Written by Guillem Clua
Directed by Marta Pahissa
Alex (to Bruno): "I know this is crazy and we always end up fighting. We're completely different. Like Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant but if they gave it a shot, why shouldn't we? We might not have a happy ending but we can have a beginning if you want."
Pride Month might have been last month and while it's definitely too early right now for Christmas movies, I had been meaning to catch up with this limited series released back in 2022. As they say: better late than never.
The premise for this show seemed to be based on a chance, miscommunication, an attraction of opposites and the red thread. Be certain that last one would be rather important with our protagonists Alex (Carlos Cuevas) and Bruno (Miki Esparbe). Two men completely different to one another, yet throughout this eight part series, are also very much drawn to each other.
For this show, expect every rom-com trope under the sun but this show has such a sweet disposition, its hard not to be charmed as gym obsessed barman Alex accidentally leaving an angry rant intended for an ex-boyfriend would bring architect and movie buff Bruno into his life. The attraction's immediate but so would be their clash of personalities. Alex and Bruno do the deed by the second episode but then spend the majority of the season with other people.
Yup, that's where both Ibra (Cedrick Mugisha) and Ramon (Ramon Pujol) would factor into the series. As characters, they're both likable enough but ultimately placeholder love interests until Alex and Bruno realise that they want to be together. Of course until you have to wait until virtually the last minute for the leads to properly get together but at least when it happened, it felt earned enough.
Of course while the show was predominantly focused on both Alex and Bruno's romance and their separate worlds that kept getting pulled further into each other, the supporting characters were also decent to watch. At first, I wasn't that greatly interested in a lot of these characters but as the series progressed, the more they started to interest me.
With Alex, there was his mother, Rosa (Amparo Fernandez), whose reunion with former friend Ramiro (Carles Sanjaime) revealed a side about Alex's father that was a bit of a surprise. Also pivotal to Alex's world included lesbian couple Vero (Meritxell Calvo) and Patri (Giannina Fruttero). Their relationship also had plenty of angst while drag entertainer and bar co-owner, Javier/Keena (Pepon Nieto) provided a bit of levity to proceedings.
As for Bruno, we never got to meet his own family but his relationship with co-worker and best friend, Albert (Eduardo Lloveras) and Nuria (Ruth Llopis) was rather lovely to see through the series. Not to mention, his bond with his adorable dog certainly endeared the character quite a bit.
- The episode titles for the show were When Alex Met Bruno, The Wings Of Icarus, The Beast Of My Girl, Start Over, Every Sheep In It's Pen, One Degree Of Seperation, Five Minutes Before The Countdown and The Red Thread.
- Alex's favourite film was Frozen but the Katherine Hepburn/Cary Grant movie, Bringing Up Baby was a source of bonding for both him and Bruno.
- Every single episode used split screen to mostly good effect. The fourth episode had fun with the Grindr style profile talking.
- Creator/writer Guillem Clua had written this as a stage play which ran for three years and it had been written in Catalan, despite mostly being in Spanish.
- The romance between Javier and Ramiro was a nice addition to the second half of the season. Vero and Patri had been together for seven years.
- Chronology: The show took place during Christmas 2022 and early 2023 in Barcelona. Alex was 32 and Bruno was 36.
Smiley certainly had a lot going for it. A great central love story, generous helpings of guy on guy action and a strong line up of supporting players. I definitely enjoyed watching Alex and Bruno's story play out over the eight episodes with both leads giving it their all. I would've liked a second season but at least it didn't end on a cliffhanger.
Rating: 8 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment