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| Amazon Studios |
“El Internado: Las Cumbres” (aka “The Boarding School: Las Cumbres”) has been in session for two seasons. Are they worth binge-watching? The Spanish series premiered Season 1 in 2021 on Amazon Prime Video, and a year later, it returned with Season 2. If you are here, you are probably wondering if there is going to be a Season 3 of “El Internado.”
Before we do that, though, let’s briefly supply the necessary context to “El Internado: Las Cumbres.” The series is a reboot. The original show aired from 2007 to 2010, giving rise to breakout star Ana de Armas, Yon Gonzalez of “Gran Hotel” fame, Martino Gives (Gonzalez’s “Cable Girls” co-star), and more. So, where does the new series come into play?
It is set in the present-day at a picturesque mountainside school for “troubled” youth. Strict teachers, harsh punishments, and isolation collide with a strange sci-fi bent. Otherwise, it is a page ripped right from Paris Hilton’s tragic nightmares. Both seasons feature daring escape attempts by the students as they uncover one disturbing mystery after another.
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| Amazon Prime Video |
Season 1
There is a slow boil to “El Internado: Las Cumbres” Season 1. While this is a reboot/sequel series, it has to set up its origin story, mythos, and so on in its debut outing. This is accomplished without drawing upon its predecessor series too much. Thus, making it easy for franchise newcomers to catch onto it.
You have to be patient and assured there is a worthy payoff in Season 1. There is a nice amount of character development and teen drama woven into the elaborate mystery at the dark heart of “El Internado: Las Cumbres.” All of which create narrative balance to an ambitious premise that overwhelms reality at times.
The acting ensemble is likable and largely empathetic, and those playing villains make it easy for viewers to sink their teeth into loathing the students’ adversaries. On a story level, the cast of characters is sympathetic, and Season 1 manages to feel purposeful in its direction. At least, it seems to be heading somewhere, which makes Season 2’s direction all the more surprising.
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| Amazon Prime Video |
Season 2
“El Internado: Las Cumbres” comes roaring back with a shocking survival, death, and the introduction of a new character played by Clara Galle. After gaining a great deal of forward traction in Season 1, Season 2 stalls in comparison. It is hard not to think of “Gilligan’s Island,” which always undermined every shot the crew had at freedom.
There are characters who make strides towards altering their fates, while others are cemented in a rut. It is tough to watch with any hope things will improve. All of it seems as futile as the “Pretty Little Liars” determining who the latest villain was torturing them. The Liars often got some wins, though. “El Internado” kids (and viewers) are not shown any such mercy.
If you watch TV to escape, it is tough to suggest “El Internado: Las Cumbres” as an escape. It is painful to see and feel no momentum building in the overarching storyline. It periodically stagnates while teasing a blend of sci-fi and spiritual horror to solve its elaborate riddle. To its credit, certain answers do arrive in Season 2 that spiritualism skeptics can appreciate.
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| Amazon Prime Video |
Final Thoughts - Season 3?
Season 2 of “El Internado: Las Cumbres” ends with a cliffhanger that makes Season 3 essential for closure. The series needs Season 3 to cut to the chase and settle its mystery, once and for all. If it returns for a third season, the time for stall tactics would need to end quickly. Each episode should theoretically manifest as a definitive build-up towards a conclusion.
Hopefully, Amazon comes through, and renews the series for Season 3. If Amazon does not want to produce an entire season, a feature film that wraps up the missing pieces to the puzzle would do the trick. After all, viewers have invested 16 episodes/hours into this saga, and they have more than earned a resolution at this stage.
While you wait for a verdict on Season 3, check out “El Internado: Las Cumbres” (“The Boarding School: Las Cumbres”) Season 1 and Season 2 on Amazon Prime Video.
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