ELITE (or SPANISH TWINKS A GO-GO)

Warning: There may be spoilerish content here, but I’m not going to spill any of the bigger developments.

With season 2 rapidly approaching, I’m glad I spotted this Euroteen drama when I did; I can hardly wait to see what happens next. Elite (pardon my lack of accent marks in this article, as I don’t know how to employ them) is a Spanish version of tawdry adolescent dramas like Riverdale or 90210, except that it is a thousand times better. (Can we really say we’re surprised here? European vs American sensibilities?) It is also a very steamy, erotic program, more than the CW could get away with, and to be honest, it’s a bit of a shock to have teenage characters depicted in such a frank and, well, naked way. (One assumes that the actors are older than the characters they play, but they do have more liberal values about such things over there.) And one more thing worth noting: Every lead character in this series is beautiful, which is something I’ve never seen in my entire television- and movie-watching life. I kid you not. You really can’t avert your eyes.

So this is partly about class warfare on a teenage level. The elite are the families who send their kids to the top rated Las Encinas school, which looks like a big boxy office building more than a school. Another school, where the poor and ordinary folks go, has had a structural collapse that caused major injuries, and as an act of goodwill, three kids from that school were selected to attend Las Encinas:  Samuel is the most straight-laced, grounded, “normal” character in the show. He’s like a Brandon from 90210 or a Clay from 13 Reasons Why. When the series starts, you get the impression that this is his story, more than anyone else’s. That turns out not to be really true, but I think he may be the most relatable of the bunch. Christian is a cocky hedonist with a big mouth, which I think masks a deeper insecurity. And Nadia is a Muslim girl from a very traditional family. She seems stuck up at first, but as the series goes on, she is full of surprises.

The new kids are not accepted at first. Guzman is the school bully who really does believe he’s superior to these lower forms of life. (Incidentally, his dad owns the construction company that cut corners and caused the accident at the other school.) His girlfriend Lu is just as bad in her arrogance; she is a classic “mean girl”. Guzman’s sister Marina is one of the few people who are nice to the newcomers, but she is full of complexity of a sort that might make her more dangerous than the snobs.

Guzman has two best buds: Ander is an involuntary future tennis pro (pressured by his father). His secret is his love for his drug dealer, Omar, who happens to be Nadia’s brother. Polo is a conflicted bisexual who becomes discontented with his long-time relationship with girlfriend Carla, so they decide to add a third party to the mix. That third party is Christian. Things get complicated. Polo and Marina are the most complicated and troubled characters on the show, even more so than Nano, Samuel’s brother, who recently got out of prison and owes money to some thugs. If I would label anyone a villain in all this, it would be Nano. The brothers both fall for the same girl—Marina—and she falls for them right back. On TV as in life, these types of things tend not to turn out well.

There are several passionate relationships, and they are all fun to watch. Most of them are destroyed by episode 8. The sweetest relationship by far is Ander and Omar, and I don’t just say that as a gay man.

In addition to lots of sex, there is a ton of manipulation and blackmail going on here. On one level, these people seem to genuinely care for one another, and yet, they are not above threatening to ruin each other’s lives to get what they want. This isn’t only true about the spoiled rich kids. Nobody is immune to the desperate temptation to save themselves by screwing someone else. 

Like most teen dramas, this is rife with popular “issues”—class, drugs, HIV, homophobia, Islamophobia, teen pregnancy, abortion, coming out, and of course the constant struggle to establish your own identity against whatever your parents have in mind for you. But what’s refreshing about Elite is that the writing is such as to not seem at all preachy or condescending. It treats its characters—and its audience—with respect, and allows them to think for themselves. Are these kids in over their heads in their effort to grow up too soon? Of course. But that is the life of teenagers these days. They lack the maturity to do the things that they do, but they don’t care. It’s like diving into a pool when you don’t know how to swim.

I care about these characters, and that’s the strength of the show. As Janet Jackson sang, “They’re living in a world they didn’t make, paying for a lot of adult’s mistakes, living in a world where grownups break the rules.” They’re deep-down decent, but they do terrible things. They’re despicable, but they’re not trying to be. They are doing the best they can. This is the teenage world. If these characters were real, I’d pray for them.