TV shows we love: Elite

TV history has shown that a good recipe for success is coming up with a tale that involved one or more murders. Add to that a swanky setting, privileged teenagers and sexual innuendos and… bingo, you’re in for the long run!

The authors of Spanish TV drama Elite, available on Netflix, were quick to understand that and after a surprising success of the first instalment they ordered three more seasons of, alas, decreasing quality.

I’m not saying Elite is not worth watching, quite the contrary, in fact. Each season gripped me so much that I ended up binge watching entire seasons during very long nights.

Elite portrays the daily life of a group of wealthy teenagers, showing us all the comforts of their lives but also unveiling scenarios full of suspense and twists investigating human nature and the dark side of power, mostly held by whoever has more money.

The cast is wonderfully assembled. Avid series watchers might recognise Jaime Lorente, who featured in Casa de Papel, perhaps the most successful Spanish TV series ever.

Despite the fact the focus of the series revolves around a crime, Elite manages to be both suspenseful and light, if not frivolous. Police investigations and love affairs go hand-in-hand, with the result being an amalgamated and well-balanced representation of the teenagers’ struggles on their path to becoming adults.

As I said, over the seasons Elite loses some of its quality, as it often happens when unexpected success strikes. The authors had to come up with new ideas without venturing too far from the original plot, which proved tricky, taking into consideration that the time the protagonists spent at school was necessarily limited as some of them eventually graduated.

However, the first season is so good that you will forgive some of the following storylines. My advice is to enjoy Elite with a pinch of nostalgia. You might not have been as privileged as most of the series’ protagonists, but their struggles, their love affairs and their fear of growing up will certainly feel familiar to everyone.