Spanish drama series Elite first released in 2018 took everyone by surprise with its gripping storyline and plot twists. Three seasons later, fans highly anticipated the release of Elite’s fourth season.
Ahead of the release of season 4, there were four special episodes released by Netflix: some closing up untied storylines and some introducing new ones. The short stories are not spin-offs but stand-alone editions. Each episode is split into smaller segments and dropped each day in anticipation of season four’s release.
But if you missed it, don’t worry: we’ve got a rundown of the whole week of Elite just for you.
Monday – Guzmán, Caye, Rebe
The first episode dropped on Netflix on Monday centred around Guzmán, Caye and Rebe. Split into 3 parts, it follows the trio as they experience a bad high on magic mushrooms.
Promised a fresh start by her mother, Rebe has moved house and throws a housewarming party to which only Guzmán and Caye show up. However, it appears Rebe’s mother has been lying to her when a huge amount of cocaine shows up.
Tuesday – Nadia & Guzmán
The second episode focused on the relationship between Nadia and Guzmán. At the end of season three, we saw Nadia decide to go to New York with Lu to study.
Six weeks after the couple decided to try a long-distance relationship, we saw Nadia and Guzman start to feel the toll of the eight hour time difference. Ultimately the couple came out of the episode strong.
Wednesday – Omar, Ander, Alexis
Ander, Omar and new character Alexis, were the centre of the third episode. Alexis made a small appearance in season three where he comforted Ander during his cancer treatment in hospital.
Fans were hoping to learn more about this new character and how he will fit into the rest of the Elite universe. However, Alexis did not feature in the fourth season.
Thursday – Carla & Samuel
The final episode focused on Carla and Samuel. Fans were dying to know what would happen with this couple after the previous season ended with Carla departing to study abroad.
In the short story, we saw Samuel attempt a big romantic gesture to convince Carla not to leave. Eventually, the couple decided to end things on a high note going separate ways at the end of the episode.
Friday – Elite Season 4
The fourth season dropped on Netflix on the 18th of June was met with very mixed reviews. Some applaud the show’s ability to keep things fresh with compelling storylines, but many believe that the season failed to captivate audiences compared to its predecessors.
The promotional materials and short stories promised a lot of change, with many original characters leaving and many new ones being introduced. Writers of the fourth season failed to understand what fans wanted and who they were invested in. Most of those fan favourite characters were written off the show or have arcs being put on the backburner with most of the attention on these new characters.
New Characters
The fourth season introduces new principal Benjamin with his three kids Patrick, Ari and Mencia, all students at Las Encinas. As well as Philipe, a Prince who has trouble making friends and accepting the word “no”.
Most of these new characters, especially Ari and Patrick, were nothing more than plot devices, used to divide the original cast. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the character development of the original cast weren’t completely thrown out.
A prime example of this was the love triangle between Ari, Guzman and Samuel. Firstly writers broke up fan favourite couple Nadia and Guzman to allow Guzman to pursue Ari without cheating. Ari and Guzman become a couple, however, she starts sleeping with Samuel behind Guzman’s back. This eventually blew up when Ari confessed her love for both of them driving an even bigger wedge between Guzman and Samuel, who had in previous seasons built up a strong friendship.
Fans Are Not Happy
Elite’s previous seasons have been praised for its representation of Muslims, the discussion of diverse sexual themes and thoughtful sex scenes. However, most of season four’s major backlash has been directed at the sexual content. An article by Express has called it “oversexed” with a gratuitous amount of sex scenes.
One fan stated on social media: “Just finished watching #Elite4, it was so gross no story just filth and that’s it.”
Many fans have expressed their disappointment with the season through social media claiming that the over-sexualised nature ruined the show for them. Many believe that this impeded much of the character development built in prior seasons.
“I have no words. This season is a whole circus lmao, first they ruined the character of Guzman, Samuel, and Ander.”
“They make Guzman break up with Nadia only for a bland girl. They ended with Ander and Guzman leaving which means, they aren’t gonna be there next season??? #Elite4
“They ruined Ander’s character. Guzman had such great development in S3 and they ruined it”
With the announcement of Elite being renewed for a fifth season, fans are really hoping writers will fix these issues before its debut in 2022.
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