Barcelona’s housing crisis and the challenges of single motherhood form the focus in “I Always Sometimes,” an bold new drama series that premiered 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-part half-hour series follows Laura, a woman managing motherhood whilst working to obtain reasonably priced accommodation in a rapidly gentrifying city. Produced by celebrated filmmakers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo—known for “Veneno” and “La Mesías”—the drama delivers a poignant yet candid examination of contemporary financial struggle and the emotional upheaval of early adult life, grounding its narrative in the genuine challenges facing single mothers and fathers across present-day Spain.
A Romance That Commences Where Joyful Conclusions Diminish
The series begins with a passionate affair that feels destined for success. Laura, a events coordinator from Berlin, encounters Rubén, a Barcelona bar owner, at the city’s renowned Sonar music festival. Their connection 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 stylish locations. When Rubén suggests that Laura relocate to live with him, the future appears promising and brimming with potential, the kind of storybook start that audiences recognise from numerous love stories.
However, the narrative shifts dramatically and soberly turn in the second episode. Laura discovers 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 battling alcohol dependency and unreliability. Forced to leave her fresh start, Laura retreats to her family home, where she finds herself caught between thankfulness for their help and overwhelmed by their involvement. The dream has crumbled, leaving her to face the harsh realities of single parenthood alone.
- Laura encounters Rubén at Sonar music festival in Barcelona
- She becomes pregnant one 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
Gentrified Barcelona as Setting and Test Case
As Laura attempts to create a future for herself and Mario, Barcelona itself transforms into far more than a simple setting—it develops into a character both seductive and hostile, aesthetically stunning yet deeply hostile to those without substantial means. The city that previously enchanted her with its bohemian charm and artistic energy now shows its genuine nature: a metropolis transformed by unrelenting gentrification, where decent housing has become a privilege beyond reach for regular working people. Every episode title mentions a different location where Laura and Mario reside, a ongoing reminder that home remains forever out of reach. The series captures the cruel irony of a city awash with affluence and tourist activity, yet wholly unconcerned with the circumstances of those unable to pay for fundamental housing.
The economic realities Laura encounters are neither exaggerated nor exceptional—they represent the day-to-day reality of countless single parents across modern-day Spain and Europe. “Rent here is absolutely ridiculous,” she complains to an creative acquaintance. “It’s virtually impossible to locate anything suitable.” His optimistic response—”Nothing’s impossible”—is greeted by her weary, vehement reply: “Flats in Barcelona are.” This exchange captures the series’ unflinching approach to economic hardship, refusing to ease the impact or provide quick reassurance. Barcelona becomes not a place of opportunity but a trial through which Laura must navigate, balancing her desperate need to earn money with her wish to stay involved for her small child.
The City’s Paradoxes
Barcelona’s evolution serves as a snapshot of wider European city challenges, where established communities are deliberately converted into destinations for wealthy tourists and international investors. The city that once offered creative vitality and real cultural experience now displaces financially the residents who create its character and soul. Laura’s struggle is framed by this setting of conflict—immersed in wealth yet unable to access it, based in one of Europe’s most desirable cities whilst confronting housing insecurity. The series resists sentimentalising this contradiction, instead showing it as the harsh, demanding reality it genuinely constitutes for those caught in the aftermath of gentrification.
What makes “I Always Sometimes” particularly resonant is its rooting in specific, recognisable Barcelona locations that have themselves become symbols of the city’s evolving nature. Each scene location—from artist squats to temporary arrangements with supportive companions—maps the geography of desperation, illustrating the city’s most disadvantaged people are forced towards its edges and hidden areas. The juxtaposition of Barcelona’s glittering facade and Laura’s precarious existence emphasises the series’ main message: that modern cities have become increasingly inhospitable to ordinary people, regardless of their intelligence, work ethic, or determination.
Writing Episodes Like Short Stories
The narrative sophistication of “I Always Sometimes” resides in its approach to episodic storytelling, with each of the six episodes serving as a self-contained narrative whilst advancing Laura’s overarching journey. Running between 22 and 35 minutes, the episodes eschew conventional TV rhythm in preference for a more literary sensibility, akin to short stories that examine different facets of the challenges of single parenthood and urban instability. This structure allows filmmakers Marta Bassols and Marta Loza to craft scenes between characters with nuance and depth, moving beyond 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 references a different location where Laura and Mario live briefly, transforming geography into narrative form. This geographical mapping becomes a effective narrative technique, mapping Laura’s economic decline through Barcelona’s landscape 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 hurried—allows authentic examination of how economic anxiety infiltrates every facet of daily living, from romantic relationships to maternal instinct. Bassols and Loza’s writing debut exhibits a developed comprehension of how structure and substance can merge together to produce something truly moving.
- Episodes titled after Laura’s transient residences document her precarious housing situation
- Running times vary between 22 and 35 minutes for flexible narrative pacing
- Episodic format allows deeper character development and emotional resonance
- Geographic locations become metaphors for economic displacement and social marginalisation
- Series combines personal scenes with wider commentary of contemporary urban life
Narrative Through Visuals Across Six Worlds
The aesthetic approach of “I Always Sometimes” anchors its narrative in the distinct character of Barcelona’s overlooked spaces. Rather than showcasing the city’s postcard vistas, the camera work captures cramped flats, creative communes, and the ordinary neighbourhoods where necessity prevails over sightseeing. This deliberate aesthetic choice reimagines Barcelona from tourist destination into a protagonist—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 navigates motherhood without adequate support systems. Every frame underscores the core conflict between the urban potential and its refusal to deliver.
Shot across various Barcelona settings, the series uses its visual palette to document Laura’s emotional and material circumstances. Lighter, more expansive environments periodically interrupt darker, confined interiors, conveying moments of possibility amid persistent despair. The set design precisely crafts each makeshift residence, making them feel genuine and inhabited rather than simple functional spaces. This attention to visual detail extends to costume and styling, where Laura’s visual presentation evolves to reflect her changing circumstances—a modest yet significant storytelling choice that illuminates how economic hardship transforms identity. The series demonstrates that personal narratives about everyday hardships can reach cinematic depth without undermining emotional genuineness.
Reshaping Motherhood on Screen
“I Always Sometimes” emerges at a moment when television narratives about motherhood are increasingly sanitised and sentimentalised. The drama discards such sentimental ideas, depicting single parenthood as a grinding economic reality rather than a wellspring of motivational triumph. Laura’s story eschews the conventional arc of struggle-to-triumph, instead offering a raw, unflinching portrait of what it involves to raise a child whilst struggling to pay for housing or food. The series recognises that affection for one’s child sits beside real frustration towards the structures that make parenting so precarious. By highlighting Laura’s fatigue and irritation alongside her tenderness, the show models a more authentic portrayal of maternal experience—one that viewers rarely encounter in standard broadcast programming.
The collaborative effort between Bassols and Loza brings distinctive authenticity to this portrayal. Both creators understand the particular nuances of Barcelona’s contemporary struggles, having operated within the city’s creative environment. Their writing steers clear of the pitfalls of patronising depictions of poverty, instead allowing Laura agency and complexity within limited conditions. The series respects its lead character’s intellect and resilience without requiring she display appreciation for fundamental necessities. This layered treatment extends to supporting characters, who stand as complete, developed people rather than simple hindrances or helpers. By approaching single motherhood as deserving serious artistic focus, “I Always Sometimes” questions the power structures that have historically favoured certain stories over others in television across Europe.
Economics and Authenticity
The dialogue sparkles with specificity when Laura explores Barcelona’s housing market, converting economic frustration into gripping character moments. Her sharp remark—”Nothing’s impossible. Flats in Barcelona are”—embodies the series’ refusal to offer false hope or hollow encouragement. Rather than treating poverty abstractly, the writing roots it in concrete details: the exact figure of rent demanded, the landlords who prey on vulnerability, the fragile freelance labour that barely covers childcare costs. This commitment to economic realism separates “I Always Sometimes” from stories that depict hardship as symbolic or morally uplifting. The series grasps that financial precarity shapes every decision in Laura’s day.
Authenticity extends beyond dialogue into the series’ structural choices. By titling remaining episodes after the locations where Laura temporarily squats, the creators foreground housing as the primary concern of her life. This structural choice transforms geography into storytelling form, making displacement visible and inescapable. The episode titles function 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 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 temporary accommodation circumstances throughout Barcelona
- Rental costs and economic barriers create the central dramatic tension of character progression
- Writing emphasises material reality over sentimental narratives about motherhood