Merli and his students
Merlí is a Catalan TV show about a philosophy teacher named Merli who makes non-ordinary philosophy class while also talking about every day of each of their characters and all of their adventures doing Bachillerato (the Spanish equivalent of late years of high school)This series contains tropes of:
- Accidental Pornomancer: Applies to pretty much all the main characters who end up having sex at least once in the show in the most ridiculous ways excluding (ironically) the campy gay Oliver Grau who is implied to not be a virgin but is never shown to have sex.
- Ambiguously Evil: Everyone hates Coralina and she has a rather strict behavior but most of her behavior seems to come rather to being old and having more conservative views on school
- Artistic License – History:
- Merlí claims Stoicism forbad sex as part of its code of conduct against destructive passions, but this is actually a wrong popular belief, if one popular enough that one might find a lot of sites and works claiming such. In reality, Stoicism didn't consider sex to be a passion itself, but just an activity that was susceptible to passions, just like every other in human nature. For most Stoic writers, sex wasn't a negative thing as long as it didn't overtake one's judgement and made them act against common sense, and even the harshest of them saw it as a necessary part of life that couldn't be excised. Merlí would have been more accurate had he said love, not sex, something Stoics were much more wary of.
- He also claims Stoic acceptance of fate involves "reconciling oneself with the impefection of existence". While his explanations do get the spirit of the letter, his choice of words here couldn't be more wrong from a Stoic perspective, as a central tenet in Stoicism was that the universe was a perfectly rational order, it being rather us who could have imperfect views and desires.
- Ambiguous Ending: We only get to see what happens to the students what happens to the teachers is left Ambiguous.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Tania tells Bruno, who then tells Pol, that Berta lied about being pregnant. After Pol confronts Berta about this, she chews Tania out over message for not keeping her mouth shut about this, but they later make up. Also, Bruno tells Albert, the P.E. teacher, about Merlí and his girlfriend Laia, the English teacher, having had sex behind his back, leading the enraged Albert to punch him in the face.
- Darker and Edgier: The Spinoff of Merli Sapere Audere deals with themes like immigration, AIDS,drug abuse and depression.
- Enemy Mine: Sort of with Merli and Eugeni. Coralina takes over the latter's old job and their disdain for her is what smooths things over between them.
- Hospital Hottie: Ivan meets Alicia, an attractive anesthesiologist who was assisting the pregnant woman he found on the street, and they randomly run into each other when she mistakes the men's restroom with the ladies'. After exchanging a few words, she invites him for sex and they have a threesome with her flatmate Abril.
- Hotter and Sexier : Both book adaptations and the spin-off play off the sex parts more than the original show. For example in Yo, Pol Rubio, they completely reveal Pol is attracted to Marc though that does not really go anywhere in the book. In the spin-off, you can see Pol Rubio's butt in the first scene of the show.
- Polyamory: It's implied that Bruno, Tania and Pol have one of these after the events of the camp. Although in the beginning of the spin-off Sapere Aude, none of them are dating each other nor the three of them are dating each other simultaneously on the epilogue. It's confirmed in the book Yo, Pol Rubio, Tania breaks up with Pol on the summer thanks to Pol's insecurities about his sexuality and his relationship with Bruno.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Marc's little brother gives Coralina a very well-deserved one with this simple sentence:
You're a bitter lame who doesn't care about anyone!
- Where Are They Now: The finale's epilogue shows us what became of the Peripatetics after they become adults.
- Oksana and Pol's brother Oscar get married and have four children. They will also travel Europe by motorhome.
- Tania and Marc also get together. Tania becomes a school principal and Marc quits doing Shakespeare plays. They will have three children.
- Monica meets and falls in love with Marc's little brother, Pau.
- Berta doessn't become a sketcher for a living, but she still does sketches.
- Joan becomes a lawyer and is sending to court a multinational company that exploits workers.
- Oliver opens his own nightclub, which success skyrockets.
- Gerard will become independent at the age of 38, but he'll agree to have lunch with his mother every sunday.
- Ivan saves a lot of lives with the Red Cross. At the age of 40, he will travel the world.
- Bruno and Pol are getting married.
- You Are What You Hate: when Oliver, the openly gay, arrives, Bruno, the closeted gay, insult him trying to cover his own sexuality.
- The Breakfast Plot: One episode involves Pol, Marc, Berta, Tania and Ivan getting stuck at detention.
