L'Internat : Las Cumbres

This show has a great idea but just does not have the tools to make it. The idea behind the plot is a really interesting idea but the script let's it down completely. It also doesn't help that about 95% of the cast cannot act. There is also no tone to the show, one minute it's a fact teen drama and the next it's a supernatural thriller but it's as scenes were just thrown together in the edit. Having said that, it's weirdly addictive and I enjoyed it despite its many, many flaws. Side note, if you aren't gripped, don't continue because the end will not satisfy you.

Back in 2007, El Internado Laguna Negra was a huge success in spanish television with its crazy mix of mistery, teenage drama and soap opera. Almost 14 years later, Amazon has released a promising reboot: darker, scarier, with a higher budget, set in a boarding school for troubled teenagers next to an old monastery in the mountains. Is it worthy? Of course, it's ridiculously addictive.

And that line is between what could have been a tight, exciting plot and what became more or less a telenovela. At the start, what we were presented with was a school that was almost a panopticon. It was clear that the pupils had no personal life at all and were under the strict control of the staff. And just a word about the school. Are we seriously expected to believe that in modern Spain child abuse on this scale is or would be allowed? Or even if it happened, no one would blow the whistle or reveal it? As the series progressed the kids got away with more and more daring escapades under the noses of their teachers. Eagle-eyed teachers who spotted the smallest absence in the first couple of episodes suddenly failed to notice the disappearance of four or five kids from their class.

There were a couple of incongruous strands that added little to the main story. What on earth was the place Manu was being held in? What was it for? Who was shooting in the woods? What did the amnesia strand add? None of these matters was explained at all.

On top of all this, in a Catholic institution, the kids were getting up to all sorts of sexual shenanigans that would barely be tolerated in a secular school, if at all.

I don't want to get into spoilers, but the ending of episode eight was absurd. This was full-blown telenovela. Completely illogical, not even a deux ex machina, but a ludicrous resolution.

I watched till the end and jumped a couple of times at shocks that came up. But there is no consistency, no real unfolding of the story in a convincing way. I'm dubious as to whether I'll watch the second season that's coming in 2022.

Ignore the negative reviews.

There is a lot of nitpicky reviews about this show. Since I never saw the original series I can only comment on the five episodes I have watched.

The acting is overall good and there is a foreboding that seems to pervade each scene.

The setting and filming is very atmospheric. Clearly the director has a clear vision of the setting and the story.

One thing I think that is well done and clever is that there are no bright colors only drab colors that enhance the pervading atmospheric gloom of this mysterious school.

My only quibble is that the characters while watchable are not likable - don't know if was the way they were written or the actors portraying them. - so it's hard to root for them as they seek to learn the secret about their school.

Overall, I'm gonna give this 8 stars - as each episode has been a fun watch. Watch it in Spanish with English subtitles

I've watched the original El Internado Laguna Negra. This reboot has a good premise and promise. The issues I take with this iteration are mainly the Ines character and her storyline. This character and the plot around her drag this show down considerably. The character has an excessively blank personality even for an amnesiac. I remember the original El Internado fondly, the group in that show were all fun to watch. Only a couple of the kids are interesting in this show. I will definitely watch a second season and hope the sophomore year improves in plotting as well as the acting and characterization of Ines.