You are still nostalgic about Gossip Girl whose last episode was already six years ago? You are going to smile again: with the Spanish series Élite by Carlos Montero, Netflix renews the teenage gossip mode with, in prime, actors from Casa de Papel. The pitch? Three scholarship holders show up in a high school of rich kids and intend to impose themselves during parties where sex, champagne and violent exchanges are the dress code... What we though of Gossip girl 2.0:
A pitch darker and more sulfurous than Gossip Girl
The second original Spanish series of Netflix, Élite counts in its casting no less than three actors from La Casa de Papel. More daring than the Gossip Girl model, the story is bloodier and willingly sassy. Samuel, Nadia and Christian were awarded scholarships to come study in a high school that only receives the children of the Spanish elite. When a student is brutally assassinated inside the establishment, of course they are the one everyone turns to... Beyond the stories about (very present in the series), competition for grades, in-fighting and jealousies, the series, that in some points resembled “How to get away with murder” brings with this murder a good dose of drama and keeps us on edge.
The Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf
While the intrigue takes place not in New York but in Spain, the main characters which you deliciously adored or hated in Gossip Girl reappear in Élite. Handsome Chuck Bass is replaced by another daddy’s boy just as much as heartbreaker and politically incorrect. His girl friend? The Latina Blair Waldorf, tout just as pretty, clever and pest as the original version...
Verdict
If you enjoy teenagers series and more particularly teen drama, Élite will certainly appeal to you. The well constructed pitch and efficient characters make the series addictive, but the result is not quite the same as master Josh Schwartz, the creator of the unmatchable Gossip Girl.
