At Las Encinas, if you’re not accessorizing, you’re doing something wrong. Every headband, harness, earring and watch establishes you as someone who matters at the highly exclusive prep school. So when Samuel Garcia first arrived at the school as a scholarship student wearing a perfectly pressed uniform in Season 1 of Elite, he stood out as ordinary in a world of privilege.

But when he did start introducing jewelry into his wardrobe, it was equally jarring. Of all the accessories Samu could’ve chosen to show off his personal style, he went with... a choker — a small, shiny chain that gets tighter around his neck as the seasons progress. And with this sudden change in style came a sudden change in his once sweet, docile personality. What happens in a young man’s life to make him take the leap from no accessories at all to a choker, of all things? This calls for an in-depth analysis of Samu’s choker on Elite and a look into how the small fashion choice had such a big impact on his life and decisions.

Nothing says rebellion like some bling-bling. Samu’s lack of flashy accessories signaled his status as a scholarship kid, but more than that, it reflected his do-gooder attitude. Not only was he bling-free but his uniform was always perfectly pressed and buttoned up, just like him. That all changed when he was caught in a love triangle with Marina and his brother, which ended with his brother being falsely imprisoned for Marina’s murder in Season 1. By the start of Season 2, we get a new, rebellious Samu complete with a sparkly new silver chain around his neck. Samu is wholly focused on doing whatever it takes to get his brother out of jail, and this subtle bling symbolizes both the weight of this burden that he carries and his connection to his brother, who wears a chain in Season 1. Guess nothing makes a man accessorize quite like having your brother falsely accused of murdering the woman you both loved. 

Samu sticks with the same thick silver chain throughout Seasons 2 and 3, keeping it hidden underneath his still-buttoned-up shirts at school. It’s his own quiet rebellion against Las Encinas and the society that told him if he put his head down and did what was expected of him, he would make it. He’s done playing by the rules. To match the thick chain, Samu also thickens up, hitting the gym to become as swole as his new adornment. 

Samu’s true rebellion, however, doesn’t start until Season 4. Enter: the choker. Samu has traded in his silver chain for a smaller, beaded necklace with an even tighter grip around Samu’s neck. The choker makes its first appearance in Season 4, Episode 2, when Samu hosts a “towel party” at his place. The party concept is simple: no clothes, just towels and accessories allowed. 

A chokehold on his personality Samu’s new choker really highlights his Adam’s apple as well as his ambitions to change his image for good. Samu with a choker has something to prove: He’s not just a scholarship kid. After years of solving murders (and covering some up), he’s earned his place among the students at Las Encinas. He’s a bad boy now, just like Guzmán. And bad boys at Las Encinas, they wear jewelry. They also hook up with the new principal’s manipulative daughter — Samu ends up in bed with Ari that very night, with Guzmán also pursuing her. 

From then on, Samu and Ari begin hooking up, and he wears the choker nonstop. Sometimes it’s hidden underneath the high collar of his work uniform; other times it’s exposed by the loosening of his tie at school (yet another sign that Samu is abandoning his nice-guy persona by bucking the school dress code and leaving the top buttons open). 

The choker seems especially tied to Ari and the intense desire to win her from Guzmán, which brings us to Season 5. When Ari and her chaotic influence disappear from Samu’s life, so does the choker — at least at first. After everything that happened, all the murders and assaults, by the start of Season 5, Samu is once again committed to succeeding at Las Encinas and getting back into school principal Benjamin’s good graces. At school, his shirt is back to being fully buttoned and his tie is tightly secured around his neck. Away from the pressure to impress the drama-loving Ari, Samu seems to come back to himself.

But then Ari reappears, the two get back together and, what do you know, the choker returns! Only it’s not the same boho beaded choker of Season 4, but a new, sparkly thing. It looks like something the Samu we once knew could never afford, perhaps signaling that it was given to him by his much richer girlfriend. 

As the season progresses, however, and as Samu and Ari’s relationship unravels (again), the new choker disappears entirely. Once Samu is over trying to impress Ari and more focused on gaining Benjamin’s approval, he reverts back to his Season 2 silver chain. Will Samu continue the regression back to being bling-free and on the straight and narrow? Only time will tell.

The choker: Is it hot? 

There’s a direct correlation between Samu wearing a necklace and/or choker and him hooking up with a rich girl that is way out of his league, which begs the question, is the choker hot? The short answer: yes, but not necessarily for the right reasons. A man who wears a choker exudes a certain confidence in his style as well as his sexuality. Samu’s choker also earns him a spot in the very specific subset of teen heartthrobs who wear male chokers. Ben McKenzie and Chris Carmack in The O.C., Jared Padelecki in Gilmore Girls, Jared Leto in My So-Called Life, Chad Michael Murray in Dawson’s Creek, Paul Mescal in Normal People, Jason Dohring in Veronica Mars (thank you, puka shell necklace craze) and many more have used chokers to give off an irresistible bad-boy vibe. To see a man in a choker is, to millennials, to relive their sexual awakening. Samu fits right in. 

But while the “bad boy” may seem very attractive, changing your entire personality just to fit in or impress a girl (especially one who only wants to manipulate and use him) is the opposite of hot. Samu should accessorize the way he wants to, not the way he thinks the other students at Las Encinas expect him to — and definitely not the way Ari wants him to. True confidence must come from within, not from a shiny accessory. Maybe once Samu realizes this, he’ll truly become the man he wants to be with or without a sparkly symbol of his not-so-subtle rebellion.