Barcelona’s accommodation crisis and the difficulties of single motherhood are central in “I Always Sometimes,” an ambitious new drama series that debuted on Movistar Plus+ on 23 April before launching internationally 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 attempting to secure reasonably priced accommodation in a gentrified city. Produced by renowned directors Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo—known for “Veneno” and “La Mesías”—the drama presents a poignant yet candid study of contemporary financial struggle and the emotional turmoil of young adulthood, anchoring its story in the very real challenges facing single mothers and fathers across modern Spain.
A Tale of Love That Commences Where Happy Endings Diminish
The series opens with a passionate affair that feels destined for success. Laura, a festival organiser from Berlin, meets Rubén, a Barcelona bar owner, at the city’s renowned Sonar music festival. Their bond is instant and captivating—they spend nights wandering Barcelona’s streets, quoting Rilke to one another, going to raves on Montjuïc, and sharing intimate experiences in chic venues. When Rubén suggests that Laura move in with him, the future appears promising and brimming with potential, the kind of fairy-tale beginning that viewers recognise from numerous love stories.
However, the narrative takes a sharp and sobering turn in the second episode. Laura learns that she is pregnant just one week after meeting Rubén, a development that profoundly transforms everything. What initially seemed like a romantic partnership quickly falls apart when Rubén’s true nature emerges—a man battling alcohol dependency and unreliability. Forced to abandon her new life, Laura retreats to her family home, where she finds herself trapped between gratitude for their support and suffocation from their presence. The dream has crumbled, leaving her to confront the difficult truths of single parenthood alone.
- Laura encounters Rubén at Sonar festival in Barcelona
- She becomes pregnant a week after their first meeting
- Rubén turns out to be an unreliable and alcohol-dependent partner
- Laura returns to her parents’ home with baby boy Mario
Barcelona’s Gentrification as Character and Crucible
As Laura struggles to build a existence for both herself and Mario, Barcelona itself evolves into considerably more than a simple setting—it emerges as a character both alluring and unwelcoming, visually stunning yet fundamentally unwelcoming to those lacking significant financial resources. The city that once captivated her with its bohemian character and creative vitality now exposes its reality: a city reshaped by relentless gentrification, where reasonably priced housing has become a luxury beyond reach for ordinary working people. Every episode name cites a distinct area where Laura and Mario squat, a constant reminder that home remains forever out of reach. The series portrays the bitter irony of a city awash with affluence and tourist activity, yet completely indifferent to the situation of those unable to afford essential accommodation.
The financial circumstances Laura encounters are neither exaggerated nor exceptional—they reflect the day-to-day reality of countless single parents across contemporary Spain and Europe. “Rent here is bloody insane,” she complains to an artist friend. “It’s impossible to find anything.” His optimistic response—”Nothing’s impossible”—is greeted by her exhausted, forceful reply: “Flats in Barcelona are.” This exchange encapsulates the series’ unflinching treatment to financial difficulty, declining to ease the impact or provide quick reassurance. Barcelona becomes not a place of opportunity but a gauntlet through which Laura must navigate, balancing her urgent requirement to generate income with her wish to remain present for her young son.
The City’s Contradictions
Barcelona’s metamorphosis serves as a microcosm of wider European city challenges, where historic neighbourhoods are deliberately converted into havens for affluent visitors and global capital. The city that once delivered cultural vibrancy and genuine community life now prices out the individuals who shape its essence and spirit. Laura’s struggle is positioned within this context of paradox—surrounded by affluence yet excluded from it, residing in one of Europe’s most desirable cities whilst facing homelessness. The series declines to idealise this tension, instead showing it as the relentless, draining truth it actually represents for people experiencing gentrification’s wake.
What makes “I Always Sometimes” distinctly powerful is its foundation within distinctive, familiar Barcelona places that have themselves evolved as representations of the city’s shifting character. Each episode’s setting—from artistic communes to temporary arrangements with sympathetic friends—maps the landscape of hardship, illustrating the city’s most vulnerable inhabitants are pushed to its margins and forgotten corners. The juxtaposition of Barcelona’s sparkling exterior and Laura’s precarious existence underscores the series’ main message: that present-day cities have become increasingly inhospitable to everyday individuals, notwithstanding their capability, dedication, or resolve.
Creating Episodes Like Short Stories
The structural brilliance of “I Always Sometimes” lies in its method of handling episodic storytelling, with each of the six instalments serving as a standalone story whilst advancing Laura’s overarching journey. Spanning 22 and 35 minutes, the episodes eschew conventional TV rhythm in favour of a more literary sensibility, resembling short stories that examine different facets of single motherhood and urban precarity. This format allows creators Marta Bassols and Marta Loza to craft scenes between characters with nuance and depth, transcending the superficial resolutions that often plague modern TV drama. Rather than hurrying along plot mechanics, the series lingers on the emotional texture of Laura’s everyday life.
Each episode’s title alludes to a different place where Laura and Mario temporarily reside, transforming geography into storytelling framework. This geographical mapping becomes a powerful storytelling device, mapping Laura’s economic decline through Barcelona’s urban terrain whilst concurrently revealing the hidden networks of solidarity and desperation that maintain those on society’s margins. The close focus of these episodes—neither wide-ranging nor rushed—enables thorough investigation of how monetary concerns seeps into every dimension of life, from intimate partnerships to parental impulse. Bassols and Loza’s inaugural screenplay demonstrates a developed comprehension of how structure and substance can interconnect to create something deeply resonant.
- Episodes titled after Laura’s temporary homes document her unstable living circumstances
- Running times range from 22 and 35 minutes for flexible narrative pacing
- Episodic format allows more profound character exploration and emotional resonance
- Geographic locations become metaphors for financial instability and social invisibility
- Series combines intimate moments with broader critiques of contemporary urban life
Narrative Through Visuals Throughout Six Worlds
The visual language of “I Always Sometimes” grounds its narrative in the distinct character of Barcelona’s forgotten corners. Rather than highlighting the city’s postcard vistas, cinematography focuses on tight apartments, creative communes, and the ordinary neighbourhoods where necessity prevails over sightseeing. This intentional visual strategy reimagines Barcelona from holiday hotspot into a protagonist—one that is simultaneously alluring yet unwelcoming, welcoming and exclusionary. The cinematography conveys the sense of confinement of shared living arrangements and the weariness visible in Laura’s face as she manages motherhood lacking proper assistance. Every frame reinforces the core conflict between the city’s promise and its refusal to deliver.
Shot across multiple Barcelona venues, the series leverages its visual style to trace Laura’s emotional and material circumstances. Brighter, more open spaces periodically interrupt darker, confined interiors, conveying moments of optimism within overwhelming sadness. The set design precisely crafts each makeshift residence, making them feel genuine and inhabited rather than basic utilitarian designs. This focus on visual elements extends to costume and styling, where Laura’s visual presentation evolves to mirror her altered situation—a modest yet significant creative choice that speaks to how economic hardship transforms identity. The series establishes that personal narratives about ordinary struggles can attain visual sophistication without sacrificing emotional authenticity.
Redefining Motherhood on Screen
“I Sometimes Always” arrives at a time when TV stories about motherhood have grown sanitised and sentimentalised. The drama removes such idealistic portrayals, portraying single parenthood as a relentless economic hardship rather than a cause for uplifting inspiration. Laura’s story refuses the traditional narrative of adversity-to-victory, instead delivering a honest, unsparing depiction of what it entails to raise a child whilst scarcely able to manage housing or food. The drama recognises that parental love exists alongside real frustration towards the institutions that render parenthood so unstable. By highlighting Laura’s weariness and exasperation combined with her warmth, the series presents a more honest representation of the maternal experience—one that audiences infrequently find in conventional TV.
The collaborative effort between Bassols and Loza brings particular authenticity to this depiction. Both creators understand the specificity of Barcelona’s current challenges, having operated within the city’s cultural landscape. Their storytelling steers clear of the pitfalls of patronising depictions of poverty, instead allowing Laura depth and autonomy within constrained circumstances. The series respects its lead character’s intellect and determination without requiring she perform gratitude for basic survival. This nuanced approach extends to secondary figures, who emerge as complete, developed people rather than simple hindrances or helpers. By treating single motherhood as deserving serious artistic focus, “I Always Sometimes” questions the power structures that have long privileged certain stories over others in European television.
Economics and Authenticity
The dialogue sparkles with specificity when Laura explores Barcelona’s lettings sector, turning 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 anchors it to concrete details: the specific sum of rent demanded, the landlords who take advantage of need, the fragile freelance labour that scarcely meets childcare costs. This commitment to economic realism sets apart “I Always Sometimes” from stories that depict hardship as metaphorical or spiritually enriching. The series grasps that financial precarity influences every choice in Laura’s day.
Authenticity extends beyond dialogue into the series’ narrative framework. By titling remaining episodes after the places where Laura briefly resides, the creators foreground housing as the central preoccupation of her life. This formal decision transforms geography into narrative structure, making displacement apparent and inescapable. The episode titles serve as a countdown of sorts—each new location representing another provisional arrangement, another close call, another reminder of systemic failure. This approach sets apart the series from conventional drama, which typically subordinates 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 traditional narrative conflict.
- Episode titles reflect Laura’s transient housing situations throughout Barcelona
- Rental costs and economic barriers constitute the central dramatic tension of character progression
- Writing privileges material reality over emotional accounts about motherhood