Merli is back sorta

[+ g56whiz]

Well @Cooper, @BSR and @Cash4Trash there's a new Merli series on Netflix, Merli. Sapere Aude.  It's not a season 2. Rather it's a sequel.  Merli has died and his son Bruno is living with his actress grandmother and in university where he has fallen for Pol, probably Merli's favorite high school student. Like the first series, there's a smidgen of philosophy (briefly, comically and eccentrically presented) and a good portion of naked eye candy.  There's a number of new students with new "issues" including an American from Montana (?) who's few English lines sound like she was coached in English by Desi Arnez.  The professors also have issues.  As before, Netflix is listing only 8 of the 16 episodes IMDB shows were issued.  We're avoiding bingeing.  We don't want the pleasure to end.

BTW ToyBoy 2 is also back on Netflix.

 

[+ purplekow]

She is from Oregon and she is also one of the most annoying characters.   Did not realize there was a different Merli.  Where was that broadcast?

Pol is Merli's surviving student and though I do not usually go for such young men and Twink like ones especially, I do find my heart racing and my hard rising when he is on the screen.   He just oozes sex appeal.  

I believe the Philosophy professor is also in Toy Boy as a deceptive lawyer.  

Edited March 9, 2022 by purplekow

[+ Cash4Trash]

And happiness reigns in a NY apartment today. Thanks g56whiz! 😃

[+ g56whiz]

Spoiler alert. There’s a very brief scene in the last episode (8) that could have (should have) been directed by William Higgins. 

[+ g56whiz]

On 3/9/2022 at 5:05 PM, purplekow said:

She is from Oregon and she is also one of the most annoying characters.   Did not realize there was a different Merli.  Where was that broadcast?

Pol is Merli's surviving student and though I do not usually go for such young men and Twink like ones especially, I do find my heart racing and my hard rising when he is on the screen.   He just oozes sex appeal.  

I believe the Philosophy professor is also in Toy Boy as a deceptive lawyer.  

Right you are as always @purplekow. She’s Maria Pujalte. Thank you IMDB. 

[+ Cash4Trash]

Had to check out Carlos Cuevas who plays Pol. He is one very busy actor. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1507717/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

[+ g56whiz]

On 3/9/2022 at 5:05 PM, purplekow said:

She is from Oregon and she is also one of the most annoying characters.   Did not realize there was a different Merli.  Where was that broadcast?

Pol is Merli's surviving student and though I do not usually go for such young men and Twink like ones especially, I do find my heart racing and my hard rising when he is on the screen.   He just oozes sex appeal.  

I believe the Philosophy professor is also in Toy Boy as a deceptive lawyer.  

Agreed as always @purplekow. But Carlos Cuevas has the abundant musculature of my ideal twink. Besides he has that steady sexy smoldering look that says “I’m aroused! I’m very aroused and you’re the only one who can fulfill my fantasy!” Can you tell I’m in LUST?

[BSR]

On 3/9/2022 at 2:06 PM, g56whiz said:

Well @Cooper, @BSR and @Cash4Trash there's a new Merli series on Netflix, Merli. Sapere Aude.  It's not a season 2. Rather it's a sequel.  Merli has died and his son Bruno is living with his actress grandmother and in university where he has fallen for Pol, probably Merli's favorite high school student. Like the first series, there's a smidgen of philosophy (briefly, comically and eccentrically presented) and a good portion of naked eye candy.  There's a number of new students with new "issues" including an American from Montana (?) who's few English lines sound like she was coached in English by Desi Arnez.  The professors also have issues.  As before, Netflix is listing only 8 of the 16 episodes IMDB shows were issued.  We're avoiding bingeing.  We don't want the pleasure to end.

BTW ToyBoy 2 is also back on Netflix.

 

LOL, the producers of "Sapere Aude" didn't waste any time.  The opening sequence has Carlos Cuevas in the shower showing off his spectacular ass.  Wow, CC sure ain't shy about showing off the goods, but with a body like that, who can blame him?  The producers' shameless manipulation worked, of course.  I had been on the fence about investing time into "Sapere Aude," but I got totally lured in now.

Toyboy Season 2 was almost as awful as Season 1.  The script makes no sense, the dialogue is just awful, and the acting, yikes.  Some improvements, though.  I read that Jesus Mosquera (Hugo) works his ass off in every aspect:  his fitness, the dance numbers, and even his acting.  While not exactly a Spanish Sir Laurence Olivier, Mosquera's acting has improved from the rock-bottom awfulness of Season 1.  Damning with faint praise, I realize.  I liked that they showed more of the beauty of Marbella this season, and they showed slightly more skin, although they def need to show a lot more.  Best of all, Maxi Iglesias joined the cast, and for him alone, I'll definitely watch Season 3 if there is one.

PS:  for those who watched the original Merli, is there a reason Pol's father is Spanish-speaking?

 

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by BSR
Added tweet & PS

[BSR]

I just finished binging Season 1 of "Sapere Aude."  I got sucked in by the opening shot of Carlos Cuevas's ass but ended up getting hooked on the series for its own merits.  "Sapere Aude" turned out to be one of the better shows I've seen on Netflix.  It's killing me that Netflix doesn't carry Season 2. 

[OCClient]

During the conversation about Rai, what is so attractive about him, Pol admits one of the reasons is he has a big package.   😄

 

The heart wants what the heart wants!

[BSR]

31 minutes ago, OCClient said:

During the conversation about Rai, what is so attractive about him, Pol admits one of the reasons is he has a big package.   😄

 

The heart wants what the heart wants!

I have such a crush on Bruno that I couldn't figure out why Pol was so hooked on Rai.  But like you said, the heart wants what the heart wants.  Or as they say in Spain, sobre el gusto no hay nada escrito.  Word-for-word translates to "about taste there's nothing written," but a better translation would be "there's no accounting for taste."

When oh when will Netflix show the second season of Merli Sapere Aude??

[BSR]

Crapfest! I got all excited when I found Merli (the original series, not Sapere Aude) on RTVE, Spain's public TV channel, all 3 seasons available via the Internet.  Imagine my disappointment when I discovered they had no subtitles or dubbing!  The RTVE app has an icon for subtitles, but when the menu pops up, it's blank.  So the series is available, but only in its original Catalan *grumblegrumble*

[BSR]

Good news:  Netflix will start streaming the 2nd season of Merli Sapere Aude on September 9.

[BSR]

I just finished binging the 2nd season of Merli Sapere Aude.  I loved it, even more than Season 1.  Now that Bruno's gone and with Rai hopelessly straight, Pol finds a new love interest, Axel, a hot restoration artist in charge of returning the UBarcelona assembly hall to its former glory.  Axel likes Pol, Pol likes Axel, so what's the hitch?  Unfortunately, Pol discovers that he has HIV (not a spoiler, he finds out in the 1st or 2nd episode).  Most of the 2nd season deals with how Pol deals with his HIV status, as if school, family, and financial issues weren't challenging enough for our young protagonist. 

We also see how Professor Bolaño deals with her alcoholism and get some insight into why she drinks.  Pol quits his parking garage job and starts bartending at a drag nightclub.  Oddly enough, María, not Pol, ends up making a very close friend with one of the nightclub staff.

Some of last season's characters disappear or fade into the background.  Bruno is gone obviously, but also Minerva, who stays in Argentina.  Rai is reduced to a peripheral character, as is Silvia (María's only friend at UB).  While Biel, Oti, Arnau, and Amy get some more screen time, this season is Pol's story.  One big plus is that Carlos Cuevas & Jordi Coll (Axel) have great chemistry.  Their sex scenes are hot! hot! hot!  The only downside is that there aren't enough of them.

I really wish that the series had been renewed, but unfortunately, we won't see a third season of our sexy Catalan philosopher.  The final episode comes off as a bit frantic, like the scriptwriters found out last minute that the show got canceled & they had to scramble to wrap up all the storylines.  But that's a minor complaint.  Overall, I highly recommend Season 2.

[Guest MikeThomas]

Just found this series.  Highly recommend.  A three way with Pol y Axel would be so much fun 😈

[leeper]

I am about half-way through Season 2 of Merli Sapere Aude.  Really like this show and and find the philosophy classes actually quite thought provoking.  Having seen Maria Pujalte, as the lawyer in Toy Boy and now as the alcoholic teacher makes me want to see more from her.  And course, Carlos Cuevas alone makes it worth watching.  He is also in the show Leonardo which is currently being broadcast on the CW network.  I just wish we had access to an English-captioned version of the original Merli.

Edited September 22, 2022 by leeper

[BSR]

5 hours ago, leeper said:

I am about half-way through Season 2 of Merli Sapere Aude.  Really like this show and and find the philosophy classes actually quite thought provoking.  Having seen Maria Pujalte, as the lawyer in Toy Boy and now as the alcoholic teacher makes me want to see more from her.  And course, Carlos Cuevas alone makes it worth watching.  He is also in the show Leonardo which is currently being broadcast on the CW network.  I just wish we had access to an English-captioned version of the original Merli.

RTVE (Spain's public TV network) just recently added Spanish captioning to the original Merli.  If you can read Spanish half-decently (and have a VPN), it's definitely worth watching.  I've never been one for twinks, but both Pol and Bruno were so damn cute as youngsters.  Don't worry, it's OK to lust after them since the actors were both (barely) legal at the time of shooting.

Maria Pujalte starred in a very popular series, Los misterios de Laura, the first Spanish series that Hollywood picked up and re-made into a series for American TV (starring Debra Messing and Josh Lucas).  Note that her daughter in Sapere Aude is named Laura, in a nod to her old show.

[BSR]

I just finished binging the original Merlí and loved it, even more than Sapere Aude.  First, some insight into the 2 series.  The original Merlí was made by the Catalan branch of TV3, one of Spain's big broadcast networks.  It was so popular in Catalunya that TV3 decided to dub it into Spanish (Spaniards hate subtitles) and release it nationally.  It was so popular in Spain that Netflix bought the rights to release it internationally.  Then it was so popular in South America (specifically Argentina, Chile, and Peru) that Netflix decided to make the sequel Sapere Aude.  The writer & showrunner Hector Lozano always planned for the original to run 3 seasons (40 episodes) and Sapere Aude to run for 2 (16 episodes).

I marvel that the original Merlí was so good despite its shoestring budget.  The quality of the scripts and the level of the actors are impressive as hell.  The high school students come off as real people, not TV characters like in some American teen-oriented series.  The show is lucky to have 2 charismatic protagonists -- Merlí Bergeron, the unconventional philosophy teacher, and Pol Rubio, his best student -- who really hook you in.  Pol's previously discussed sex appeal certainly helps as well.

If you want to catch the original Merlí on RTVE, best hurry because it's only available until Dec 14.  Fortunately, thanks to streaming, old TV shows never die.  They just sit around waiting to get picked up by Netflix/Hulu/etc.  If one of the streaming services does pick up the original Merlí, I highly recommend it.

PS:  I was probably the only one wondering, but the reason Pol's family is Spanish-speaking is to give some background for the family's dire financial straits.  Of course not all Spanish-only speakers in Catalunya are poor, but if you lack education or an exceptional skill, like Pol's father, you might struggle anywhere but all the more so as a non-Catalan speaker in Barcelona.

PPS:  the recent death of Angela Lansbury made me think about Maria Pujalte's old show Los misterios de Laura because Jessica Fletcher and Laura Lebrel are 2 peas in a pod.  The protagonist Laura is a police detective, not a writer, but the way she goes about solving whodunits will remind you a lot of Cabot Cove's most illustrious writer.  Again, if one of the streaming services ever picks up Los misterios de Laura, I highly recommend it.

[Guest MikeThomas]

3 hours ago, BSR said:

I just finished binging the original Merlí and loved it, even more than Sapere Aude.  First, some insight into the 2 series.  The original Merlí was made by the Catalan branch of TV3, one of Spain's big broadcast networks.  It was so popular in Catalunya that TV3 decided to dub it into Spanish (Spaniards hate subtitles) and release it nationally.  It was so popular in Spain that Netflix bought the rights to release it internationally.  Then it was so popular in South America (specifically Argentina, Chile, and Peru) that Netflix decided to make the sequel Sapere Aude.  The writer & showrunner Hector Lozano always planned for the original to run 3 seasons (40 episodes) and Sapere Aude to run for 2 (16 episodes).

I marvel that the original Merlí was so good despite its shoestring budget.  The quality of the scripts and the level of the actors are impressive as hell.  The high school students come off as real people, not TV characters like in some American teen-oriented series.  The show is lucky to have 2 charismatic protagonists -- Merlí Bergeron, the unconventional philosophy teacher, and Pol Rubio, his best student -- who really hook you in.  Pol's previously discussed sex appeal certainly helps as well.

If you want to catch the original Merlí on RTVE, best hurry because it's only available until Dec 14.  Fortunately, thanks to streaming, old TV shows never die.  They just sit around waiting to get picked up by Netflix/Hulu/etc.  If one of the streaming services does pick up the original Merlí, I highly recommend it.

PS:  I was probably the only one wondering, but the reason Pol's family is Spanish-speaking is to give some background for the family's dire financial straits.  Of course not all Spanish-only speakers in Catalunya are poor, but if you lack education or an exceptional skill, like Pol's father, you might struggle anywhere but all the more so as a non-Catalan speaker in Barcelona.

PPS:  the recent death of Angela Lansbury made me think about Maria Pujalte's old show Los misterios de Laura because Jessica Fletcher and Laura Lebrel are 2 peas in a pod.  The protagonist Laura is a police detective, not a writer, but the way she goes about solving whodunits will remind you a lot of Cabot Cove's most illustrious writer.  Again, if one of the streaming services ever picks up Los misterios de Laura, I highly recommend it.

I hope “they” make the original series available in the US with English subtitles (hate dubbing).

[BSR]

Bruno and Pol are the sexiest gay couple I've ever seen on screen.  Fortunately, I found the skinnydipping scene from the first episode of Sapere Aude.  The English subtitles aren't the best, but no self-respecting gay man watches this scene for the dialogue, LOL.

 

[Guest MikeThomas]

2 hours ago, BSR said:

Bruno and Pol are the sexiest gay couple I've ever seen on screen.  Fortunately, I found the skinnydipping scene from the first episode of Sapere Aude.  The English subtitles aren't the best, but no self-respecting gay man watches this scene for the dialogue, LOL.

“All roads lead to Bruno”

 

[BSR]

1 hour ago, MikeThomas said:

“All roads lead to Bruno”

I shan't give away any spoilers but will say that it all makes sense once you see the final episode of the original Merlí. 

[AceHardware]

On 3/9/2022 at 6:05 PM, purplekow said:

Pol is Merli's surviving student and though I do not usually go for such young men and Twink like ones especially, I do find my heart racing and my hard rising when he is on the screen.   He just oozes sex appeal. 

You and me both. Wow.

It's odd this is marketed (where I first read about it) as "philosophy explained for the masses", because I found it heavy on drama, light on philosophy, and more specifically, I didn't see philosophy playing any kind of role in the students' lives. They had usual college lives: making friends, fighting with friends, fighting with parents, having lovers, gossiping, partying, and sitting through lectures trying to stay awake. It was OK despite the mis-marketing.

Edited November 27, 2022 by AceHardware

[BSR]

Carlos Cuevas (Pol in Merlí) stars in a new Netflix series Smiley, about a gay couple in Barcelona who are totally wrong for each other but just can't help themselves.  I'll write a more detailed review in the "Anything good on Netflix?" thread, but for Carlos Cuevas fans, wow! our favorite Catalan philosopher looks hella good in his latest series.

Cuevas plays Alex, a himbo who belongs to 2 gyms and has the muscles to show for it.  Cuevas doesn't have nearly enough nude scenes/sex scenes, but Smiley is so good that I'll forgive him just this once.

[+ EVdude]

After giving up on the newest season of Elite, I binged all 16 episodes of Merli Sapere Aude. Enjoyable on so many levels. Glad I read though this thread! So hope they release the original Merli series in the US. Big Carlos Cuevas fan now. On to Smiley.