Barcelona’s housing shortage and the struggles of single motherhood take centre stage in “I Always Sometimes,” an ambitious 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 balancing 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 tender yet honest exploration of modern economic hardship and the emotional turbulence of young adulthood, anchoring its story in the authentic challenges facing single parents across contemporary Spain.
A Love Story That Begins At the Point Where Blissful Finales Wane
The series opens with a whirlwind romance that feels destined for success. Laura, a events coordinator from Berlin, meets Rubén, a Barcelona bar proprietor, at the city’s prestigious 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 enjoying intimate moments in chic venues. When Rubén proposes that Laura move in with him, the outlook seems promising and brimming with potential, the kind of storybook start that audiences recognise from numerous love stories.
However, the narrative takes a sharp and sobering 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 battling alcohol dependency and unreliability. Forced to abandon her new life, Laura retreats to her parents’ home, 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 meets Rubén at Sonar music 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 infant son Mario
Barcelona’s Gentrification as Backdrop and Catalyst
As Laura attempts to create a future for herself and Mario, Barcelona itself evolves into considerably more than a mere backdrop—it functions as a character both captivating and antagonistic, aesthetically stunning yet deeply hostile to those lacking significant financial resources. The city that once fascinated her with its bohemian charm and artistic energy now exposes its reality: a metropolis transformed by aggressive gentrification, where decent housing has become a luxury beyond reach for typical working-class residents. Every episode title references a distinct area where Laura and Mario occupy, a persistent reminder that home remains perpetually out of grasp. The series captures the cruel irony of a city awash with riches and tourism, yet utterly indifferent to the plight of those struggling to afford basic shelter.
The economic realities Laura faces are not overstated and entirely typical—they represent the lived experience of numerous single 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 optimistic response—”Nothing’s impossible”—is met with her weary, vehement reply: “Flats in Barcelona are.” This exchange captures the series’ unflinching approach to economic hardship, declining to ease the impact or offer easy consolation. Barcelona transforms into not a place of opportunity but a trial through which Laura must navigate, juggling her urgent requirement to generate income with her desire to stay involved for her young son.
The Urban Area’s Contradictions
Barcelona’s evolution serves as a snapshot of wider European city challenges, where historic neighbourhoods are deliberately converted into playgrounds for affluent visitors and international investors. The city that once promised creative vitality and real cultural experience now excludes through cost the very people who define its identity and cultural heart. Laura’s plight is framed by this context of paradox—living amid affluence yet locked out of it, residing in one of Europe’s most desirable cities whilst experiencing homelessness. The series declines to idealise this contradiction, instead depicting it as the relentless, draining truth it actually represents for people experiencing the aftermath of gentrification.
What makes “I Always Sometimes” especially compelling is its rooting in distinctive, familiar Barcelona places that have themselves evolved as representations of the city’s evolving nature. Each scene location—from artistic communes to makeshift solutions with understanding acquaintances—maps the terrain of struggle, demonstrating the city’s most vulnerable inhabitants are driven to its margins and forgotten corners. The juxtaposition of Barcelona’s polished surface and Laura’s fragile situation underscores the series’ core premise: that present-day cities have grown progressively unwelcoming to everyday individuals, notwithstanding their ability, commitment, or perseverance.
Writing Episodes As Short Stories
The structural brilliance of “I Always Sometimes” resides in its method of handling serialised narrative, with each of the six instalments functioning as a self-contained narrative whilst developing Laura’s overarching journey. Spanning 22 and 35 minutes, the episodes eschew conventional TV rhythm in preference for a literary approach, akin to short stories that examine various aspects of single motherhood and urban precarity. This format allows creators Marta Bassols and Marta Loza to craft scenes between characters with subtlety and complexity, moving beyond the surface-level conclusions that frequently affect modern TV drama. Rather than hurrying along narrative devices, the series lingers on the emotional weight of Laura’s everyday life.
Each episode’s title references a different place where Laura and Mario temporarily reside, converting geography into narrative structure. This spatial organisation becomes a compelling narrative tool, tracing Laura’s social descent through the Barcelona landscape whilst at the same time revealing the concealed systems of solidarity and desperation that support those on the margins of society. The intimate scale of these episodes—neither expansive nor rushed—permits authentic examination of how financial stress seeps into every dimension of life, from intimate partnerships to parental impulse. Bassols and Loza’s first written work reveals a sophisticated grasp of how form and content can merge together to create something truly moving.
- Episodes named for Laura’s transient residences document her precarious housing situation
- Running times vary between 22 and 35 minutes for flexible narrative pacing
- Short story structure enables deeper character development and emotional resonance
- Geographic locations function as metaphors for economic displacement and social marginalisation
- Series balances personal scenes with broader critiques of contemporary urban life
Visual Storytelling Throughout Six Worlds
The aesthetic approach of “I Always Sometimes” grounds its narrative in the specific textures of Barcelona’s overlooked spaces. Rather than highlighting the city’s iconic landmarks, the camera work captures cramped flats, creative communes, and the ordinary neighbourhoods where survival takes precedence over sightseeing. This deliberate aesthetic choice reimagines Barcelona from tourist destination into a protagonist—one that is at once beautiful and hostile, inviting yet rejecting. The camera work captures the claustrophobia 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 urban potential and its refusal to deliver.
Shot across various Barcelona settings, the series leverages its visual style to chronicle Laura’s psychological and material conditions. Brighter, more open spaces periodically interrupt darker, confined interiors, capturing moments of hope amidst prevailing despair. The set design carefully builds each transient living space, rendering them genuine and inhabited rather than basic utilitarian designs. This attention to visual detail extends to costume and styling, where Laura’s look gradually changes to mirror her altered situation—a modest yet significant narrative decision that demonstrates how financial struggle reshapes identity. The series establishes that personal narratives about ordinary struggles can achieve cinematic richness without compromising emotional truth.
Redefining Motherhood on Screen
“I Sometimes Always” comes at a time when TV stories about motherhood have grown sanitized and sentimentalized. The series discards such idealistic portrayals, presenting single parenthood as a relentless economic hardship rather than a source of inspirational uplift. Laura’s story rejects the standard trajectory of struggle-to-triumph, instead delivering a raw, unflinching portrait of what it entails to bring up a child whilst barely able to afford housing or food. The show recognises that parental love coexists with real frustration towards the structures that leave parenting so uncertain. By focusing on Laura’s exhaustion and frustration combined with her compassion, the series models a truer depiction of motherhood—one that viewers rarely encounter in mainstream television.
The creative partnership between Bassols and Loza lends particular authenticity to this portrayal. Both creators grasp the particular nuances of Barcelona’s current challenges, having operated within the city’s cultural landscape. Their storytelling avoids the pitfalls of patronising depictions of poverty, instead allowing Laura agency and complexity within constrained circumstances. The series honours its protagonist’s intelligence and resilience without demanding she display appreciation for basic survival. This layered treatment extends to secondary figures, who stand as complete, developed people rather than mere obstacles or helpers. By approaching single motherhood as deserving serious dramatic attention, “I Always Sometimes” questions the hierarchies that have historically favoured certain stories over others in television across Europe.
Economics and Authenticity
The dialogue brims with specificity when Laura discusses Barcelona’s lettings sector, converting economic frustration into compelling character moments. Her bitter observation—”Nothing’s impossible. Flats in Barcelona are”—encapsulates the series’ rejection of false hope or empty reassurance. Rather than treating poverty abstractly, the writing roots it in concrete details: the exact figure of rent demanded, the landlords who exploit desperation, 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 influences every choice in Laura’s day.
Authenticity goes beyond dialogue into the series’ narrative framework. By titling remaining episodes after the locations where Laura temporarily squats, the creators prioritise housing as the primary concern of her life. This structural choice transforms geography into storytelling form, making displacement apparent and inescapable. The episode titles serve as a countdown of sorts—each new location representing another temporary solution, another close call, another reminder of systemic failure. This approach distinguishes 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 capture Laura’s transient housing situations throughout Barcelona
- Housing expenses and financial obstacles form the dramatic backbone of character progression
- Writing prioritises material reality over emotional accounts about motherhood