‘Élite’ Season 4’s Towel Party is an Instantly Iconic Orgy of Hotness

There’s nothing like a good party to shake a teen soap opera up. Gossip Girl made a name for itself with its lavish UES fetes. The O.C. revamped our meaning of the phrase “pool parties.” Heck, even one of Harry Potter’s most dramatic sequences happens at the Wizarding World’s equivalent of a prom, the Yule Ball.

Since it debuted in 2018, Netflix’s Spanish drama Élite has made fabulous parties a calling card of its escapist fantasy. Sure, the privileged kids of Las Encinas are constantly being murdered, ruined, or heartbroken, but it’s all worth it for the over-the-top ragers they throw. Élite Season 4 Episode 2 culminates in one of the most brilliant party sequences I’ve ever seen in a teen drama. Élite‘s “Towel Party” was the perfect setting for a historic threeway, dramatic breakup, drunken hook up, and fairy tale romance. The Towel Party served up hot sex, insane storytelling, and some truly inspired costume choices. I’m in awe of how quietly brilliant it all was. So much so, Élite‘s Towel Party will stick with me far longer than Prince Phillippe’s lavish Bal…

Élite Season 4 feels like something of a reboot for the Netflix series. The show’s first three seasons dealt with the fallout of popular student Marina (María Pedraza)’s death. Who killed her was the main mystery of Season 1, Samuel (Itzan Escamilla)’s daring plan to expose the killer drove Season 2, and Season 3 centered on the gang covering up the accidental death of Marina’s murderer. Needless to say, the surviving class at Las Encinas has been through a lot together. To Élite‘s credit, the fourth season opens with the returning students tighter than ever. What could possibly tear them apart? The arrival of Benjamín (Diego Martín), a stern new headmaster, and his trio of troublemaking kids: prissy perfectionist Ari (Carla Diaz), her flirtatious twin Patrick (Manu Rios), and their hell-raising little sister Mencía (Martina Cariddi).

While Mencía immediately falls for the stylish Rebe (Claudia Salas) and sees the core Élite group as natural allies against her father, her siblings ruffle feathers. Patrick immediately wants to insert himself in Omar (Omar Ayuso) and Ander (Arón Piper)’s relationship and Ari re-sparks a tense rivalry between Samuel and Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau) Nevertheless, all three of the “Benjamín” kids and famous new student Prince Phillippe (Pol Granch) earn themselves invites to one of the most low-key parties in teen drama history: the aforementioned Towel Party.

The setting? Omar and Samuel’s lower class apartment. The rules? You can only wear a single towel. Note: you can wear it as a loin cloth with robe, as a dress, or even, as Cayetana (Georgina Amorós) does, as a daring two piece look. What happens? The inevitable. Towels fly off, flirtations boil over, and Élite once more proves it knows how to pull off intense teen drama.

The thing about the Towel Party is that it felt far more organic than so many other teen parties on TV. Samu and Omar’s digs aren’t lavish, but akin to many cramped city apartments I’ve partied in over the years. The concept is attainable for everyone attending. We all own at least one towel! And the party’s egalitarian vibe gets to spark real conversations about the role of class in courtship. Caye gets her prince and a drunk Ari sees Samu for the “hunk” he is.

But it’s not just hot and heavy hookups that happen at the Towel Party. When Guzmán finds himself jealous of Ari’s affections for Samu, he drunkenly breaks up with Nadia (Mina El Hammani). Elsewhere, Rebe admits the role heartache has played in her shy reaction to Mencía’s advances. Everything is dramatic, kinetic, realistic, and, most importantly, earned. (Right down to the fact that Rebe’s leopard print towel dress is made from the same towels we saw Guzman pull in Élite Short Stories: Guzmán Caye Rebe.)

Élite Season 4 Episode 2’s Towel Party encapsulates what makes this Netflix show so addictive in the first place. It’s sexy beyond measure and dramatic to its core. But it’s also so perfectly plotted that everything that comes to light feels like an organic revelation.

Élite‘s Towel Party brought the down and dirty sex the show’s known for — and the fabulous storytelling.

Élite Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.

Watch Élite on Netflix