Netflix's 'Oasis' Review: More 'Elite' Than 'White
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Netflix's new Spanish series "Oasis" is judged closer in spirit to the streamer's eight-season teen soap "Elite" (which ended in 2024) than to HBO's "The White Lotus," despite sharing the flash-forward-to-a-luxury-crime setup and crashing-wave B-roll
- Ramón Campos and Jon de la Cuesta, the producers of Netflix true-crime series "The Asunta Case," produce "Oasis," which opens with resort employee Celia's disappearance and then sidelines law enforcement entirely
- The chosen protagonists are Celia's best friend Helena (Ana Garcés) and guest Dani (Tomy Aguilera), who met Celia less than 48 hours before she vanished and narrate through a voiceover framed as Dani's interrogation
- A lockdown ordered by chief inspector Verónica Sánchez's character traps staff and guests together, producing class-conflict beats like staffers surrendering room fans to sweating high-rollers when the air conditioning fails
- The review finds the class commentary "bluntly stated and ultimately marginal," with Helena's working-class struggle undercut by her constantly coiffed styling and antagonists like Alicia rendered "generically troubled and erratic"
- All eight episodes of "Oasis" are now streaming on Netflix, positioned by the reviewer as summer-window distraction TV rather than prestige Emmy-season programming
Why it matters: For Netflix, the review frames "Oasis" as a non-English-language original that leans on proven teen-soap DNA ("Elite") rather than the prestige-class-tension template the "White Lotus" comparison implies, meaning the show's marketing hook may oversell what the execution delivers—relevant as the streamer continues expanding Spanish-language programming alongside its 40 new series slate.
