In Elite Season 2, the stakes feel higher. To compound the tragedy of a student being killed, the second season sees a student disappear, which is the central mystery. I’ve broken down all the key moments, twists, shifts in allegiances, new friends, and dark secrets into a comprehensive and digestible recap.
Episode 1 – “20 Hours Missing”
There’s always some detective work to be done when returning to a complex series; the usual hasty Googling to remember who killed and/or slept with who. Netflix’s Elite seemed to anticipate that with a decent recap of the first, wildly popular season of the soapy Spanish melodrama, and it’s a good primer for the events that follow in Elite Season 2, Episode 1, “20 Hours Missing.”
The episode’s title is an unsubtle hint that we’ll be dealing with a disappearance here, and the seven subsequent episodes follow the same pattern. By episode’s end we’ll learn who’s missing, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Following Marina’s (Maria Pedraza) death, Nano (Jaime Lorente) is in prison for having committed the crime, while Polo (Álvaro Rico), the real culprit, keeps his cards close to his chest. The murder has reverberated throughout Las Encinas, but there’s little time for mourning. Before anyone knows it, Marina’s stuff is packed up, her family is gone, a new girl takes her place, and class is back in session.
As with the first season, “20 Hours Missing” introduces another multiple-timeline structure, as we leap back and forth between the ongoing present-day case and three months prior. Some students, like Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau), are making their allegiances clear, once or twice in quite an unhinged way, whereas others, such as Omar (Omar Ayuso) and Ander (Arón Piper), just wish they could return to some kind of normality.
And what’s more normal for teenagers than a party? “20 Hours Missing” features an EDM-fuelled belter of a shindig, where tensions boil over, warnings are given, and, in an impressively disorienting sequence, Christian (Miguel Herrán) is brutally knocked from his bike. In a burgeoning subplot, Omar and Nadia’s (Mina El Hammani) father finds himself in the same hospital. And after promising Nano he’ll do everything he can to find Marina’s real killer, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that it’s Samuel (Itzan Escamilla) who is revealed to be missing.
“20 Hours Missing” is a solid start to the second season, proving itself capable of delivering the style, flair, and melodramatics that made the first outing such a huge hit.
Episode 2 – “34 Hours Missing”
‘Elite’ Season 2 Image (Credit – Netflix)
It’s party time all the time for the students of Las Encinas, but a heavy diet of drugs and alcohol are not conducive to keeping secrets in a murder-mystery. And, as we learn in Elite Season 2, Episode 2, “34 Hours Missing”, this is a murder-mystery — Samuel isn’t just missing, he’s dead.
But because of Elite‘s timey-wimey structure, which it plays with perhaps a little too much in “34 Hours Missing”, we still get to enjoy Samuel’s investigation into last season’s death. His latest prime suspect is Carla (Ester Expósito), and you know what suspicions mean in a teen-focused show like this one: They’ll lead to sex.
In the meantime, as Lu tries sucking up to Cayetana (Georgina Amorós), Guzmán increasingly struggles to keep a handle on his emotions, spiraling into a numbing cocktail of drink and drugs. It’s hard to keep anything down in that state, from your lunch, which ends up on the floor, to your theories about who might have committed murder. Guzmán’s theory, which he shares with Ander, is that Nano is innocent and the real killer is lurking among them.
The police investigation continues apace in “34 Hours Missing”, with money discovered under Samuel’s bed, and circular face-to-face interviews scattering more clues among the various cast members. Valerio suggests Lu knows more than she’s letting on, and a struggling Carla reveals that Samuel is, in fact, going to be “missing” for good.
Like its overuse of needless time-jumps, the eagerness of “34 Hours Missing” to point the finger at anyone and everyone does work to its detriment a little bit, with its accusatory undertones feeling a little desperate. But the last-minute revelation helped to keep the episode from feeling like filler.
Episode 3 – “36 Hours Missing”
Guilt runs rampant throughout “36 Hours Missing”, in many forms; guilt over the inability to protect a loved one, guilt over not being able to express your true feelings and identity, guilt over having committed murder. You know — the usual. As the police intensify their search for Samuel, knowing that as the timeframe tightens the likelihood of survival lessens, the students of Las Encinas start being worn away by the secrets they’re all keeping.
Following their sexual misadventures, Samuel still hasn’t stopped suspecting Carla’s involvement in Marina’s death, and plots to steal her phone. It’s a good idea — no teenage girl on earth can resist the urge to text, tweet or snap a secret. His plan to nab the device doesn’t quite succeed, but in the end, he’s able to get a peep anyway. By the end of “36 Hours Missing”, he knows that Polo has confessed something, though not exactly what.
Polo has indeed confessed — to Ander, who spends the bulk of “36 Hours Missing” struggling with his relationship with Omar, whose father will never accept them. The two share a passionate moment on a dancefloor, unconcerned with who sees them, proving once again that Elite is more interested in its teenage drama than it is its murder-mysteries — however much time and structural flourish it might devote to the latter.
Of all the students, Polo is perhaps the most guilty, and for the most valid reason, though it’s grimly ironic he is comforted by Guzmán, whose increasingly erratic behaviour — not at all helped by Valerio — continues to cause problems for himself and others. “36 Hours Missing” touches on healthy ways to grieve, which one imagines might be something people of all ages, but especially teenagers, need to hear.
Despite a warning from Nano that continuing his personal crusade might get him hurt like Christian, whose accident probably wasn’t an accident, Samuel persists. And in the present-day, his bloodstained blazer is discovered, as is the knowledge that shortly before his disappearance he was threatened by someone. Elite‘s constant drip-feeding of crucial clues are like catnip for the binge-watching crowd, who, as we approach the midway point, have plenty of mysteries to unravel.
Episode 4 – “59 Hours Missing”
‘Elite’ Season 2 Image (Credit – Netflix)
As we approach the halfway mark of Elite Season 2, time is beginning to run out for the students of Las Encinas. The introduction of a ticking-clock plot device is always a surefire way of creating tension in a series like this, and “59 Hours Missing” has a doozy: Ander confronts Polo over his confession, and gives him 24 hours to tell Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau) — or he will.
It might be a bit artificial, but it’s good for an injection of suspense. And besides, Elite is doing a pretty good job so far of getting across how it might feel to be burdened with such heavy secrets; one of the underlying themes of “59 Hours Missing” is that idea of how selfish opening up to someone can be, especially when that person didn’t ask for your trust. In telling Samuel that he believes Nano is innocent, Ander is trying, in a small way, to unburden himself of the knowledge.
Polo, to be fair, is still overwhelmed by grief, desperately self-medicating to numb the pain. In the present-day investigation, he’s a focal point, having almost lost himself to that grief. But the loyalties of teenagers can sometimes be immovable; nobody lies easier than young-adults, but those lies can be weaponized when they’re viewed in a different context — say, by police officers in a missing person case.
Amid all the escalating despair in “59 Hours Missing”, relationships between the students continue to burgeon. Guzmán and Nadia — the former literally becoming the man of the latter’s dreams — have their own connection, while Samuel and Carla become closer, despite the obvious fact that dishonesty defines their relationship. Rebeca also has a crush on Samuel. But it’s Omar and Ander whose tortured relationship feels most put-upon by current events, giving Elite Season 2 the air of a tragedy more than a murder-mystery.
Earlier in “59 Hours Missing”, a furious Ander tells Polo to withdraw as much money as he can to bail Nano out of prison. At the end of the episode, Nano returns to school in a last-minute stinger, much to the chagrin of a furious Guzmán, who has to be held back from attacking him.
Episode 5 – “63 Hours Missing”
If you’re a kid, Halloween is good for a few things: Tricks, treats, sweets, costumes, all that wholesome cosplaying fun. If you’re a teenager, Halloween is good for an excuse to dress up, just like when you were a kid, but also to get drunk, party, and potentially ruin your life. I’m telling you, kids, there’s nothing fun about getting older.
Halloween and an upcoming party is the focus of “63 Hours Missing”, but it begins right where the previous episode left off, with Nano having shockingly returned to school. He insists to Guzmán that he wasn’t responsible for his sister’s death, and we know he’s telling the truth, but unfortunately, nobody else does. Well, nobody besides Polo, Ander and possibly Samuel, anyway, the latter of whom tells his brother not to return to school again.
Brotherly love is complicated. All this time, Samuel has been campaigning on Nano’s behalf, but now Nano is free, his attempts to involve himself are complicating matters — especially for Samuel. And that’d be the case at any time of year, but especially during Halloween, when elaborate outfits and cursed drinking games are sure to make an appearance. Seriously, has anything good ever come from a game of Never Have I Ever?
It certainly doesn’t in “63 Hours Missing”, which is absolutely rife with teenage theatrics and melodrama. As Nano continues to lurk in the shadows, more secrets and truths are exchanged among the students, and their relationships continue to become more complex. Guzmán calls it off with Lu in favor of Nadia, whose conservative father makes a relationship all but impossible — and let’s not talk about the photo of Omar their father sees on Nadia’s phone. Lu finds comfort in the arms of Valerio — probably best not to read too much into that. And Carla, whom we learn posted Nano’s bail money, becomes closer to Samuel.
Ander is becoming increasingly unable to deal with Polo’s truth, and by extension, Polo is becoming increasingly unable to deal with his own truth. His attempts to halve his burden only created additional pressure for him, and in a bizarre way, you can kind of understand why he almost bottles Ander. Luckily he doesn’t, since bludgeoning his way through his problems hasn’t exactly worked out well for him in the past.
In the present-day investigation, the police interview Rebeca. The final moments of “63 Hours Missing” reveal a possible motive for Samuel’s disappearance and probable murder: At the end of the party, he viciously beats Nano.
Episode 6 – “66 Hours Missing”
Perhaps it’s just me, but I really feel like Elite Season 2 threatened to buckle under the weight of its own storytelling in “66 Hours Missing”, which piled on so many secrets, threats and double-crosses that by the end I was wondering how likely it’d be that these kids wouldn’t just sit down and hash things out. I know that’s easier said than done, but it’d still be easier than this.
Either way, it’s business as usual at Las Encinas. Guzmán is still dead-set on the idea that Nano killed his sister, but the latter is pretty straight up about not having done so. We have another casualty in Elite: Nano’s car. RIP.
Lu, meanwhile, is fretting that word might get out about her doing the no-pants-dance with her brother, which is obviously better kept a secret. But she also attempts to blackmail Nadia into failing her classes, which isn’t a good idea when you’re keeping such a dangerous secret about your own life. Nadia confides in Valerio, who tells her to press Lu about the “incident” with him. She does, despite not knowing what he’s referring to, and Lu naturally assumes that Samuel has given the game away.
Speaking of Samuel, he and Rebeca dig deeper into Marina’s death, poring over old photos from the previous school year that implicate Polo and Christian. Samuel also approaches Guzmán and tells him outright that the two of them were involved.
As Polo spends an evening with Cayetana, “66 Hours Missing” finds a very poignant scene between Omar and his father arguing about his sexuality and how it feels to lose his father; it gets to the core of what Elite is really about when it isn’t about battering people with trophies and suchlike. It’s the highlight of an episode that gave in a bit to its enigmatic tendencies; the difference between a scene like this and, say, Carla continuing to be mysterious when confronted by Samuel, is notable in its impact.
In the present-day case, Polo continues to become more of a suspect, not immune to the efficiency of cell phone tracking, and things get even more troublesome between Guzmán and Nano. We’re hurtling towards the finish line now, and hopefully, some of the bad habits of “66 Hours Missing” start to be less of an issue in the final two episodes.
Episode 7 – “84 Hours Missing”
‘Elite’ Season 2 Image (Credit – Netflix)
These days, it’s easy to imagine that everything you do and say is recorded and catalogued somewhere for later use — possibly against you. Elite very much likes that idea. With a damning audio recording floating around and a sex tape proving to be a major plot point in “84 Hours Missing”, this penultimate episode has a finger on the pulse of revenge-porn topicality and our always-online society.
The filmed sex is between Guzmán and Nadia, filmed by Valerio, and eventually passed on to Lu. Lu is the MVP of “84 Hours Missing”, managing to blow the series wide open by taking the lid off various bubbling subplots and letting everything spill out. She lays into Cayetana, puts the video of Guzmán and Nadia on the internet, reveals that Samuel is sleeping with Carla, and generally turns the whole season on its head in a shocking and also strangely satisfying series of outbursts.
Meanwhile in “84 Hours Missing”, Ander is still desperate for Polo to reveal the truth, but can’t bring himself to do so on his behalf. Even when approached directly by Guzmán, he’s unable to tell the truth. But with chaos unfolding as a result of this penultimate episode, the truth can only be around the corner.
Episode 8 – “0 Hours Missing”
“0 Hours Missing” reveals the truth of Samuel’s disappearance and apparent death, but it also reveals a problem with popular Netflix shows, which is that they never seem to end. This is another finale in an increasingly long list that doesn’t really feel like one; it resolves some subplots and abandons some others, but at the end of it, everybody involved ends up in more or less the same position they started in. Nothing is really resolved, there’s no strong sense of payoff for all that has happened until now, and the overall effect is basically of an hour-long advert for the third season. Disappointing, then, but also not a complete disaster, as we’ll see.
Some of “0 Hours Missing” feels a bit ridiculous, and some of it feels intentionally obfuscated by the past, present and future all colliding. The melodrama is turned up a notch, and viewers who weren’t entirely sold on the show’s second season — probably, all in all, an improvement over the first in some important ways — might consider the finale the straw that broke the camels back.
For instance, Polo being finally exposed as Marina’s killer is long-overdue, but his last-minute return to school — courtesy of some diving shenanigans on the part of Cayetana — essentially repositions him in the exact same place he was in at the start of the season: Guilty, but free, and with no evidence to prove what he did.
Cayetana having Polo’s back seems like a decent payoff for Polo getting her re-enrolled at Las Encinas after the whole Instagram influencer scandal, as well as bankrolling her family — everyone deserves a second chance and all that. There are more second chances given out in “0 Hours Missing”, including Omar forgiving Ander for remaining tight-lipped about Polo’s guilt. But sometimes a second chance is just an excuse to keep things as they were, and that’s a bit how it felt to see Polo arrive back at school in a two-weeks-later epilogue. Perhaps he’ll be next season’s victim.
As for Samuel, he’s neither missing nor dead — his whole disappearance and presumed murder was a scheme concocted by him and Guzmán to force a confession out of Polo and Carla. How much this does or doesn’t make sense is kind of besides the point, since it’s so deliciously soapy that it feels like Elite embracing its own identity in a way that’s almost impossible to dislike. Those who are anal about plot particulars will almost certainly hate this development, but then again anyone who’s anal about plot particulars won’t have watched two full seasons of Elite anyway.
