Patrick Comerford
In recent days I have been reading Naomi Klein’s prizewinning Doppelganger, A trip into the mirror world, which tells of the other Naomi Klein, her conspiracy theorist ‘double’. One is a leading academic in Canada and a regular columnist in The Guardian; the other is a fire-breathing, far-right propagandist, a frightening forewarning of what a second Trump term threatens to bring us.
There are times when I find it unnerving to come across someone else who shares my name, whether or not I am related to the other Patrick Comerford.
Of course, there are other people named Patrick Comerford who are Facebook friends or contacts, and we enjoy sharing birthday greetings and Christmas messages from one Patrick Comerford to another.
The name appears throughout my family history, from my uncle Patrick Thomas Comerford (1907-1971), an older brother of my father, back to Patrick Comerford (1584-1652), a 17th century Bishop of Waterford and Lismore who died in exile in France 300 years before I was born.
Indeed, I have found the name Patrick Comerford as early as 1549 – almost 500 years ago – and my other namesakes have included 16th century Bailiffs and Sheriffs, merchants who visited Spain and Portugal immediately before the Armada, a Cork wine merchant who whose daughter was a poet and whose grandson was a Church of Ireland rector (the Revd Patrick Comerford Law), a war hero from Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford, who died at sea during World War I, a Carlow county hurler, a star of Cork theatre, parish priests and missionaries in London, Glasgow, Nigeria, Mexico and the US.
But these are real Patrick Comerfords, and not doppelgangers or mirror images. They are real people in my family history.
On the other hand, Patrick Blanco Commerford is quite a different character from these bishops and missionaries, wine merchants and war heroes, actors and hurlers.
Patrick Blanco Commerford, his twin sister Ariadna ‘Ari’ Blanco Commerford, and their younger sister, Mencía Blanco Commerford, are among the principal characters in Élite, a Spanish teen drama series created by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona for Netflix.
The show is set in Las Encinas, a fictional elite high school in Spain that caters to privileged and wealthy teenagers. Élite initially focuses on three working-class students – Samuel, Nádia and Christian – who win places at Las Encinas through a scholarship programme, and on the social and romantic interactions they have with several students. The series ran for eight seasons from 5 October 2018 to 26 July 2024.
Although the series has its share of light-hearted moments, Elite mainly centres around the trials and tribulations of its protagonists, exploring ‘hot-button’ issues like sexuality, classism, parental neglect, and illicit activities including drug use, crime and murder.
In Season 4, as a new year begins at Las Encinas, a fresh mystery unfolds with the arrival of the new principal, Benjamin (Diego Martín), and his children – Ari (Carla Díaz), Mencía (Martina Cariddi), and Patrick (Manu Ríos) Blanco Commerford.
The narrative takes a turn when Ari is found on the brink of death, and each plot thread, revealed through flash-forwards, sheds light on the circumstances leading to this incident.
Benjamin’s three children, Ari, Mencía and Patrick, along with Philippe Phillipe Florian von Triesenberg (Pol Granch), the heir to the throne of a Central European principality who gets caught up in a scandal, join the same class as Samuel, Guzmán, Rebeka, Ander and Omar.
The dynamics between the new and the veteran students start to develop. At the same time, Mencía becomes involved in prostitution under the influence of Armando, a businessman associated with her father Benjamin. Eventually, it becomes clear that the attempted murder of Ari and Armando’s death are intricately linked.
Benjamin is arrested for Samuel’s murder. Ari, Patrick and Mencía Blanco Commerford drop out due to their father’s arrest and then have to repeat their final year.
Carla Díaz plays Ariadna ‘Ari’ Blanco Commerford (seasons 4-6), Patrick’s twin sister and Mencía's older sister. She is caught in a relationship between Samuel and Guzmán. and is seriously injured in season 4. Her attempted murder is central to that season.
In season 5, Ari continues her relationship with Samuel, while having an affair with Iván, and she then has an affair with Nico in season 6.
Martina Caridd plays Mencía Blanco Commerford (seasons 4-6). She forms a relationship with Rebeka while also working as a prostitute. In season 6 she becomes close to Sara and Raúl, a strange toxic couple, trying to help Sara to get away from him.
Manu Ríos plays Patrick Blanco Commerford (seasons 4-6), Ari’s twin brother and Mencía's older brother. in season 4, who becomes involved as the lover of both Omar and Ander. In season 5, he has an affair with Iván’s father, Cruz, and at the end of the season he falls in love with Iván.
In season 6m Patrick and Iván have a turbulent relationship even if they love each other, and Patrick decides to go away from him for a while before he wakes up from a coma, to then coming back together happily.
Diego Martín plays Benjamín Blanco (seasons 4-6), the new school principal and father of Patrick, Ari and Mencía Blanco Commerford. At the end of season 5 he goes to jail after he accidentally murders Samuel, but he is released at the end of season 6.
We never get to know the name of the mother of the three siblings. She has died before her husband and her children are introduced to the series, but under the Spanish conventions for family names her family name must have been Commerford.
When their father is released from jail at the end of season 6, the Blanco Comerford siblings, Patrick, Ari and Mencía, move away with him to start a new life. The series is the second most followed Spanish-language TV show. With that sort of success, perhaps the Blanco Comerford siblings, Patrick, Ari and Mencía, may return in a new series in the future.
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