Warning: Spoilers for the first season of Netflix’s Élite ahead.
If you know me (or follow me on Twitter), chances are you’ve already heard me sing the praises of Élite. Netflix’s new Spanish-language series follows three working-class students who are given scholarships to Las Encinas, an elite private prep school in Spain, after their own school collapses — only to find themselves caught in a murder investigation when one of their peers turns up dead.
In the two weeks since it premiered, I’ve tried to turn everyone I can onto the show, even going as far as to personalize my recommendations for each person. I describe it as a “deliciously catty show about wealthy teens” to Gossip Girl fans, as a “drool-worthy stash of real estate porn” for those who loved Big Little Lies, and as an “engrossing murder mystery” for those who like the time-hopping structure of procedurals like How to Get Away With Murder.
But no matter who I’m talking to, I always stress one particular factor (two, rather): Omar and Ander, two (unspeakably attractive) gay characters who, over the course of the season, somehow find a way to be together despite everything pulling them apart.
As the series’ defining queer relationship, it’s not saying much that Omar and Ander’s love affair stood out to me the most. (After all, I am a gay man.) But it wasn’t just the fact that Omar and Ander were gay that drew me into their orbit. Their relationship was always more than just that, in and of itself — it also opened up discussions about class difference, racism, and religious dogma. It was one of the show’s most emotionally impactful stories.
Élite is notable for dealing with gay intimacy in a frank, realistic way — particularly when compared to other high school shows (perhaps aside from Riverdale, whose impressive exploration of gay cruising culture in the show’s second season deserves mention) — allowing Omar and Ander to have real sex and, more importantly, show the act as something explicitly sexy. It’s one of many reasons Omar and Ander are my favorite television couple of the year.
But beyond that, much of Omar and Ander’s appeal stems from their being two of the most sympathetic characters in a show full of incredibly unsympathetic people. Though initially introduced as part of a group of elitist Las Encinas rich kids intent on belittling the school’s transfer students, Ander, a budding tennis champion, is quickly established as one of the nice ones. In early scenes, he noticeably refrains from engaging in his friend group’s threatening taunts, and even helps to de-escalate some of the more potentially volatile arguments that break out between his friends and new students. It’s later revealed that Ander isn’t filthy rich like most of his peers. Rather, he’s at Las Encinas as the son of the school’s principal. Plus, his father has big plans for his future as a tennis star, even though Ander finds himself losing interest in the sport completely.
Omar, a brother to one of the transfer students and a best friend to another, is in a similar liminal space. In his first scene, he answers a question about his experience at his new school (which is not Las Encinas) by saying, “I’m a Muslim, I don’t play soccer, and I was caught reading in the hallway. I’ll be on wanted signs tomorrow.” In addition to the usual struggles many young queer people face with their sexualities, Omar also has to deal with his devout Muslim father’s efforts to rush him into an arranged marriage. Knowing his father would likely disown him if he knew he was gay, Omar resorts to dealing drugs to save up enough money to escape from under his father’s oppressive thumb.
Like any worthwhile television couple, Omar and Ander come from perfectly mismatched backgrounds. Ander is a privileged upper-middle-class teen being raised by parents who are perhaps too supportive, while Omar works countless hours in his parent’s corner store and spends any extra time he has selling drugs to save extra money. The fact that they both have strained relationships with their fathers helps them bond on a slightly deeper level.
And unlike many of the show’s other central relationships — including one that starts as a bet of sorts, and not one but two love triangles — Omar and Ander’s relationship seems to be built on something real. The two have an easy, palpable chemistry in their scenes together; if it weren’t for the outside forces that would conspire to keep them apart, they could be in the running for the world’s happiest couple.
So when Ander first tells Omar that he loves him, it doesn’t feel cloying at all, even if it does come a bit soon in their relationship, considering the circumstances. In that scene, with the two entwined completely naked in bed, Ander’s admission seems to carry more weight than just those words would imply. With everything going on around them, Ander telling Omar that he loves him also meant that he was ready and willing to face the scrutiny of the world, as long as it meant being with the love of his life.
Omar, who admittedly has much more to lose by his own admission, doesn’t immediately say it back. In fact, he doesn’t say it until days later, when he finds Ander nearly beaten to death after one of the show’s most violent scenes. Convinced that Ander was dead, Omar bursts into tears while holding him, shouting, “I love you! I love you, damn it!” It’s heartbreaking. But luckily, Ander isn’t actually dead. Quickly after Omar says that, Ander opens his eyes and forces his mouth into a sly smile before saying, “Asshole, they had to kill me for you to say it.” (If you must know...yes. I did cry very hard during this scene.)
By the time the eight-episode first season of Élite comes to a close, Omar and Ander’s relationship seems to be on more solid ground than any other on the show. The finale finds the rekindling of one relationship (rich kid Guzmán and mean girl Lucrecia) as well as the reshaping of another (charming smooth-talker Christian and self-interested Carla, now dating one another without Polo, who they were in a brief triad with). But only Omar and Ander seem to be together out of a real shared desire to be with each other, without any other motivations. Though Omar ends the season still (understandably) playing straight for his father, a late scene that shows him and Ander making do with their current situation in the only way they know how suggests that these two will somehow find a way to make it through. And now, with the recent news that Élite was renewed for a second season, I can only get more excited to see what the future holds for TV’s best couple. To quote one of my favorite Omar and Ander scenes: “Just wait until that hits you. See you later...”
Omar + Ander 4ever.
Get the best of what's queer. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
