“How to Survive Being Single” is a Mexican sitcom that tries to do something unusual: it makes being single feel like a condition worth examining, not just a status to be endured. Sebastián Zurita plays Sebastián, an actor who has spent years playing the same character, and when his decade-long girlfriend Lucía cheats on him, he gets thrown back into the world of dating after almost a decade away. The show follows him and his group of friends as they navigate the awkwardness of single life in a culture where men often hold the upper hand.
The premise is simple. Sebastián is about to get engaged, but his life takes a sharp turn when Lucía deceives him. He loses his 10-year relationship and has to readjust to being single. The show follows him through that process, with his friends — Fabiana, Mafer, Gonzo, Julieta, Daniel and Priscila — offering comic relief and occasional wisdom along the way.
The Setup
The show is built around a central tension: Sebastián’s fame is tied to a character he can’t escape, and that character is now incompatible with the man he wants to be. He has to unlearn old habits and learn new ones, all while his friends watch and comment on his failures. The setup is classic sitcom territory, but the execution leans heavily on physical comedy and situational irony rather than witty dialogue.
The pacing is brisk. Episodes move quickly between setups and payoffs, and the show rarely drags. It also rarely overexplains itself, which keeps the tone light even when the subject matter — heartbreak and self-doubt — could easily sink it into melodrama.
The Cast
Sebastián Zurita carries the show, and he does so with a mix of charm and exasperation that feels genuine. His performance anchors the series, and his commitment to playing both the confident and the vulnerable sides of Sebastián is what makes the character work. Tato Alexander plays Fabiana, a friend who offers comic relief and occasional support, while Pamela Almanza plays Lucía, the ex-girlfriend whose betrayal drives the plot forward.
Lucía Gómez-Robledo plays Mafer, another friend who helps Sebastián navigate the world of dating, and Octavio Hinojosa Martínez plays Gonzo, who adds his own brand of chaos to the mix. Juanita Arias plays Julieta, and Roberto Flores plays Daniel, rounding out the ensemble with distinct personalities that keep the group dynamic fresh across all three seasons.
“Sebastián returns to the world of dating newly single and discovers that his flirting abilities are not the best.”
The Friends
The show’s strength comes from its ensemble. Each friend brings a different perspective on being single, and their collective advice to Sebastián forms the backbone of the series. The show is at its best when it lets these characters bounce off each other, creating small, human moments that land better than any lecture about dating ever could.
The group’s bad-at-relationships status is the engine of the show. Their inability to find love mirrors Sebastián’s own struggles, and the show uses their stories to explore the broader cultural context of being single. The show examines the advantages and disadvantages of being single in a culture where men tend to prevail, and it does so with a light touch that keeps the message from feeling heavy-handed.
The Comedy
The comedy is mostly physical and situational. There are jokes about flirting, about online dating, about the awkwardness of first dates, and about the sheer difficulty of finding someone who fits. The show doesn’t rely on verbal wit so much as it relies on visual gags and timing, which suits the material well. The humor is broad but not mean, and it lands consistently enough to keep the audience engaged.
There are some weak episodes, particularly in the later seasons, where the plots feel recycled or the jokes fall flat. These moments don’t sink the show, but they do suggest that the creators were reaching for more than they found. The show’s best episodes are the ones that let the characters breathe and let the relationships develop naturally.
The Third Season
The third season premiered on 22 March 2023, capping off a run that had already established a loyal following on Amazon Prime Video. The show was renewed for a second and third season on 30 March 2021, which gave the creators room to expand the scope of the story. By the final season, the show had built a mythology around Sebastián’s character and his struggle to break free from it.
The third season wraps up the main storyline of Sebastián’s journey, though it leaves some threads open for potential continuation. Whether the show will return beyond this point remains unclear, but the final episodes offer a satisfying conclusion to the character’s arc.
The Verdict
“How to Survive Being Single” is a solid, if uneven, sitcom that succeeds more often than it fails. Its ensemble cast, led by a strong lead performance from Sebastián Zurita, keeps the show grounded in human experience, and its exploration of single life in a culture where men tend to prevail gives the series a cultural specificity that sets it apart from standard American rom-com fare. The humor is consistent, the pacing is steady, and the emotional beats land with real weight.
It isn’t a perfect show. Some episodes drag, and the later seasons lean on recycled plots more than the earlier ones. But the core idea — a man forced to confront his own identity after a breakup — is handled with enough honesty and humor to carry the series through its full run.
The show’s score is 7.1 out of 10, reflecting a consensus that places it in the upper-middle tier of sitcoms. That number feels accurate to this reviewer’s assessment.
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