Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Minerva Academy’ follows the story of a group of cadets who join the Minerva Military High School with different hopes and dreams. For Camila, it is a punishment from her father for being a rebellious, attention-starved kid. For Vincenzo, it is a matter of family legacy. But for Salvo, getting into the school is the only way to figure out what happened to his best friend. Over the course of eight episodes, their lives intertwine. They become unlikely friends while navigating complicated friendships and romances. At the same time, the mystery surrounding Salvo’s friend intensifies. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Minerva Academy Recap
Minerva Military High School is one of the most prestigious schools in the country. While many pass the entrance exams, the real test begins within the school’s walls, where students are pushed to their mental and physical limits. Many students don’t survive the first few days. Some are expelled while the others leave of their own accord. In the end, only the best of the best are left behind, and things only get harder for them following the induction. Despite all this, Salvo Fusco never thinks about leaving the school. Some days are pure torture, either at the hands of teachers or the seniors who are appointed to be their guides. But Salvo’s mind is singularly focused on finding out what happened to his friend, Francesco, who encouraged Salvo to apply to Minerva in the first place.
While Salvo keeps the true intent of his presence at school a secret, he also forms friendships with his batchmates, especially with the good-natured Vincenzo and the rebellious Camila. As he begins to gather clues about Francesco’s sudden, inexplicable disappearance, he discovers a connection to two seniors, Diego and Max. However, getting the truth out of them is difficult, especially since Diego’s father, Commander Achille, is the school’s principal. At the same time, he also starts to fall for Camila, who becomes entangled in a love triangle with Diego and his girlfriend Rachele, who also happens to be Camila’s guide. As the season unfolds, the romantic arcs branch out and become even more complicated in the context of the unraveling mystery of Francesco’s absence.
Is Francesco Dead or Alive? Does the Truth About Francesco Come Out?
When Salvo comes to Minerva, he discovers that Francesco’s case has been thrown under the rug. No one is ready to talk about him, and even the file on him goes missing. Later, Salvo finds his name crossed out in the customary engraving of students’ names on the school’s secret wall. Salvo fears that either his friend has been harmed in some way or that he is dead. Eventually, the truth turns out to be something else entirely. Flashbacks and recollections from characters reveal that Francesco had been happy at the school, as he’d told Salvo. One day, the class went partying, where he and Diego drank a lot, much like the rest of the group. They went inside a photo booth, and the close quarters, as well as the alcohol, brought their feelings to the surface.
They made out inside the booth, which left both of them confused, especially Diego. Unable to keep his feelings to himself, Francesco wrote a love letter to Diego, but the latter didn’t know how to react to it since he was still unsure about his sexuality. And then the letter fell into another boy’s hands and circulated among the group, where everyone started making fun of it. Diego worried that if someone found out he had kissed Francesco, he, too, would be the butt of everyone’s joke and humiliation. So, instead of suffering that insult and rejection, he decided to join everyone in subjecting Francesco to everything Diego feared. Things got worse as the seniors got involved.
It ended with them stripping Francesco, beating him up, forcibly putting lipstick on his face, and making fun of his sexuality. All this while, he begged Diego to make them stop, but the Commander’s son did nothing but watch. Francesco had already been through some stuff that made him question his place in Minerva, and this humiliation ritual became his last straw. He could have reported the incident, but he knew Diego and the other rich kids would be protected, and his complaint would do nothing to change the school’s toxic culture. So, one day, he packed his bags and left the school. He felt so ashamed by the whole thing that he decided to disappear completely.
He decided to live an obscure life because he couldn’t look at himself in the mirror and couldn’t bring himself to show his face to Salvo. He thought his best friend would be better off without him. But his disappearance made Salvo even more adamant about finding him. At the end of the day, he gets to the bottom of the truth. He is unable to expose it because the board covers it up by expelling Diego and keeping the whole thing hush-hush. But finding his friend again gives him the resolution he had been looking for. He reunites with Francesco at the bicentennial ball, when the latter comes out of the shadows on the behest of Diego, who tells him everything Salvo has been through. The discovery that his friend is safe and sound is good enough for Salvo, but that is just the beginning of his journey at the school.
Does Diego Kill His Father? What does He Whisper to Rachele?
Salvo’s search for Francesco forces Diego to revisit the difficult memories of that time. It brings back everything he thought he had buried deep down, making things rather chaotic for him. When the traumatic incident with Francesco happened, Diego was already dealing with shame, guilt, and confusion. And then, Francesco disappeared. Diego worried that if something bad happened to him, it would come back to harm him. Thanks to his father, the whole matter was put to rest. Francesco’s love letter was destroyed, and his records were altered to make it appear as though he had been struggling with school, making it more plausible that he had left the school of his own accord. Achille decided to go a step further to teach his son a lesson. He told Diego that Francesco had killed himself, which made his son feel even worse.
This guilt and shame pull him further down when Salvo comes to the school looking for Francesco. Because Diego is scared to share the part about his confusing sexuality with anyone, he is forced to go through this emotional turmoil on his own. And then, he discovers that his father had been lying to him all along. It turns out Achille, too, worried that Francesco would kill himself, which would turn into a bigger scandal if his body were found. So, he decided to solve the mystery and succeeded in locating Francesco. However, he didn’t tell Diego about it not only because he worried his son would go running to the boy who almost ruined his life, but also because he wanted to keep Diego under his thumb. He didn’t care what emotional toll it would take on the poor boy.
Whatever qualms Diego had with his father, he had always kept to himself, but this betrayal is too much to bear. It unhinges him to the point that he steals a gun from the armory and confronts his father in his office during the ball. Esposito and Francesco show up at the locked door, pleading with Diego not to shoot. In the end, however, he does shoot, and it turns out to be a blank. It is not revealed whether Diego knew it was a blank or not. But it does show how done he is with his father and his manipulations. It also shows that his hatred for his father has crossed all boundaries and has sunk to the point that he doesn’t mind shooting at him. In the end, he walks out of the room in a sort of deranged haze, which also seems like a kind of freedom.
When he leaves the room, Rachele is the only one he approaches. He says something in her ear, she smiles, and he walks out. It is not revealed what he said to her, but it was most likely about him declaring his freedom from his father. She had known him long enough to know the things that had been torturing and haunting him. As his friend and girlfriend, she had seen him through the ups and downs, and she knew the pressure he faced because of his father. So, whatever he says to her is likely a reflection of how he has finally broken free. This is further reflected in the following scene, where he sends Francesco’s school uniform to him and then drives away happily, knowing that he is well and truly free now, and this is where his life begins.
Do Vincenzo and Paola Break Up? Do Salvo and Camila Get Together?
Apart from the mystery of Francesco’s disappearance, the romances at Minerva also serve as a major point of conflict in the plot. It begins with Vincenzo crossing paths with the enigmatic Paola, who turns out to be Diego’s sister. Unlike her brother, she has seen through her father’s facade and doesn’t much care about his rules. She comes in and out of the school as she pleases and sees it as a deranged and debauched place. But when she meets Vincenzo, she sees the goodness and the innocence in him, which is what she is attracted to. They indulge in a secret romance, and being with her becomes one of the reasons for his desire to return to school after his father’s death. But things change by the end of the school year.
Paola has a fallout with her father, and then she discovers how he had manipulated the whole Diego-Francesco situation, making her brother go through unimaginable mental torture. This is the last straw for her, and she comes to the bicentennial ball to tell Vincenzo she is leaving for good. He is shocked by her revelation, but then, she starts talking about how he should leave the school too and stop trying to imitate his father’s journey. By comparing Vincenzo’s father with her own, she deeply offends him, making him realize she doesn’t know him at all. So, he decides it would be best for them to part ways, breaking things between them. While Vincenzo and Paola’s romance seems to have come to an end, Camila and Salvo’s story is just beginning.
They become close to each other through the first year, but Camila’s romance with Diego complicates things. Eventually, though, Camila stands by him and helps him unravel Francesco’s mystery, proving she is a true friend. By this time, her affection for Diego has also gone through a significant transformation, and she sees Salvo in a new light. He, too, experiences this shift between them as they become more vulnerable with each other. In the end, as they celebrate the end of the first year with Vincenzo, they briefly hold hands, signaling that there are feelings between them. Now that all the other complications are gone, they can finally give each other a chance. However, it seems like they would like to keep their romance a secret from others, at least for a while.
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