Elite – Season 3 Episode 8 (The Finale) Recap & Review

Who Killed Polo?

The season 3 finale of Elite will almost certainly divide fans of the show. To preface, I loved the ending but this show is not without its problems, and this episode only exemplifies some of the more pressing ones with this show (which we’ll get to in a bit). In the meantime though, the season finale sees the truth surrounding Polo’s death come to light, as the fragments of what we’ve seen before aligns and we witness the shocking events that transpired that night. In the aftermath of this, we’re graced with an open, bittersweet ending and therein lies some of the problems fans may have with this one.

The finale picks up exactly where we left off, as Polo arrives at the club and walks through the dancefloor, breathing heavily as everyone stares at him in anger. He tells Cayetana he needs the trophy and takes her aside, imploring her to give it up so he can admit that he was the one who killed Marina.

It’s here Polo learns the truth about Cayetana being the one who sent the tweets and alerted the schools, but Lu arrives before this can bubble over and this is where we see the scenes of her spilling a drink over his top.

While Carla and Rebeca talk, she apologises to Carla for selling her drugs and the two settle their differences while discussing Samuel’s obsession with Carla and how much he loves her. While Omar refuses to give Polo a drink, he hurries off while Samuel grabs a knife and prepares to stab Polo. Only, Guzman stops him before he can and he drops it to the ground.

Lu snatches up the champagne bottle from the bar Valerio is at and here we see the conversation between Nadia and Lu come to fruition. With the knife dropped on the floor, Samuel asks Rebeca to try and scare Polo.

Sensing something up, Polo sips his drink and hurries off as Guzman sneaks up behind him and tells him he needs to watch his back because everyone wants to slit his throat. It turns out Polo actually turned up at the party because he wanted to repent and tell them all he’s sorry and apologise. Guzman tells him to leave but just before he does, Polo asks whether Guzman will be able to forgive him after getting out of prison, “Never” is the reply he gets.

The champagne bottle smashes on the floor as Guzman tries to grab the neck of the bottle but someone kicks it across the floor. In the bathroom, Polo tries to dry the spilt drink as Lu arrives and tells him to leave. However, she holds the neck of the champagne bottle up to his throat, as he tells her to stop grovelling for Guzman as he’ll never love her. As he goes on, he tells Lu that nobody loves her. As they wrestle, she knocks him against the wall… and right into the smashed glass which causes her to stab him in the chest with the neck of the champagne bottle.

Polo staggers out of the bathroom with blood all over him as Carla confronts her. Polo races across the room to see Guzman but dancers bumped into him by accident and he tumbles out the window. As he does, we see Carla grabbing the champagne bottle. Guzman races downstairs and tells Polo he forgives him as he passes away.

With police on the way, Carla whispers something to Samuel while the aftermath of the party sees the group consoling Lu, with everyone informed on what happened. Samuel decides to stand tall together and the entire group join and decide to put their fingerprints all over the champagne bottle, muddying the evidence.

Cayetana’s cut hand comes from her deciding with Rebeca to head down and get Polo’s fingerprints all over it too. Just in time as well, given the police all race in and start investigating the crime scene.

Due to a couple of eye-witnesses, Ander and the others decide to try and throw the police off the scent by making sure they all accuse each other. In the aftermath of this, Ander admits to needing Omar, given how scared he was. It’s here he admits to lying about hooking up with someone in a bid to push Omar away.

Lu is the final person to be interviewed but she’s so shocked she struggles to follow through with the lie. Valerio gives her some words of encouragement though and Lu is taken aside to try and put the blame on someone. Instead, Lu tells the investigator she’s shaken up because Polo was her friend and their group is essentially a tight-knit family and they have to go through this again, first with Marina and now with Polo. She eventually goes on to admit she didn’t do it.

In the aftermath of this, everything appears to be resolved as the group leave the nightclub in the morning. Carla tells Samuel she’s going abroad and kisses him goodbye. Omar leaves with Malick, while Ander is left on his own. Rebeca tells her Mother she wants a boring life and begs Sandra to quit. If she doesn’t, then Rebeca will be the one to leave her.

Meanwhile, the investigator sifts through a box that may hold the trophy from Marina’s murder as Polo’s Mum is called into the station where she admits that Polo was the one who murdered Marina. With this now confirmed, at home Samuel tells her Mother that Nano is not coming back as he doesn’t trust her. However, she and Samuel share a beer together instead.

While Carla decides to pursue her education, she puts Valerio in charge of PR at the winery, much to her Father’s disdain. As they leave, Guzman and Ander sit at the grave for a while before leaving.

Omar prepares to leave for New York, where his Father apologises to him about what happened with his boyfriend. It’s a big moment and one that sees him hug his Father as it seems like he’s finally accepting his sexuality. Guzman phones Nadia and tells her if she comes back he’ll be there for her, while Malick prepares to leave with her and Lu.

Finally realizing what he wants, Omar decides not to go to New York and joins Ander in chemo, telling him he won’t leave and hasn’t stopped loving him since day one. It turns out Ander’s leukemia is in remission. With things on the up, Nadia phones Guzman and tells him she’ll be there for him when she returns. Unfortunately both Samuel and Carla wind up the worse for wear, as Samuel eats pasta alone out of a Tupperware box while Carla drives to the airport.

Two months later, school returns and the group head back in as Cayetana mops up the floor, now working as a cleaner and the big casualty of the season.

Not everyone gets a happy ending during the climax of Elite and given the overwhelming finality to this season, and the promise that there’s more in the pipeline from the writers for this story, Elite bows out its year 1-3 class with a pretty good graduation. To be honest, the new characters have added little to this season and Yeray in particular hasn’t had a lot to do beyond empowering Carla. Samuel and Carla not hooking up at the end is a bit of a shame too while Omar’s character feels like it’s been mishandled, especially given how pure he’s been in the past.

The big theme here though is family and in that respect, Elite hammers this home beautifully in Lu’s monologue inside the club. It’s a moment that encapsulates the entire feel of the show and much like a real family, there’s ups and downs, along with heartbreak and joy along the way.

Still, Nadia putting friendship before her scholarship is a big moment and the twist surrounding the champagne bottle and who was responsible for killing Polo was well worked into the narrative, with the opening segments slotting the puzzle pieces together really nicely at the end. It’s not perfect, and with such a big ensemble of characters there were always going to be casualties in the end, but on the whole Elite bows out with another pretty good finale. While not quite as strong as season 2 overall, season 3 makes for another decent installment and leaves the door wide open for the future.