Merlí starts off strong – like, Socrates-in-skinny-jeans strong. We meet Merlí Bergeron (Francesc Orella), a rebellious high school philosophy teacher who inspires his students to think for themselves while juggling his own personal chaos. Set in Barcelona and told (originally) in Catalan, the series blends classroom lessons with coming-of-age drama, using philosophers from Plato to Nietzsche as springboards into teen angst and adult contradictions. It’s basically Dead Poets Society, but messier, queerer, and with a lot more espresso.
When Merlí, a brutally honest, jobless philosophy teacher, gets evicted and crash-lands at his mom’s place (in full midlife crisis mode), life throws him a major curveball: full-time dad duty with his closeted teenage son, Bruno, AND a gig teaching teenagers who’d rather spend their time scrolling than study Socrates. But Merlí isn’t your typical chalk-and-talk prof – he’s out there dropping Nietzchean bombshells, dragging Descartes into cafeteria drama, and whatever else he can to shake his students out of their bubbles.
He dubs his classroom crew the “Peripatetics” (Greek realness), but behind every eye roll and existential rant is real growth. From sweet, scared Ivan who won’t leave the house, to fiery Berta who reads Merlí for filth, each student gets a shot at their own transformation arc. And let’s not forget Merlí’s hardest project yet: trying to connect with his son Bruno – who’d rather ghost him than talk feelings.
Merlí is a rollercoaster of feels – it’s emotional, thought-provoking, and totally binge-worthy.
