The Boarding School: Las Cumbres

The Boarding School: Las Cumbres is a Spanish mystery and teen drama-thriller television series, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 19 February 2021. Produced by Atresmedia Studios and Globomedia, it is a reboot of the popular series El Internado, which originally aired from 2007 to 2010.

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Premise

The fiction takes place in a boarding school for troubled teenagers located in an ancient monastery isolated from the world in which the students endure strict discipline. Four students, Manuel Villar, Amaia Torres, Paul Uribe, and his sister Adele Uribe plot to run away from Las Cumbres, a boarding school for "problem children". Adele backs out at the last minute and Paul cannot bring himself to leave his sister behind, so Amaia and Manuel run off into the woods. Manuel stumbles and is knocked out. Amaia watches in disbelief as a dark figure resembling a plague doctor picks him up and carries him away. When she is caught shortly afterwards by Mara the headmistress and Mario the gym teacher, they dismiss her claims as fantasy. Amaia and Paul, and later their friends, take it upon themselves to find out what happened to Manuel Villar. Their efforts lead to an ancient secret society, La Logia del Nido del Cuervo—the "Raven's Nest" Lodge— and to other mysteries at Las Cumbres.

Cast

; Key

Carlos Alcaide as Manuel Villar
Daniela Rubio as Adele Uribe
Daniel Arias as Eric
Claudia Riera as Inés/Alicia
Gonzalo Díez as Julio
Paula del Río as Paz
Francisca Aronsson as Rita
Natalia Dicenta as Mara, director of the boarding school
as Mario, physical education teacher
Mina El Hammani as Elvira, science teacher
as León, music teacher
Alberto Amarilla as Elías, monk and Latin teacher
as Arturo, the monastery abbot

;Introduced in season 2

Production and release

Created by Laura Belloso and Asier Andueza and produced by Atresmedia Studios and Globomedia, the series is a reboot of the series El internado, originally aired from 2007 to 2010, and of which Belloso and Andueza were respectively co-creator and screenwriter. Asier Andueza, Laura Belloso, Sara Belloso and Abraham Sastre were charged with writing the screenplay. Denis Rovira, Carles Torrens and Jesús Rodrigo directed the episodes. The rolling credits feature the theme "Corre" performed by Natalia Lacunza. Filming started in Navarre on 3 March 2020. Shooting locations included the Monastery of Irache in Navarre, San Sebastián, Hondarribia, Lazkao, Usurbil, Ergoien, Bilbao, Anglet and sets in the Zinealdea complex in Oiartzun. The first season consisted of 8 episodes with a running time of roughly 50 minutes. On 6 May 2021, cast additions for season 2 were announced. Directed by Denis Rovira and Mikel Rueda, shooting of the 8-episode season had already begun by then.

Reception

Reviewing for before the series' general release, Alicia P. Ferreirós highlighted among the things working well in the first season aspects such as the presentation in the pilot episode, the mythology building, the scare factor and the season finale, while she negatively assessed the late and irregular development of some plots other than the central one as well as the appearance of some expendable secondary characters. Likewise, Mariló Delgado of Hobby Consolas praised the mystery, the well-timed scares and the good performances by the cast members, while mentioning secondary plots having trouble getting started and apparently going nowhere as downside, giving it 84 out of 100. Álvaro Cueva of Milenio considered the series as "all the greatness of El Internado, the original, but with today's editorial and technical possibilities".