her whole future. Valerio whilst having his odd difference with Lu gave her the courage to tell one more lie to save herself. Cayetana bowed down to the pressure and reluctantly played her part, before being left out in the cold, knowing that’s where she truly belongs. Samuel finally realised the system really doesn’t care about carrying out justice.

It’ll be interesting to see where Elite goes in its fourth season. Keeping some characters from the ‘first gen’ allows viewers a small sense of familiarity, when we are faced with brand new characters and a new storyline, and only time will tell whether or not it’ll work. Samuel, Guzman & Omar have shown their potential to be good enough characters in their own right, outside of their messy love lives & with their presence still on show it does provide opportunity for on screen shout outs to departed characters who we probably won’t see on screen again.

Given all the drama that has so far unfolded I feel it would’ve been best to give all the characters a proper goodbye and start off afresh with no characters remaining, just like Skins did. Sure it was a little jarring to be following characters journeys for two years, then say a permanent goodbye and make room for new blood on the conveyor belt, but it was also a brave move that ended up keeping the show fresh and exciting for 6 seasons.

What did you think of Elite’s third season? Did you find it gripping or a massive disappointment? Will you be tuning in to season 4? Sound off with all your thoughts in the comments below.