Smoke
tv·TV-MA·Jun 26, 2025·
Smoke stays laser-focused on arson investigations, criminal psychology, and personal trauma, delivering neutral storytelling with almost no identity politics or messaging.
"Smoke" is a crime procedural following arson investigators Dave Gudsen and Detective Michelle Calderone as they pursue serial arsonists in the Pacific Northwest, incorporating a twist about Gudsen's own involvement alongside explorations of criminal psychology and personal trauma such as Calderone's childhood experiences.
Adapted from Dennis Lehane's work on the Firebug podcast and drawing from real 1980s cases, the series emphasizes cat-and-mouse tension over ideological themes. Its mixed ensemble cast, including a Black female co-lead and actors like John Leguizamo, features original characters in a contemporary setting without source-material alterations or identity-focused conflicts. These elements result in an overall woke score of 3/10, reflecting minimal engagement with identity politics.
Methodology: Each score synthesizes audience discourse, critic and aggregator reception, and press coverage — weighed against the work itself, not any single source.
See how this title scores across all 5 woke subcategories with detailed explanations.
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We've run a full content analysis on Smoke and scored it 3/10 on the woke scale. Read our detailed breakdown above to see exactly what we found.
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 Smoke's overall score.
Wokeometer focuses on ideological content rather than traditional ratings (violence, language, etc.). Smoke is rated TV-MA. For a full picture, combine our woke analysis with the age ratingto decide if it's right for your family.
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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