Ser o no ser Series Review

『A Heartfelt Coming-of-Age Story of a Transgender Teen』

🎥 Drama Overview

🎬 Title: Ser o no ser (2022)
🌍 Country: 🇪🇸 Spain
🎞️ Genre: Teen / Coming-of-Age / Drama
🗓️ Broadcast Info: RTVE Playz, premiered on March 30, 2022 (2 seasons, 12 episodes total)
🎬 Director: Marta Pahissa
📝 Producer: Coral Cruz
📺 Platform: RTVE Playz (Digital)

👩‍💼 Cast: Ander Puig – as Joel, Júlia Gibert – as Ona

🧩 Story Deep Dive (Spoilers)

🎭 Performing Identity and the Search for Truth

《Ser o no ser》 is a coming-of-age series centered on a transgender teenager’s journey of self-discovery. Echoing Hamlet’s timeless question—"To be or not to be"—the series reframes it into a contemporary dilemma: "Should I live as my true self, or play the role society expects of me?" Through this lens, it explores the universal teenage struggle between authenticity and acceptance with remarkable emotional insight.

💡 The Intersection of ‘Acting’ and ‘Identity’

The story follows 16-year-old transgender student Joel as its protagonist.

• Joel enrolls in a performing arts high school while trying to hide his transition from his new classmates. He views this transfer as a chance to begin a new role. However, when his acting teacher pushes him to "express his true self," and he develops feelings for his classmate Ona, cracks begin to form in his carefully maintained façade.

• Theme: Performing Existence: The series brilliantly connects the act of performance with the question of identity. As Joel studies classical theater such as Hamlet, he realizes that his entire life has been a kind of elaborate performance. The more he is asked to show genuine emotion on stage, the more he confronts the contradiction of hiding his deepest truth offstage.

🔄 When Acting and Reality Collide

Joel and Ona’s connection begins through their shared experience at a performing arts high school, particularly in acting class.

• Meeting as Acting Partners: Joel chooses Ona as his partner for a love scene in class, seeing it as an opportunity to strengthen his new persona. Through their rehearsals, he hopes to confirm that he is successfully being perceived as a cisgender male student.

• When Sincerity Steps In: As rehearsals continue and their bond deepens, acting begins to blur into reality. Joel realizes that his feelings for Ona are not part of a role—they are genuine. This love, however, threatens the stability of his hidden script—the secret of his transgender identity.

🧭 Between Love and Fear: The Weight of Secrecy

As their romance deepens, Joel’s concealment becomes a suffocating wall between them.

• Reason for Silence: Fear of Loss Through Love: Joel loves Ona but is haunted by the fear that revealing his transgender identity will make her leave him. This fear reflects society’s lingering prejudice toward queer identities, internalized deeply within Joel. His silence becomes both a means of self-protection and an act of building love upon deception.

• The Height of Conflict (Catarsis): When their relationship reaches a turning point—where emotional and physical intimacy must converge—Joel’s internal struggle erupts into a cathartic breakdown. Torn between his teacher’s demand to "express true emotion" and his genuine love for Ona, Joel collapses under the dilemma of "losing everything through honesty" versus "losing himself through silence."

✨ Collapse and Realization: The Value of Truth

Eventually, Joel faces both the revelation of truth and the breakdown of his relationship.

• Ona’s Reaction: The Problem of Silence, Not Identity: When Joel finally reveals he is transgender, Ona’s response defies his fears. Her hurt is not over his identity but over the prolonged secrecy—the fact that "he didn’t tell her the truth for so long." This moment conveys a powerful message: love depends not on identity, but on honesty and trust within the relationship.

• Joel’s Realization: This painful breakup becomes Joel’s greatest lesson: whether on stage or in real life, genuine performance begins with truth. Ironically, he sought refuge in acting, only to learn that it is through acting that one must confront authenticity.

🏳️‍⚧️ The Most Personal Is the Most Universal

《Ser o no ser》 demonstrates how Spanish television has evolved beyond stories of “coming-out trauma” to portray the everyday experiences and emotions of a transgender teen. Joel’s journey mirrors the universal adolescent struggle with identity and self-doubt, framed through the unique perspective of a trans protagonist. Ultimately, the show reaffirms that the question "To Be or Not to Be" is not only about gender—it is one of the most fundamental questions of human existence.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★