Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree) goes from a rule-follower to a rule-breaker in Prime Video’s “Legally Blonde” prequel in an episode that pays homage to “The Breakfast Club.”
The 1985 film was one of John Hughes’ early directorial efforts, and it became the blueprint for coming-of-age stories thereafter. Starring Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall, “The Breakfast Club” was about a group of teenagers from different cliques who bond over a shared day in detention.
The film’s timeless appeal made it the perfect plot device for the series “Elle,” allowing for the titular teenager to finally make friends in Seattle while also cultivating her sense of justice at a young age. In Season 1, Episode 6, Elle notices that there isn’t a stop sign at the intersection where a classmate’s mom died in a fatal car accident.
Elle then starts a petition to rectify that, and to her surprise, Principal Anderson (Matt Oberg) received funding for the stop sign a while back, but didn’t do anything about it. Inspired by “The Breakfast Club,” the main character and her friends get stuck in detention only to uncover a major conspiracy happening on their school grounds.
Elle smartly references The Breakfast Club in Season 1, Episode 6
“Elle” references “The Breakfast Club” on multiple occasions in Episode 6. For instance, each person in detention represents a different high school archtype. Kimberly (Chandler Kinney) is “the princess,” Liz (Gabrielle Policano) is “the brain,” Miles (Jacob Moskovitz) is “the athlete,” Dustin (Zac Looker) is “the criminal,” and Elle is “the basket case.”
Working together toward a common goal, they break into the principal’s office without getting caught and grow closer in the process. The most obvious nods to Hughes’ film include the air-vent sequence and the Simple Minds needle drop at the end, with Elle raising her fist just like Judd Nelson’s character does while walking across the field at the end of “The Breakfast Club.”
What makes this one of the best episodes of Season 1 is that Elle learns that certain measures must be taken to achieve justice. Although Elle appears for detention, she doesn’t do anything wrong to be there, much like Ally Sheedy’s character in “The Breakfast Club.” Still, for Elle’s masterful plan to work, she bends the rules by setting off the fire extinguisher to distract Principal Anderson while Miles takes pictures of documents that corroborate the school’s stolen funds.
Elle isn’t the first YA series to honor John Hughes’ coming-of-age film
“Elle” might not be the first YA series to reference “The Breakfast Club,” but it shows that John Hughes’s formula remains relevant. “Dawson’s Creek” Season 1 features a memorable episode where Joey (Katie Holmes), Pacey (Joshua Jackson), Jen (Michelle Williams), and Dawson (James Van Der Beek, whose last acting credit is in “Elle”) all serve detention and play truth or dare.
Years later, “Riverdale” Season 3 contained a flashback episode in which the teens play their parents, who are stuck in detention together, with Anthony Michael Hall even making a cameo as Principal Featherhead.
