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  1. Wokeometer
  2. TV Shows
  3. Smiley
  4. Season 1
Smiley - Season 1
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Smiley

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Smiley - Season 1
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Smiley - Season 1

tv·TV-MA·S1·Dec 7, 2022
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Smiley

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Smiley - Season 1

tv
TV-MA
Season 1
December 7, 2022
Wokeometer Rating
8Woke
0/10
Audience Woke Score
No Ratings Yet
Scale: 0 = not woke, 10 = maximally woke

TL;DR Verdict

Smiley Season 1 scores 8/10 for woke content by building every major plot around gay romances and queer relationships as the central engine. Avoid it if you want standard rom-com entertainment without identity-driven messaging.

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Detailed Analysis

Smiley Season 1 centers its entire premise on a gay romance between bartender Álex (Carlos Cuevas) and architect Bruno (Miki Esparbé), who connect via a misdirected voicemail and navigate dates, breakups, and reconciliation across nearly every episode.

The ensemble expands this with additional queer storylines, including the lesbian couple Vero and Patri experimenting with an open relationship and moving in together, plus subplots involving older gay characters like Javi and Ramiro. This structure replicates traditional rom-com tropes but substitutes all major relationships with LGBTQ+ ones, making queer identity and relationships the foundational driver rather than incidental flavor. The poster imagery of the two male leads in an intimate embrace reinforces the visual focus on same-sex romance as the selling point.

While the series avoids overt lectures or source-material alterations, the deliberate centering of non-traditional identities as the core emotional and narrative engine qualifies as prominent progressive ideological embedding. Audience reception split along expected lines, with praise from LGBTQ viewers for the representation and some criticism for its assimilationist leanings, but the content itself prioritizes identity-driven storytelling over neutral entertainment.

Key Factors

  • Central gay male romance as the main plot across all 8 episodes
  • Ensemble of multiple LGBTQ+ relationships including lesbian open-relationship subplot
  • Adaptation of play explicitly framed and marketed as queer rom-com with no heterosexual leads

Methodology: Each score synthesizes audience discourse, critic and aggregator reception, and press coverage — weighed against the work itself, not any single source.

Detailed BreakdownPro

Identity Politics & Racial Essentialism
Gender Ideology & LGBTQ+ Themes
DEI Casting & Representation Mandates
Preachiness & Message-First Agenda
Corporate & Creator Activism

See how this title scores across all 5 woke subcategories with detailed explanations.

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Directed by

  • Marta Pahissa

Is Smiley - Season 1 Woke?

We've run a full content analysis on Smiley - Season 1 and scored it 8/10 on the woke scale. Read our detailed breakdown above to see exactly what we found.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of woke content is in Smiley - Season 1?

Our analysis checks for themes like identity politics, race-swapping, gender ideology, environmental activism, anti-religious messaging, and other progressive agenda elements. The score breakdown above shows which specific categories were flagged and how heavily they factor into Smiley - Season 1's overall score.

Is Smiley - Season 1 family-friendly?

Wokeometer focuses on ideological content rather than traditional ratings (violence, language, etc.). Smiley - Season 1 is rated TV-MA. For a full picture, combine our woke analysis with the age rating to decide if it's right for your family.

How does Wokeometer score tv shows?

We evaluate media across multiple ideological categories on a 0–10 scale. Scores of 0–3 mean story-first, 4–6 have moderate elements, and 7–10 flag heavily agenda-driven content. Learn more about our methodology →

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Top Cast

Carlos Cuevas
4.5Mixed

Carlos Cuevas

Alex

Miki Esparbé
8Woke

Miki Esparbé

Bruno

Pepón Nieto
4.5Mixed

Pepón Nieto

Javier / Keena Mandrah

Meritxell Calvo
8Woke

Meritxell Calvo

Veronica 'Vero'

C
8Woke

Cedrick Mugisha

Ibra

Giannina Fruttero
8Woke

Giannina Fruttero

Patricia 'Patri'

Eduardo Lloveras
8Woke

Eduardo Lloveras

Albert

Ruth Llopis
8Woke

Ruth Llopis

Núria

Carles Sanjaime
8Woke

Carles Sanjaime

Ramiro

Ramon Pujol
8Woke

Ramon Pujol

Ramon

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