R29 Recaps: Every Episode From Elite Season 4

Never has there ever been a high school so rich in money and murder than Las Encinas, and season 4 of Netflix’s Elite is only solidifying the prep school’s reputation. The new season of the spanish teen soap opera is bringing it all back, from a new murder mystery to new sexually adventurous teens just counting down the moments before they can hook up with new classmates on school grounds. But, before we get into what’s going down in season 4, let’s do a quick recap of Elite seasons 1 through 3 to really set the scene.

Remember, in the past three seasons, there have been almost as many murders and crimes as there have been hookups at the prestigious high school. First, there was Marina’s (Maria Pedraza) murder, then there was Samuel’s (Itzan Escamilla) disappearance, and, finally in season 3, there was the saga of Polo (Álvaro Rico) — who, despite killing Marina for a watch, somehow got to go back to school and finish out the year before he was accidentally killed by a drunk Lu (Danna Paola) with a broken champagne bottle. And that’s just the murdery stuff. Season 3 also saw Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau) and Samuel get kicked out of school on the very last day, Ander (Arón Piper) beat cancer with Omar (Omar Ayuso) by his side, and Cayetana graduated only to wind up staying at Las Encinas — as a member of the custodial staff. Then Lu and Nadia (Mina El Hammani) went off to Columbia University, leaving Guzmán with no women to juggle for the first time in two years. 

As in every other season of Elite, each episode begins teasing a new mystery, one that will only be solved when the season ends. This time, the flash forward starts with Guzmán, sitting in the Lake Club (the official logo says it’s a “VIP Club”), fireworks going off behind him. A detective walks in and says he needs to talk to him about what happened. Below them, by the water, paramedics gather on the dock, and sirens blare. 

At the end of season 3, Guzmán, Samu, Ander, Omar, and Rebe (Claudia Salas) were all ready to start their senior year (some for the second time), but season 4 starts with a huge curveball. Ander’s mom, Azucena (Elisabet Gelabert) is out of a job. The school has brought in a new principal to whip this place into shape. Benjamin (Diego Martín), a former CEO, is ready to make his mark on the school. His first act as principal: single out the scholarship kids, Omar and Samuel, imply that they probably don’t deserve academic scholarships, and tell them that they’ll have to pass an entrance exam if they want to stay the year. 

Meanwhile, three new kids are introduced: Ari (Carla Díaz), a confident swimmer who catches Guzmán’s eye by almost beating him in a race, Patrick (Manu Ríos), who approaches Ander in the showers and straight up checks him out; and Mencía (Martina Cariddi), a rebel (you can tell because she’s wearing a harness under her uniform) who vibes with Rebe. But before any real connections are formed, the truth comes out. They’re the new principal’s kids, and, as a sign of loyalty to Omar and Samuel, no one will talk to them. 

After their first day, Benjamin takes his kids to dinner at the Lake Club, the fancy country club where Samuel and Omar work now. Mencía and Patrick tell Benjamin how his plan for the scholarship kids is already ruining their time at this new school, but even Ari’s suggestion that he reconsider isn’t entertained. Benjamin dismisses her out of hand, telling her that she shouldn’t worry about his job when she already has so much on her plate with Mencía. (Keep that in mind for later.)

The next morning, Benjamin and his kids arrive at school to find the students staging a sit-in in the front entrance. Mencía joins the group, and later joins them to talk strategy. She tells them that their only hope at trying to reason with Benjamin is to go through Ari. If anyone can make him change his mind, it’s her. Rebe nominates Samuel to go talk to her, but Mencía throws her weight behind Guzmán. He’s not so into the idea. The last time he tried to get close to a girl with an ulterior motive, he ended up falling in love with her, and he and Nadia are trying to make long-distance work, so he doesn’t want to be tempted. (We miss you, Nadia!) But, Omar begs, and so Guzman relents and ends up asking her out for drinks after school.

On their date, Guzman and Ari bond over having lost family members. He opens up about his sister, Marina, and she tells him about her mother, who died in a car accident that almost killed Patrick. Guzman mentions the test, but also accidentally mentions a girlfriend. When Ari presses him, he says, “the past is in the past,” and despite that not being a denial, Ari accepts it.

Meanwhile, Patrick reaches out to Ander and invites him to go out with him to a gay club, implying that, if Ander goes out with him, he’ll give Omar the test answers. Omar doesn’t want Ander to go, but he does anyway. Patrick and Ander get pretty close on the dance floor, and are almost about to hook up right there when Ander finally snaps out of it and leaves. He wants to help Omar stay at Las Encinas, but he won’t betray him. 

The other principal’s kid, Mencía, spends the night out with Rebe. The two get along great, but Rebe is still feeling gun shy after Samuel’s betrayal, and she tells Mencía as much. After they kiss, she runs away, scared of getting close to someone again, and leaves Mencía at the bar alone. Instead of going home, Mencía stays out all night, and when she finally returns in the early morning, it’s already time for school. She heads straight past her dad and siblings to her room, and Ari follows, asking her to do better. Can’t she see that what she does hurts Ari, who is being held responsible for her? “Haven’t you hurt us all enough as it is?” she asks, clearly hitting a nerve.

The next night, when Mencía refuses to go to dinner with her dad and Ari, Benjamin announces that he’s cutting her off. He’ll support her with the bare minimum of what the government requires for a parent, but she won’t have access to his bank accounts anymore. Ari tries to get Mencía to turn things around, saying that she dug this hole for herself and she doesn’t have to fight her family. This tactic does not work. Instead of trying to make nice, Mencía lashes out, telling Ari that the only reason Guzmán went out with her was to try to get her to talk to Benjamin about the test. 

After their fight, Mencía packs a bag and leaves home. She texts Rebe, but when she doesn’t answer, Mencía ends up letting herself get picked up by an older man, Armando, who buys her a drink, listens to her sob story, and rents her a room at a hotel. He says he won’t pressure her to sleep with him, but that she can stay as long as she wants and order room service on his tab. Mencía decides to sleep with him, asking him to stay the night. When she wakes up, she’s alone… with a small stack of 100 euro bills on the nightstand.

At the Lake Club, Samu decides to make a last ditch appeal to Benjamin, begging him to let Omar continue at the school without taking the test. He can’t afford to lose anybody else, he says, before his boss comes to take him away and fire him. Benjamin isn’t particularly moved, but he asks Ari if she thinks he should ease up. She says no, he should give the exam as planned. 

The morning of the test, Patrick apologises to Ander and Omar and gives Omar the answers to the test. Omar doesn’t trust him, but he doesn’t really have any better options. Both Samu and Omar pass, and even though Benjamin suspects that Omar cheated, he lets them go.

In the pool, Ari gets revenge on Guzmán, beating him in a race by telling him that she DMed Nadia and told her all about their date. She was lying, but warns him that he shouldn’t try to betray her again. 

The episode ends with another glimpse into the future. Ander, Samuel, Guzmán, Patrick, Rebe, and Mencía are all standing, waiting and watching. Suddenly there’s a heartbeat, and a voice on a radio says, “The girl is alive.”

Ari is alive and on a ventilator. Her alcohol blood levels are high, and if she's not used to drinking this could just be a horrible accident. Benjamin asks the doctor if someone pushed her, but there's no way to know.

Benjamin, Ari, and Patrick are attending a fancy greeting party for a French aristocrat, Prince Philippe (Pol Granch). He's going to be a new student at Las Encinas this year.

At the school, Cayetana is giving the crew the low-down on the new royal in town. (She is the Instagram queen after all.) Meanwhile, the school is installing security cameras and metal detectors as new security measure. This includes background checks on the students and their families. While the students are filling them out, Benjamin heavily implies that he already knows all about Rebe's mother's illegal activities, so now Rebe is convinced that she's going to be kicked out. Though, as Guzman and Samu point out, she's not the only one with a family member with a criminal record.

Unfortunately for Rebe, her future at Las Encinas becomes even more tenuous after Benjamin catches her making out with Mencía in the locker room.

Later that night, Ari confronts her sister, telling her that their dad thinks she's been spending her nights with Rebe. Even worse, Benjamin thinks Rebe has been paying her with her mother's dirty drug money. And when Mencía won't deny it, Ari tells her that she will not let their relationship continue. Little does she know, when Mencía tries to text Rebe, she doesn't get a response, and she ends up texting Armando instead.

At a speakeasy with Armando, Mencía is approached by the owner of the club. The woman warns her that she's seen Armando with other girls like her, and wonders if she really knows what she's doing and if she's prepared for this line of work. Mencía brushes her off.

Meanwhile, there's a new love triangle brewing. Guzman and Samu are both into Ari, despite also both insisting they're not. Guzman and Ari patch things up after their date, and decide to start over. And when Samu calls him out for connecting with Ari while still technically dating Nadia, Guzman challenges Samu to ask Ari out himself.

Later that night, the O.G. crew meets up at the Lake Club. Guzman is freaking out because Nadia pushed back their video call, and he feels like he's the only one making an effort in the relationship. So, to boost his mood, he suggests they throw a party at Samu and Omar's place — no new kids allowed.

Samu manages to get Rebe alone and tries to patch things up between them — again. She slaps him and reminds him that whether or not they are friends after his betrayal is her decision, not his. As she walks away, Samu says that he doesn't need for them to be friends, he just hopes that what he did doesn't make her close herself off from other people.

The next day, it's the Prince's first day at Las Encinas. Cayetana goes old school, dressing up and seemingly pretending to be a student welcoming him to the school. She's getting away with it too, until Ari busts in and not-so-politely asks her to please clean up a spill in the computer room. But, in a twist, Phillippe isn't bothered that she's a cleaning lady. Instead, he brushes it off and informs Ari that he wanted to introduce himself to everybody, "staff included."

Benjamin, Patrick, and Mencía watch Ari in her hospital bed from behind a glass door. Benjamin suggests the police think someone might have pushed her into the lake, but they're not sure who. Upon hearing this news, Patrick looks especially panicked.

After Ander mentions to Omar how hot it was to be hit on by Patrick, suggesting they might try something new, Omar checks out the new kid in the showers. He admits to Ander that hearing about his dalliance with Patrick was a total turn on, and so, maybe — just maybe — they could consider a threesome. But at the end of the day, it's got to be Omar and Ander, together. They're discussing the best way to approach Patrick with their proposition when Benjamin walks in and suddenly declares everyone. vacate the showers, all so that Phillippe can shower in private.

The next period, when Phillippe walks into their classroom, Guzman leads the kids in a walk out. Only Ari and Patrick stay behind at their desks. Outside, Samuel tries to defend Phillippe, saying that he shouldn't necessarily be held responsible for his parents. But Guzman accuses him of just trying to suck up to Ari.

After his chilly reception in class, Phillippe goes for a swim alone. No students allowed in the gym with him, apparently, but Cayetana, who is mopping the floor, is. She teases him about having no friends, he teases her about being a creepy stalker groupie, and they decide to start over. After their chat, Cayetana lobbies to get Phillippe invited to Samuel and Oscar's party. And when Ari overhears, Samuel decides to invite her and Mencía and Patrick. Guzman tries to scare Ari out of going, declaring that the party is actually a towel party — everyone there must be wearing only a towel.

Not only does Ari rise to the occasion, following the dress code, she also decides to get drunk. She doesn't drink often, but Patrick encourages her. He wants her to loosen up and let her drunk alter-ego, Ira, come out. It turns out that a drunk Ari is a much nicer and carefree Ari. She flirts with Guzman until Nadia calls and then turns her attention to Samu after a towel mishap causes some temporary nudity on his part. They end up hooking up as Guzman has a tough talk with Nadia, who is slightly jealous at seeing her boyfriend partying without her.

Elsewhere at the party, Rebe apologises to Mencía for ignoring her, and admits she's scared of getting into a new relationship, but Mencía isn't. They kiss and makeup. Then Omar and Ander finally work up the courage to ask Patrick if he'd be into having a threesome with them, and they end up doing it right then and there in the bathroom. Finally, Cayetana makes her move on Phillippe. The two bond over fashion, and they kiss in their towels.

Guzman leaves the party, exiting just in time to see Samu and Ari stumble into his bedroom, and calls Nadia. He thinks maybe she's right, that their relationship is just too hard right now. He suggests they give each other a few days to really think over their relationship.

Ari's heart rate is speeding up, she's crashing.

At school, Phillippe tells Benjamin he doesn't want anybody expelled because of the background checks. The new head of school insists it's all for security, but Phillippe responds that his family hasn't asked for half of the security measures Benjamin installed. Which begs the question: just what are these extreme security measures for, Benjamin?

Benjamin offers to get rid of certain measures, and suggests they take the cameras down, but Phillippe doesn't want that. He likes the cameras. As he says this to Benjamin, we see in a flashback to last night, when he and Cayetana had sex on his bed... in front of a very conveniently placed hidden camera.

Ander is talking to detectives. He tells him that Benjamin and his kids came in and ruined everything they touched.

New television screens have been erected all over the school, and Benjamin interrupts their morning with a special message to all students. Prince Phillippe wants to thank everyone for their warm reception, and he's showing his appreciation by throwing the Bal de Paris (a French coming out ball) here, with all of them. As Cayetana tells the group, this is a Very Big Deal. Not only is the Bal one of the hottest social events of the season, it's also a particularly fun one where the women get to ask their dates out, not the other way around.

Rebe reaches out to Samu to thank him for inviting Mencía to his towel party, and to get his advice on what she should do now. She's absolutely falling for Mencía and she doesn't know what to do, she tells him she feels crazy. And that's when she accidentally sends one of her messages to Mencía.

Rebe avoids Mencía for the rest of the day, but she can't do that when Mencía shows up at her house after school. They decide to get to know each other better, with lots of shots, and are hooking up in the living room when Rebe's mom walks in. The awkward situation takes a turn for the worst when Mencía recognises Rebe's mother, Sandra (Eva Llorach), as the woman who owns the speakeasy, the one who knows how she's getting paid at night.

Sandra gets Mencía alone and asks how much she's charging her daughter for that hook up. She tells Mencía to get away from her daughter, or she'll tell Rebe everything. Mencía stays a little while longer to save face, but when things start getting heated with Rebe, she leaves abruptly.

Later, with Armando, she finds out that Sandra is still selling drugs at her club, despite telling Rebe that her business is all legit now. With this new leverage, Mencía takes Armando's cash and goes to buy fancy clothes and presents and heads over to Rebe's to take her to the Bal. She tells Sandra she knows about the drugs, and now they can move forward with mutually assured destruction. Later, at the Bal, Sandra leaves Mencía a voice message telling her not to threaten her, especially where her daughter's involved, but Mencía doesn't seem too scared by it.

The morning after the party, Ari wakes up with a massive hangover and zero desire to talk to Samu. It's obvious it was just a hookup, and to her, he's still a low-class scholarship kids way below her status.

At school, Guzman is still unsure of where he stands with both Nadia and Ari after the towel party. Nadia changed her relationship status to single on Facebook, which hurts Guzman, and he tells Samu that he's sad she agreed to their breakup so quickly. But Samu says that he thinks that Guzman broke up with Nadia after the party because he couldn't handle seeing Ari and Samu hooking up. But he shouldn't be, Samu says. He and Ari are not in a relationship, and he even tells Guzman that he should just go for it if he really wants to.

Despite the encouragement, Guzman refuses Ari's invitation to go to the Bal as her date after he sees her talking to Samu in the hall. He tells her he's not into "sloppy seconds," and when Ari informs him that she didn't even ask Samu to be her date, he still turns her down. Besides, he has a video chat with Nadia he has to get to.

Guzman and Nadia agree to try and move on and look forward. And the conversation sends him straight to Ari's house to apologise. He promises he'll try to be better at not being a jerk, and she decides to let him take her to the dance — for a real date this time.

The next day, Guzman tells Samu about his date with Ari — an act that seems both generous (he wants to make sure Samu is okay with it) and cruel (he definitely wants to rub it in Samu's face) at the same time. Samu takes it as a dig, and they squabble — AGAIN.

After Omar turns down Patrick for a hangout, saying he's too tired, Ander goes to meet him alone. Omar is not happy when he finds out, but he's not furious either. He makes Ander tell him everything that happened, and says he wants to move on if they just agree that it'll never happen again. Ander agrees, but the peace does not last long.

Phillippe gives Cayetana a special invite to the Bal and asks her to ask him. She's hesitant, but agrees, and he really goes all out to make her feel special. He invites her over and surprises her with a hallway full of beautiful designer gowns for her to choose from, and the two have sex on the bed in front of the surveillance camera.

As she's getting ready for the Bal in Phillippe's room, Cayetana finds the surveillance camera. Even worse, she finds the saved video files of their hookups on his laptop. She still goes forward with the Bal, having to perform the debutante dance, but she's clearly not feeling it, and Phillippe can tell.

Cayetana confronts him about the camera, and he insists that it's a security measure. He claims that he had an ex accuse him of abuse and trying to blackmail him, so now he has cameras everywhere in the house. It's not personal, he says, but she feels completely insulted, belittled, and taken advantage of. It's not just that he recorded them without consent, it's also that the betrayal feels like more confirmation that she's just some lowly peasant he used to have fun. He'll never see her as his equal. Phillippe denies that there was any nefarious intention on his part, and kindly reminds Cayetana that she doesn't have the best reputation either — she did lie about her entire past and date a murderer for a year. But even with all that baggage, he still wants to get to know her, and he just hopes she wants to do the same.

Omar and Samu aren't attending the Bal as guests, but as bartenders, and they're both equally unhappy about it. Samu gets a front row seat to Ari and Guzman's date, while Omar, who is tasked with charging Ander's phone behind the bar, sees texts from Patrick asking Ander to hook up.

The night ends with Guzman and Ari officially moving forward as a couple, while Omar decides to use the info he got from the texts to meet up with Patrick instead. He's angry that Patrick won't leave Ander alone, but not so angry that he won't have sex with Patrick.

Ari wakes up.

In the hospital, Mencía sits at Ari's bedside, holding her hand. Ari is breathing with the help of an oxygen mask and is conscious, but she looks out of it. Mencía asks her who pushed her, but Ari doesn't seem able to answer, and her dad mentions that the doctors think she'll get her memories back soon.

Mencía is getting ready for school after a night with Armando. He mentions that he actually went to Las Encinas 20 years ago, and then casually asks Mencía if she'd let him pass her number along to a friend of his to expand her clientele. She agrees, but she wants the same hotel room with everything included, and his friend will pay double.

At school, Benjamin takes a special interest in Samuel and asks him to consider joining the debate team. When Samu says he can't because the extracurricular clashes with his hours at the Club, Benjamin offers to give him work-study and pay him 25 percent more than he makes at the Club for various administrative work at school.

Samu isn't really sure why Benjamin wants to help him, and neither are Omar and Guzman. When Samu tells them about Benjamin's offer, Omar immediately suspects there's something more going on, and Guzman agrees. People like Benjamin just don't help people like Samu for no reason, he says.

Rebe is fully smitten with Mencía, and she wants to surprise her with a little present. But, when she goes through her girlfriend's bag to find a place ot hide a necklace, she finds Mencía's hotel key instead. At first, she thinks its for a date the next night, but when Mencía tells her she's busy then, Rebe fully cancels their plans for later and doesn't give her the necklace.

Later, Rebe confides in Samu and tells him about the hotel key. She's sure Mencía is cheating, but Samu tries to get her to stop assuming the worst. They have no idea what Mencía is up to, and even if she is cheating, it's not Rebe's fault. She's not happy about it, but Rebe is willing to accept Samu's logic.

After Rebe cancels their date, Mencía returns home to find her dad waiting for her with her secret pile of cash. She'd been hiding her earnings in a teddy bear, but he has it all now, and he insists on knowing where she got it. He thinks it's money from Rebe, and Mencía denies it. But, because she's unable to tell him where she got it, he keeps it as she heads to her room. The next day at school, Rebe confronts Mencía about the hotel room key, and she tries to brush it off by saying she's working odd jobs, but her vague answers don't satisfy Rebe.

Meanwhile, Ander and Patrick plan to surprise Omar with a group hang out, hoping to ease the tension between them. But as soon as Omar sees Patrick at the gay club, he wants to leave. Ander, however, insists on staying, and he even joins Patrick in taking some GHB. The two get high, and they try to convince Omar to let loose, but he's not into it. Omar heads out, and Ander follows, leaving Patrick alone to take another hit. It's a little too much for him, though, and he faints on the dance floor. Luckily, Ander and Omar are still at the club, so they take him back to Omar's place to sober up.

The night out ends with Omar taking care of both Ander and Patrick, and when Ander falls asleep, Omar agrees to stay on the sofa with Patrick. They end up falling asleep together, and Ander catches them cuddling the next morning.

After serving Guzman and Ari at the Club and being taunted by Guzman, Samu decides that he will join the debate team after all. So, after school, Guzman shows up at Ari's house to pick her up for a date when Samu arrives. He's here to meet with her dad, and is promptly ushered in. In their meeting, Benjamin reveals that he also had to work his way through high school, just like Samu. And he has made it his mission in life to prove that anybody can make it with hard work — if they deserve it. That's why he wants Samu to join the debate team. Samu agrees, and Benjamin informs him that he'll be debate partners with Ari.

Samu arrives at the hospital to see Ari, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He waves at her from behind the glass before Benjamin intercepts him. Ari's not up for visitors, he says, and he doesn't want Samu to bother his daughter. Samu seems flustered and surprised by the sudden cold shoulder. He leaves with his flowers in hand.

Phillippe isn't giving up on Cayetana. He attempts to patch things up, bringing her coffee at work and telling her he deleted her videos, but she's not convinced. So, he hatches a plan with Omar and lures Cayetana to the Lake Club after school for a special date. He wants to get to know her without their social statuses getting in the way, so he got Omar to open the Club early before dinner just for them. Only, they're not exactly dining together, he's going to be her waiter. She gives him a rough time, but eventually decides that she wants to give their relationship a chance again.

Omar seems happy for them, but his own love life is taking a hit. While Cayetana and Phillippe are making up in the empty restaurant, he brushes off a text from Ander, telling him not to come to the Club because he's super swamped.

At Benjamin's house, Patrick comes in with pizza just as Samu is getting ready to leave, but when the family notices Mencía isn't there, they freak out. (Apparently just because he disowned her doesn't mean Benjamin doesn't want her home for family dinner.) Benjamin immediately begins to panic, and he orders Patrick to check the Lake Club to see if she's there, and tells Ari that they're going to go to Rebe's house to look for her.

Samu tries to stick up for Rebe, telling Benjamin that she's the best person he knows and her mom doesn't deal anymore. The principal might like him, but he doesn't believe him. Where, he asks, did his daughter get 3000 Euros in cash if not from Rebe?

Ari tries to tell her dad that he isn't in the headspace to drive, but Benjamin doesn't listen, so Samu offers to drive the car instead. Ari takes him up on his offer, and tells Benjamin to stay home and wait by the phone in case she comes back.

In the car, Ari explains that this has happened before, years ago, when Mencía was a little girl. She ran away once and the family didn't notice until dinner time, she says. Her mom grabbed Patrick and went out looking for her, but as it got later, and she got more stressed, her mom got in a car accident. She was killed instantly and Patrick was bedridden for two years after.

At the Club, Patrick is getting agitated looking for his sister, so Omar takes him aside. Unfortunately, Ander sees the exchange and assumes Patrick is going after Omar now that they've all called things off. He confronts Patrick as he's leaving, and, angry and scared for his sister, Patrick tells Ander that he shouldn't be worried about him going after Omar, because Omar is the one who went after him at the Bal.

They make it to Rebe's, but, of course, Mencía isn't there. And when Samu mentions the 3000 Euros Benjamin found in her room, she's shocked. With Rebe's being a dead end, Samu takes off with Ari to continue the search. But right after he leaves, Rebe remembers the hotel key. She takes off on her motorbike to find Mencía.

At the hotel, Mencía is meeting up with Armando's friend, and things are getting bad fast. He wants to use handcuffs, which she's uncomfortable with. And when her dad calls, she asks if they can stop so she can answer, but he says no. When Rebe arrives at the hotel, she can hear Mencía asking for someone to stop and telling them she's not comfortable. Rebe knocks and pretends to be room service, saying she's got a free bottle of champagne for the room. Luckily, Mencía gets the message and convinces the guy to open the room door. When he does, Rebe slams her motorbike helmet into his gut, throws him and his clothes out of the room and closes the door.

Rebe gets Mencía to call Ari and tell her she's okay before confronting her about her illegal activities. Mencía explains that she was doing it because she wants so desperately to be free from her father, and Rebe kind of understands. The two hug before Rebe brings her home.

Now that Mencía has been found, Ari is so relieved she asks Samu if he wants to stay over for dinner. Samu accepts, and is eating pizza with Benjamin and his family when Guzman arrives and looks on from outside. He leaves without a word.

Simu sneaks into Ari's room. She looks at him, but she doesn't seem afraid. He's about to say something when the cops come in and arrest him. Benjamin watches on.