Barcelona’s accommodation crisis and the struggles of single motherhood form the focus in “I Always Sometimes,” an bold new drama series that debuted on Movistar Plus+ on 23 April before making its international debut at Canneseries on 25 April. Created by writers Marta Bassols and Marta Loza, the six-episode half-hour series follows Laura, a woman managing motherhood whilst striving to find affordable housing in a increasingly gentrified city. Produced by acclaimed filmmakers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo—known for “Veneno” and “La Mesías”—the drama offers a tender yet honest examination of current economic hardship and the emotional turbulence of young adulthood, grounding its narrative in the authentic challenges facing single parents across contemporary Spain.
A Tale of Love That Starts Where Blissful Finales Wane
The series opens with a passionate affair that feels destined for success. Laura, a festival organiser from Berlin, meets Rubén, a Barcelona bar proprietor, at the city’s renowned Sonar music festival. Their connection is immediate and intoxicating—they pass evenings strolling through Barcelona, quoting Rilke to one another, attending raves on Montjuïc, and sharing intimate experiences in chic venues. When Rubén suggests that Laura relocate to live with him, the future appears promising and brimming with potential, the kind of fairy-tale beginning that audiences recognise from numerous love stories.
However, the narrative undergoes a dramatic and troubling turn in the second episode. Laura learns that she is pregnant just one week after meeting Rubén, a development that drastically changes everything. What initially seemed like a romantic partnership quickly falls apart when Rubén’s true nature emerges—a man contending with substance abuse and unreliability. Forced to relinquish her new beginning, Laura retreats to her parents’ home, where she finds herself trapped between gratitude for their support and suffocation from their presence. The dream has fallen apart, leaving her to grapple with the stark realities of single parenthood alone.
- Laura encounters Rubén at Sonar music festival in Barcelona
- She falls pregnant a week after their initial encounter
- Rubén turns out to be an unreliable, alcohol-dependent partner
- Laura returns to her family home with infant son Mario
Barcelona’s Gentrification as Backdrop and Catalyst
As Laura works to establish a life for herself and Mario, Barcelona itself becomes far more than a simple setting—it emerges as a character both captivating and antagonistic, beautiful yet fundamentally hostile to those without considerable wealth. The city that previously enchanted her with its artistic charm and creative spirit now reveals its true face: a urban centre altered by aggressive gentrification, where reasonably priced housing has become a privilege beyond reach for ordinary working people. Every episode name cites a different location where Laura and Mario squat, a persistent reminder that home stays perpetually beyond reach. The series portrays the bitter irony of a city flooded with wealth and tourism, yet utterly indifferent to the situation of those unable to afford basic shelter.
The financial circumstances Laura encounters are not overstated and entirely typical—they reflect the day-to-day reality of countless lone parents across contemporary Spain and Europe. “Rent here is bloody insane,” she complains to an artist friend. “It’s impossible to locate anything suitable.” His hopeful reply—”Nothing’s impossible”—is met with her weary, vehement reply: “Flats in Barcelona are.” This exchange encapsulates the series’ unflinching approach to economic hardship, declining to soften the blow or provide quick reassurance. Barcelona becomes not a place of opportunity but a gauntlet through which Laura must contend, balancing her desperate need to generate income with her wish to remain present for her small child.
The Urban Area’s Contrasts
Barcelona’s transformation serves as a reflection of wider European urban crises, where historic neighbourhoods are progressively reshaped into destinations for wealthy tourists and foreign investment firms. The city that once offered creative vitality and genuine community life now prices out the individuals who shape its essence and spirit. Laura’s situation is set against this setting of conflict—living amid prosperity yet unable to access it, based in one of Europe’s most coveted metropolises whilst confronting housing insecurity. The series resists sentimentalising this contradiction, instead depicting it as the harsh, demanding reality it genuinely constitutes for individuals affected by gentrification’s wake.
What makes “I Always Sometimes” especially compelling is its rooting in distinctive, familiar Barcelona locations that have themselves become symbols of the city’s changing identity. Each episode’s setting—from artistic communes to makeshift solutions with understanding acquaintances—maps the landscape of hardship, demonstrating the city’s most vulnerable inhabitants are pushed to its edges and hidden areas. The contrast between Barcelona’s polished surface and Laura’s fragile situation emphasises the series’ central theme: that modern cities have become increasingly inhospitable to everyday individuals, irrespective of their capability, dedication, or resolve.
Creating Episodes Like Short Stories
The structural brilliance of “I Always Sometimes” resides in its method of handling episodic storytelling, with each of the six instalments functioning as a standalone story whilst advancing Laura’s overarching journey. Spanning 22 and 35 minutes, the episodes reject traditional television pacing in preference for a literary approach, akin to short stories that examine different facets of the challenges of single parenthood and urban instability. This format allows filmmakers Marta Bassols and Marta Loza to craft scenes between characters with subtlety and complexity, moving beyond the superficial resolutions that often plague contemporary television dramas. Rather than hurrying along plot mechanics, the series lingers on the emotional texture of Laura’s everyday life.
Each episode’s title references a different place where Laura and Mario live briefly, transforming geography into narrative form. This spatial organisation becomes a powerful storytelling device, mapping Laura’s downward mobility through Barcelona’s landscape whilst at the same time revealing the unseen connections of solidarity and desperation that support those on society’s margins. The personal scope of these episodes—neither wide-ranging nor hurried—enables authentic examination of how economic anxiety seeps into every aspect of existence, from intimate partnerships to maternal instinct. Bassols and Loza’s inaugural screenplay demonstrates a sophisticated grasp of how structure and substance can merge together to create something deeply resonant.
- Episodes named for Laura’s temporary homes document her unstable living circumstances
- Running times vary between 22 and 35 minutes for adaptable storytelling rhythm
- Short story structure allows more profound character exploration and emotional impact
- Geographic locations function as representations of economic displacement and social marginalisation
- Series balances intimate moments with broader critiques of contemporary urban life
Visual Storytelling Across Six Different Worlds
The aesthetic approach of “I Always Sometimes” grounds its narrative in the specific textures of Barcelona’s forgotten corners. Rather than highlighting the city’s iconic landmarks, cinematography captures cramped flats, creative communes, and the ordinary neighbourhoods where survival takes precedence over sightseeing. This intentional visual strategy transforms Barcelona from holiday hotspot into a character itself—one that is at once alluring yet unwelcoming, inviting yet rejecting. The cinematography captures the sense of confinement of shared living arrangements and the weariness visible in Laura’s face as she manages motherhood without adequate support systems. Every shot underscores the series’ central tension between the city’s promise and its refusal to deliver.
Shot across diverse Barcelona locations, the series uses its visual palette to chronicle Laura’s emotional and material circumstances. Brighter, more open spaces intermittently break up darker, confined interiors, conveying moments of hope amidst prevailing despair. The visual construction precisely crafts each transient living space, rendering them lived-in and authentic rather than basic utilitarian designs. This focus on visual elements extends to costume and styling, where Laura’s visual presentation evolves to capture her shifting circumstances—a understated but powerful storytelling choice that illuminates how material hardship redefines identity. The series demonstrates that intimate dramas about everyday hardships can achieve cinematic richness without undermining emotional genuineness.
Transforming Motherhood on Screen
“I Always Sometimes” arrives at a moment when television narratives about motherhood have grown cleaned up and romanticised. The series strips away such sentimental ideas, depicting single parenthood as a grinding economic reality rather than a cause for uplifting inspiration. Laura’s arc eschews the traditional narrative of hardship-to-success, instead offering a honest, unsparing depiction of what it means to bring up a child whilst barely able to afford housing or food. The drama accepts that love for one’s child sits beside genuine resentment towards the systems that render parenthood so uncertain. By highlighting Laura’s exhaustion and frustration alongside her compassion, the show presents a more honest representation of motherhood—one that audiences rarely encounter in conventional TV.
The creative partnership between Bassols and Loza brings particular authenticity to this depiction. Both creators grasp the specificity of Barcelona’s current challenges, having operated within the city’s creative environment. Their storytelling steers clear of the traps of condescending portrayals of poverty, instead allowing Laura agency and complexity within constrained circumstances. The series respects its lead character’s intellect and resilience without demanding she display appreciation for basic survival. This nuanced approach extends to secondary figures, who emerge as fully realised individuals rather than simple hindrances or helpers. By approaching single motherhood as worthy of serious artistic focus, “I Always Sometimes” challenges the power structures that have long privileged certain stories over others in European television.
Financial Considerations and Genuine Value
The dialogue brims with specificity when Laura examines Barcelona’s rental market, converting economic frustration into compelling character moments. Her sharp remark—”Nothing’s impossible. Flats in Barcelona are”—encapsulates the series’ rejection of false hope or vapid platitudes. Rather than generalising hardship, the writing roots it in concrete details: the specific sum of rent demanded, the landlords who exploit desperation, the fragile freelance labour that barely covers childcare costs. This attention to economic realism sets apart “I Always Sometimes” from narratives that treat hardship as figurative or transcendent. The series understands that financial precarity determines every moment in Laura’s day.
Authenticity extends beyond dialogue into the series’ narrative framework. By titling remaining episodes after the locations where Laura temporarily squats, the creators prioritise housing as the central preoccupation of her life. This structural choice transforms geography into storytelling form, making displacement apparent and inescapable. The episode titles function as a countdown of sorts—each new location representing another temporary solution, another near-miss, another indication of systemic failure. This approach sets apart the series from conventional drama, which typically relegates economic concerns to emotional or romantic plotlines. “I Always Sometimes” insists that survival itself constitutes the dramatic core, that the hunt for affordable housing is as compelling as any conventional dramatic tension.
- Episode titles illustrate Laura’s transient housing situations throughout Barcelona
- Housing expenses and financial obstacles form the dramatic backbone of character development
- Writing privileges material reality over emotional accounts about motherhood