Episode Guide
Anxiety – | Review Score – 3/5 Selfies – | Review Score – 3/5 Naked – | Review Score – 3/5 War – | Review Score – 3.5/5 Mourning – | Review Score – 3/5 Tina – | Review Score – 2.5/5 Masks – | Review Score – 3/5 Separation – | Review Score – 3/5 I said in my last review that Elite is running on empty, attempting to rekindle what made the early seasons so appealing. Season 4 felt like the first slip on the rung, while last year’s effort tumbled down a couple of notches, delivering an indifferent and ultimately forgettable slice of soapy drama. Season 6 then is not just forgettable, it’s so blasé and perfunctory in the way it tells its story that by the end, you’ll feel like you’ve wasted your time watching. There’s only so long your high school stars can remain that way before they outgrow the roles and need to be replaced. Elite knows this, which is why almost all of the main cast have been replaced by younger models over the years. Unfortunately, the new players here don’t have the charisma, nor the baby-faced charm (honestly, most of these guys look like adults) to pull off quirky high school students and that really hurts the believability of the story. That’s the least of Elite’s problems though because when it comes to believable, the story this time turns from average to fatally flawed, with a hit and run teased very early on, as Ivan is struck outside Isa’s new club, before drip-feeding out what happened leading to that event. It’s a format that’s been done throughout the years in Elite and oftentimes with great aplomb. This time though, the ending coughs up a nice twist but it does so at the expense of any sort of tension or decent drama. For most of the run-time, we instead focus on the soapy exploits of our teens (that term is used VERY loosely here given how old everyone looks), with a couple of episodes literally just here for filler. At worst, the plot sets some of our characters back on their arcs. There’s the ongoing assault claim with Isadora and her rapists, which is disappointingly pushed to the background for a few episodes, before roaring back later on but for some reason it feels crowbarred into the other storyline, which involves Ivan’s whodunit story. Meanwhile, there’s an abusive relationship plot involving Raul and Sara, along with a topical theme of LGBTQ+ rights and sport, as Ivan’s father Cruz grapples with his sexuality. Both of these plotlines run parallel to the mystery and main drama, which is really held together by the exploits of Patrick and Ivan, who are easily the stars of the show. Everyone else is just sorta here to fill out the numbers, with players like Ari learning absolutely nothing by the end of the 8 episodes, and Nico having very little of an arc beyond a loose will they/won’t they with Ari. Aesthetically, Elite continues to pump out musical montages and music-video-esque soft porn sequences, with plenty of dancing, nudity and drinking (not to mention drug taking) for good measure. Unfortunately, all of this works as a thin veil of style to disguise you from some of the big plot holes and contrivances. And trust me, there are a lot this time! Early on, we see Isadora has taken over her new club, rebranded it to Isadora House. Yet… she’s still attending classes at school all day. So not only is she running a nightclub business (which requires a lot of hours during the day for deliveries, cleaning, prep etc.) but she’s also got her plate full with schoolwork. Then we get the situation involving the hit and run itself. At no point are there any police officers that show up or any investigative work carried out, which is odd because in-universe we’ve seen this numerous times, especially during the nightclub incident when police questioned each of the kids about a murder. With another incident involving the same school and some of the same kids, you’d think they’d be hot on their trail but nope, they’re nowhere. These are just a couple of incidents that show up in episode 1 but with 8 chapters to get through, you get the point that a lot more compound on top of this shaky foundation. You can really tell that there’s a lot of hope here for the audience to just switch off and not question these things. Personally, I think this discredits the audience, who aren’t as stupid as the writers clearly believe they are. It’s a shame because comparing this to the earlier seasons, which were smartly written and well-handled, season 6 just feels inadequate in almost every way. And of course, the ending hints at another season to follow. Elite hardly lives up to its name now, given the quality we’ve received over the past few years. Blasé would probably be a more apt title, making season 6 an unfortunate misfire.
