‘Elite Force’ Season 1 Ending Explained & Will There Be a Season 2?

For those who have already powered through all six episodes, you know the finale packs a serious punch. The gripping climax forces our hero, David, and his elite crew of professionals to defuse a highly volatile and deeply personal hostage situation. What exactly goes down in those chaotic final moments? And what are the chances of a second season? Read on as we break it all down below.

Elite Force Season 1 Finale recap

The finale opens as Max (Tristan Zanchi) is sidelined during an exercise of a plane evacuation. He tries to plead his case with Cédric (Guillaume Gouix), who reminds him he has two weeks until a disciplinary hearing, and until then he cannot involve him in the field, as it’s all but certain he cannot continue within the squad. He then informs Max that somebody is there to see him; it’s his mother, Nathalie (Jacqueline Corado), who tries to come clean about the fact David is his biological father, which he found out in episode 5. As she tells it, Laurent (David’s deceased companion) was deployed abroad for four months; when he returned, she discovered she was pregnant with Max. Only later, when Laurent and Nathalie tried to conceive another child, did they find out Laurent had male infertility. As for David’s identity as Max’s biological father, Nathalie insists she kept the secret “to protect him”. Max says that having a father who was alive would have made all the difference in the world, accuses Nathalie of robbing him of a father figure, then storms out of the car.

As David brings a coffee to Jessica (Judith El Zein), he says that he is ready to be “the chief of the stay-at-home Dad section”; Jess worries that her daughter Manon is not returning her calls. As he leaves home, David receives a call from one of his colleagues, enquiring on the whereabouts of Manon; he tells him there is a hostage situation inside her music academy, with no further details. When David arrives at the scene, Cédric is already briefing his squad, and a list of hostages is being made; in one look, David learns that Manon is among them, and tells Jessica on the phone, who breaks down crying. The situation doesn’t involve any stated demands from the terrorists, and the crew is described as very prepared; the entire music academy building is made of glass, which exposes the agents trying to infiltrate it. Soon, plans are hatched to find a way in.

Picture Credit: Netflix

Max is then enrolled in the squadron of Cédric dealing with the hostage situation. As they try to plug into the internal surveillance system and get a clear view of the amphitheater where the hostages are held, two members of the unit are shot and seriously wounded; one of them is revealed to be Raphaëlle, the girlfriend of Max. Despite Cédric’s initial objections, as David’s emotions run high, the situation calls for all hands on deck. David takes command of another unit to get closer to the terrorists; as he progresses into the building, the terrorist demands to speak with David, and reveals herself to be Amal Mayard (Negzzia), the mother of the young kid who was killed more than 15 years ago, a fact that was revealed in episode 5. Mayard is a former soldier who was in the army base when the attack happened; the GIGN crew discovers she is a specialist in long-range shooting. Horrified, as Amal vows to make David suffer, they deduce the crisis is a kamikaze operation and devise a plan to extract the hostages as soon as possible.

David, advancing inside the building, eventually finds Amal and two henchmen: as they hold him at gunpoint, she orders them to hold their fire and that “it will only end when I say so”, as David says that she will never make it alive and that she already lost. The two henchmen then beat David up.

The crew of Cédric eventually establishes a clear visual, and five GIGN members take out all the terrorists in the amphitheater simultaneously, including a shot taken by Max himself. As they evacuate the hostages, the unit discovers the CL-30 explosives are linked to a remote-controlled device; worse, that Manon is handcuffed to the explosives. David eventually finds Amal, with a gun pointed at her throat and the other with a remote; she vows that David will “lose everything, just as I did… now”, and then kills herself as she activates a 5-minute countdown.

Tanya manages to free Manon from the explosive devices, and David, Manon and the remaining GIGN successfully evacuate the amphitheater with seconds to go. Meanwhile, the unit locates a storage unit belonging to Amal; they discover that Amal was the one who killed Kröller earlier in the show. But then, they also discover that Amal spied on Jess and took photos of the license plate of her car. They realize, all too late, that the real target of the operation was Jess and that the hostage crisis was a decoy. As David learns that information, he sees Jess waving through the glass window of the music school. She had been on the premises since the beginning of the crisis. She is then blown away by the explosives under her car as David and Manon watch.

Will Elite Force (GIGN) be renewed for season 2?

The shocking ending to the season is a failure for David, who fell into the trap laid by Amal; it also does not leave loose ends. The fate of Max within the unit is left undecided; his role in the hostage crisis may mean he will be cleared by the hierarchy, should the series go on. The promotion of the show has mainly featured star Tomer Sisley, and not the co-creator and director Julien Leclercq or co-creator and co-writer Sylvain Caron. Even if Sisley underlines the death of Jess was “planned from the start” in a Télé Loisirs interview, he does not elaborate whether the series could have more seasons. As of now, no new French Netflix shows broadcast since last fall have been officially renewed for additional seasons, save for Blood Coast; Lupin, which will return this fall, has been off the air for three years. Given the encouraging ratings, this bodes well for the future of the series, should there be one.

What did you think of the conclusion of Elite Force? Let us know in the comment section below!