Barcelona’s accommodation crisis and the difficulties of single motherhood take centre stage in “I Always Sometimes,” an bold new drama series that launched 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 working to obtain 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 tender yet honest examination of current economic hardship and the emotional turbulence of early adulthood, rooting its narrative in the genuine challenges facing single mothers and fathers across modern Spain.
A Love Story That Begins At the Point Where Blissful Finales Diminish
The series opens with a whirlwind romance that feels destined for success. Laura, a festival organiser from Berlin, encounters Rubén, a Barcelona bar owner, at the city’s prestigious Sonar music festival. Their bond is immediate and intoxicating—they spend nights strolling through Barcelona, quoting Rilke to one another, going to 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 fairy-tale beginning that viewers recognise from numerous love stories.
However, the narrative shifts dramatically and soberly 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 battling alcohol dependency and unreliability. Forced to abandon her new life, Laura retreats to her parents’ home, where she finds herself caught between appreciation for their backing and stifled by their closeness. The dream has crumbled, leaving her to grapple with the stark realities of single parenthood alone.
- Laura encounters Rubén at Sonar festival in Barcelona
- She falls pregnant one week after their first meeting
- Rubén turns out to be an unreliable, alcohol-dependent partner
- Laura goes back to her parents’ home with baby boy Mario
Barcelona’s Gentrification as Setting and Test Case
As Laura struggles to build a existence for both herself and Mario, Barcelona itself becomes far more than a simple setting—it functions as a character both captivating and antagonistic, aesthetically stunning yet deeply hostile to those without considerable wealth. The city that once captivated her with its bohemian charm and artistic energy now reveals its true face: a urban centre altered by relentless gentrification, where reasonably priced housing has become a commodity out of reach for regular working people. Every episode name cites a separate neighbourhood where Laura and Mario occupy, a ongoing reminder that home remains perpetually out of grasp. The series captures the cruel irony of a city brimming with wealth and tourism, yet completely indifferent to the plight of those struggling to afford basic shelter.
The economic realities Laura encounters are neither exaggerated nor exceptional—they represent the lived experience of countless lone parents across modern-day Spain and Europe. “Rent here is absolutely ridiculous,” she complains to an artist friend. “It’s impossible to find anything.” His hopeful reply—”Nothing’s impossible”—is met with her weary, vehement reply: “Flats in Barcelona are.” This conversation captures the series’ unflinching approach to economic hardship, declining to soften the blow or offer easy consolation. Barcelona becomes not a destination of possibility but a gauntlet through which Laura must contend, balancing her desperate need to earn money with her wish to stay involved for her small child.
The City’s Contradictions
Barcelona’s evolution serves as a snapshot of larger-scale European metropolitan problems, where established communities are deliberately converted into havens for wealthy tourists and international investors. The city that once promised creative vitality and genuine community life now displaces financially the very people who define its identity and spirit. Laura’s struggle is framed by this context of paradox—immersed in wealth yet locked out of it, living in one of Europe’s most coveted metropolises whilst confronting housing insecurity. The series declines to idealise this contradiction, instead depicting it as the grinding, exhausting reality it genuinely constitutes for people experiencing gentrification’s aftermath.
What makes “I Always Sometimes” particularly resonant is its grounding in particular, identifiable Barcelona settings that have themselves become symbols of the city’s evolving nature. Each episode setting—from creative collectives to makeshift solutions with sympathetic friends—maps the landscape of hardship, illustrating the city’s most disadvantaged people are forced towards its peripheries and overlooked spaces. The distinction between Barcelona’s sparkling exterior and Laura’s precarious existence emphasises the series’ core premise: that present-day cities have grown progressively unwelcoming to everyday individuals, irrespective of their ability, commitment, or perseverance.
Creating Episodes Like Short Stories
The structural brilliance of “I Always Sometimes” lies in its approach to episodic storytelling, with each of the six episodes functioning as a self-contained narrative whilst advancing Laura’s broader arc. Running between 22 and 35 minutes, the episodes reject 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 format allows filmmakers Marta Bassols and Marta Loza to develop character moments with subtlety and complexity, moving beyond the surface-level conclusions that often plague contemporary television dramas. Rather than rushing towards plot mechanics, the series dwells upon the emotional texture of Laura’s everyday life.
Each episode’s title draws from a different location where Laura and Mario stay for a time, transforming geography into narrative form. This locational structure becomes a effective narrative technique, charting Laura’s social descent through Barcelona’s landscape whilst simultaneously revealing the concealed systems of collective support and struggle that support those on society’s periphery. The personal scope of these episodes—neither sprawling nor rushed—permits genuine exploration of how financial stress permeates every facet of daily living, from intimate partnerships to parental impulse. Bassols and Loza’s first written work exhibits a mature understanding of how form and content can merge together to generate something deeply resonant.
- Episodes titled after Laura’s temporary homes chart her unstable living circumstances
- Running times range from 22 and 35 minutes for adaptable storytelling rhythm
- Episodic format enables more profound character exploration and emotional impact
- Geographic locations function as representations of financial instability and social marginalisation
- Series combines intimate moments with broader critiques of contemporary urban life
Narrative Through Visuals Throughout Six Different Worlds
The aesthetic approach of “I Always Sometimes” grounds its narrative in the specific textures of Barcelona’s forgotten corners. Rather than showcasing the city’s postcard vistas, the camera work focuses on cramped flats, artist squats, and the unglamorous streets where necessity prevails over sightseeing. This deliberate aesthetic choice reimagines Barcelona from holiday hotspot into a character itself—one that is at once alluring yet unwelcoming, welcoming and exclusionary. The camera work conveys the claustrophobia of shared living arrangements and the weariness visible in Laura’s face as she manages motherhood without adequate support systems. Every shot reinforces the core conflict between the city’s promise and its failure to fulfil.
Shot across multiple Barcelona venues, the series leverages its visual style to chronicle Laura’s emotional and material circumstances. Brighter, more open spaces periodically interrupt darker, confined interiors, reflecting moments of optimism within overwhelming sadness. The visual construction carefully builds each temporary home, rendering them lived-in and authentic rather than merely functional sets. This commitment to visual specificity encompasses costume and styling, where Laura’s visual presentation evolves to mirror her altered situation—a modest yet significant narrative decision that demonstrates how financial struggle reshapes identity. The series proves that character-driven stories about everyday hardships can reach cinematic depth without compromising emotional truth.
Reshaping Motherhood on Screen
“I Always Sometimes” comes at a time when TV stories about motherhood have grown cleaned up and romanticised. The show discards such idealistic portrayals, portraying single parenthood as a relentless economic hardship rather than a source of inspirational uplift. Laura’s arc eschews the conventional arc of adversity-to-victory, instead providing a candid, unvarnished picture of what it means to bring up a child whilst barely able to afford housing or food. The show accepts that affection for one’s child coexists with real frustration towards the systems that render parenthood so unstable. By centring Laura’s fatigue and irritation combined with her tenderness, the drama presents a more honest representation of motherhood—one that viewers infrequently find in standard broadcast programming.
The creative partnership 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 depth and autonomy within limited conditions. The series respects its lead character’s intellect and determination without requiring she display appreciation for basic survival. This layered treatment extends to supporting characters, who emerge as complete, developed people rather than mere obstacles or helpers. By treating single motherhood as worthy of serious dramatic attention, “I Always Sometimes” challenges the power structures that have long privileged certain stories over others in European television.
Economic Factors and Authenticity
The dialogue crackles with specificity when Laura explores Barcelona’s rental market, transforming economic frustration into gripping character moments. Her sharp remark—”Nothing’s impossible. Flats in Barcelona are”—embodies the series’ rejection of false hope or empty reassurance. Rather than treating poverty abstractly, the writing anchors it to concrete details: the precise amount of rent demanded, the landlords who take advantage of need, the precarious gig work that barely covers childcare costs. This commitment to economic realism separates “I Always Sometimes” from stories that depict hardship as metaphorical or spiritually enriching. The series grasps 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 briefly resides, the creators foreground housing as the primary concern 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 reminder of systemic failure. This approach distinguishes the series from traditional television 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
- Rental costs and economic barriers form the central dramatic tension of character progression
- Writing privileges material reality over emotional accounts about motherhood