For the past five days, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, one of the continent’s most influential liberal voices, had his nation gripped by a question: Would he, or wouldn’t he, resign?

The bizarre political drama seemed straight out of a telenovela: After the opening of what he called a spurious investigation against his wife, the dashing leader invoked familial honor in an emotive letter that meme-makers quickly set to song on social media, and in which he wondered whether it was “worth it” to continue in his post.