Barcelona’s accommodation crisis and the struggles of single motherhood are central in “I Always Sometimes,” an bold new drama series that premiered on Movistar Plus+ on 23 April before premiering internationally at Canneseries on 25 April. Created by writers Marta Bassols and Marta Loza, the six-part half-hour series follows Laura, a woman managing motherhood whilst attempting to secure affordable housing in a rapidly gentrifying city. Produced by acclaimed filmmakers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo—known for “Veneno” and “La Mesías”—the drama delivers a touching yet unflinching study of contemporary financial struggle and the emotional turmoil of early adult life, rooting its narrative in the very real challenges facing lone parents across modern Spain.
A Love Story That Starts At the Point Where Joyful Conclusions Diminish
The series begins with a whirlwind romance that feels destined for success. Laura, a events coordinator from Berlin, encounters Rubén, a Barcelona bar owner, at the city’s prestigious Sonar music festival. Their connection is immediate and intoxicating—they pass evenings wandering Barcelona’s streets, quoting Rilke to one another, attending raves on Montjuïc, and sharing intimate experiences in chic venues. When Rubén proposes that Laura relocate to live with him, the outlook seems promising and brimming with potential, the kind of storybook start that viewers recognise from countless romantic narratives.
However, the narrative undergoes a dramatic and troubling turn in the second episode. Laura discovers she is pregnant just one week after meeting Rubén, a development that fundamentally alters everything. What initially seemed like a romantic partnership quickly falls apart when Rubén’s true nature emerges—a man struggling with alcohol addiction and unreliability. Forced to relinquish her new beginning, Laura retreats to her parents’ house, where she finds herself trapped between gratitude for their support and suffocation from their presence. The dream has crumbled, leaving her to grapple with the stark realities of single parenthood alone.
- Laura encounters Rubén at Sonar music festival in Barcelona
- She becomes pregnant a week after their first meeting
- Rubén proves to be an unreliable, alcohol-dependent partner
- Laura returns to her parents’ home with baby boy Mario
Barcelona’s Gentrification as Backdrop and Catalyst
As Laura works to establish a existence for both herself and Mario, Barcelona itself evolves into considerably more than a basic backdrop—it functions as a character both alluring and unwelcoming, beautiful yet fundamentally hostile to those lacking significant financial resources. The city that once captivated her with its bohemian charm and artistic energy now exposes its reality: a city reshaped by relentless gentrification, where reasonably priced housing has become a luxury beyond reach for typical working-class residents. Every episode title mentions a distinct area where Laura and Mario reside, a constant reminder that home remains perpetually out of grasp. The series illustrates the harsh irony of a city flooded with wealth and tourism, yet wholly unconcerned with the circumstances of those unable to pay for fundamental housing.
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 laments 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 treatment to economic hardship, declining to ease the impact or offer easy consolation. Barcelona becomes not a place of opportunity but a gauntlet through which Laura must navigate, juggling her desperate need to earn money with her desire to remain present for her small child.
The City’s Paradoxes
Barcelona’s transformation serves as a microcosm of larger-scale European metropolitan problems, where traditional districts are deliberately converted into destinations for high-spending travellers and international investors. The city that once promised artistic energy and genuine community life now excludes through cost the very people who create its character and cultural heart. Laura’s situation is positioned within this backdrop of contradiction—immersed in affluence yet locked out of it, residing in one of Europe’s most desirable cities whilst confronting housing insecurity. The series resists sentimentalising this contradiction, instead depicting it as the relentless, draining truth it actually represents for those caught in gentrification’s wake.
What makes “I Always Sometimes” particularly resonant is its rooting in particular, identifiable Barcelona settings that have themselves evolved as representations of the city’s shifting character. Each scene location—from artistic communes to makeshift solutions with supportive companions—maps the terrain of struggle, demonstrating the city’s most at-risk residents are pushed to its edges and hidden areas. The contrast between Barcelona’s polished surface and Laura’s unstable circumstances underscores the series’ core premise: that present-day cities have grown progressively unwelcoming to ordinary people, irrespective of their intelligence, work ethic, or determination.
Developing Episodes Like Short Stories
The narrative sophistication of “I Always Sometimes” resides in its method of handling serialised narrative, with each of the six episodes 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 explore different facets of the challenges of single parenthood and urban instability. This structure allows filmmakers Marta Bassols and Marta Loza to craft character moments with subtlety and complexity, moving beyond the surface-level conclusions that frequently affect contemporary television dramas. Rather than hurrying along narrative devices, the series lingers on the emotional weight of Laura’s everyday life.
Each episode’s title alludes to a different setting where Laura and Mario temporarily reside, converting geography into narrative structure. This spatial organisation becomes a effective narrative technique, charting Laura’s economic decline through Barcelona’s landscape whilst concurrently revealing the concealed systems of collective support and struggle that support those on society’s margins. The personal scope of these episodes—neither sprawling nor pressured—enables authentic examination of how financial stress infiltrates every dimension of life, from intimate partnerships to maternal instinct. Bassols and Loza’s first written work reveals a mature understanding of how form and content can interconnect to generate something deeply resonant.
- Episodes named for Laura’s transient residences document her precarious housing situation
- Running times vary between 22 and 35 minutes for adaptable storytelling rhythm
- Short story structure enables deeper character development and emotional resonance
- Geographic locations function as representations of financial instability and social invisibility
- Series combines intimate moments with broader critiques of contemporary urban life
Visual Storytelling Across Six Worlds
The aesthetic approach of “I Always Sometimes” grounds its narrative in the distinct character of Barcelona’s forgotten corners. Rather than highlighting the city’s iconic landmarks, cinematography focuses on cramped flats, creative communes, and the unglamorous streets where necessity prevails over sightseeing. This deliberate aesthetic choice reimagines Barcelona from holiday hotspot into a protagonist—one that is at once beautiful and hostile, welcoming and exclusionary. The camera work captures the claustrophobia of communal spaces and the exhaustion etched into Laura’s face as she manages motherhood without adequate support systems. Every shot underscores the series’ central tension between the urban potential and its failure to fulfil.
Shot across multiple Barcelona venues, the series employs its visual language to chronicle Laura’s psychological and material conditions. Airier, more spacious areas occasionally punctuate dimly lit, cramped rooms, capturing moments of possibility amid persistent despair. The visual construction meticulously constructs each temporary home, creating the impression of realistic and worn rather than basic utilitarian designs. This focus on visual elements applies to costume and styling, where Laura’s appearance subtly shifts to mirror her altered situation—a small but profound creative choice that speaks to how economic hardship transforms identity. The series establishes that intimate dramas about ordinary struggles can attain visual sophistication without undermining emotional genuineness.
Transforming Motherhood on Screen
“I Always Sometimes” arrives at a time when broadcast depictions about motherhood have become cleaned up and romanticised. The show strips away such idealistic portrayals, presenting single parenthood as a relentless economic hardship rather than a cause for uplifting inspiration. Laura’s journey eschews the traditional narrative of struggle-to-triumph, instead offering a candid, unvarnished picture of what it entails to raise a child whilst barely able to afford housing or food. The show recognises that love for one’s child coexists with authentic anger towards the structures that leave parenting so precarious. By centring Laura’s exhaustion and frustration alongside her warmth, the series offers a truer depiction of the maternal experience—one that audiences rarely encounter in standard broadcast programming.
The creative partnership between Bassols and Loza brings particular authenticity to this portrayal. Both creators understand the specificity of Barcelona’s contemporary struggles, having operated within the city’s creative environment. Their writing steers clear of the traps of condescending portrayals of poverty, instead allowing Laura depth and autonomy within limited conditions. The series honours its protagonist’s intelligence and determination without requiring she display appreciation for basic survival. This nuanced approach extends to secondary figures, who stand as fully realised individuals rather than simple hindrances or helpers. By treating single motherhood as deserving serious dramatic attention, “I Always Sometimes” challenges the power structures that have historically favoured certain stories over others in European television.
Financial Considerations and Genuine Value
The dialogue sparkles with specificity when Laura explores Barcelona’s housing market, converting economic frustration into compelling character moments. Her sharp remark—”Nothing’s impossible. Flats in Barcelona are”—captures the series’ resistance to 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 exploit desperation, the unstable casual employment that barely covers childcare costs. This attention to economic realism separates “I Always Sometimes” from accounts that frame hardship as metaphorical or spiritually enriching. The series understands that financial precarity determines every moment in Laura’s day.
Authenticity goes beyond dialogue into the series’ structural choices. By titling remaining episodes after the locations where Laura temporarily squats, the creators prioritise housing as the central preoccupation of her life. This formal decision transforms geography into storytelling form, making displacement visible 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 conventional dramatic tension.
- Episode titles reflect Laura’s transient housing situations throughout Barcelona
- Rental costs and economic barriers form the dramatic backbone of character progression
- Writing prioritises material reality over emotional accounts about motherhood