Netflix’s Spanish rom-com series ‘Smiley’ sees two destined lovebirds finding their way back to each other after a romance rife with ups and downs and plenty of clichés.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
‘Smiley’ begins with Álex, a bartender, leaving the guy he just had the latest fling with, a voicemail, filled with anger and disappointment he feels for not receiving even a single follow-up message after they slept together.
Álex has always wanted a relationship that could move past passionate lovemaking. However, he’s always been unlucky in that regard. Being the hot and charming lad he is, others only see viability in the short term, nothing-serious flings that begin and end on the bed.
The voicemail that Álex sends ends up on the wrong receiver’s phone, who intends to contact Álex to tell him he misdialled and ease up his anxiety over not receiving anything back from his boyfriend he seems to have been having a rough patch with.
This receiver is Bruno, an architect and a romantic, much like Álex but with different aesthetical branding. He contacts Álex and soon they hit it off over the airwaves, eventually also deciding to meet each other.
They do meet each other, but at the same time, Álex is stuck with another hot guy who has taken a liking to him, and he’s also Álex’s mom’s favourite new lad. Bruno and Álex do hit it off in person as well, albeit with each other’s preconceived notions about the type that the other one fits in.
Bruno is of the notion that hot guys like Álex would never go for guys like him while Álex is annoyed at the former’s presumptuous tendencies and the sense of superiority that he exudes.
Even if annoyed and irked by each other, the two are attracted like two powerful magnets, eventually ending up on the same bed and having engaged in sex they both admit to being one of their best in quite a while.
However, their own overactive minds rife with stereotypes and notions spoil their romance from continuing steadily after that. Vying for each other’s embrace and love, the two continue to lead a repressed, fake, and torturous life separately, maintaining facades of a love life with other men.
At the ‘Smiley’, the two are compelled by their desire to shed all the useless notions, presumptions, and ego to reunite. However, a decision too late may cost them both a separation thousands of miles apart.
‘Smiley’ ending explained in detail:
Do Bruno and Álex end up getting together?
Yes, they do. Álex and Bruno are two romantics that hail from two different worlds which in the end, are not that dissimilar after all.
For all the supposed similarities they claim to share with other men and base their fake relationships over, the two characters actually share perhaps the most crucial ones with each other.
Both need a relationship that lasts, and they are incredibly attracted to each other, not just in sensuality but in compatibility. However, they are also the victims of their own inability to properly communicate their feelings for the other one (and communicating in general).
After missed opportunities and unanswered messages, the two drift apart while always recalling one thing or another about the time they spent in each other’s companies.
Both Álex and Bruno end up getting into relationships with other men who they both find to be great people while knowing all too well that they can’t find the same spark they do when they’re together.
The end of ‘Smiley’ sees Bruno expressing his disappointment in front of Álex at the bar, bleeding his heart out about the latter not responding to the smiley he had sent to him all those days ago.
This missed opportunity eventually led to Bruno having to be in a relationship with Ramón, who listens to his new boyfriend venting his frustrations, following which the two break up.
Meanwhile, Álex is being taken by Ibra on a vacation to his home in Senegal. Before departing, Álex sends a voicemail to Bruno, who can’t reply as his phone’s battery is dying.
However, he does manage to send his lover a smiley — an emoticon containing multitudes of expressions and feelings for the two. Thankfully, Álex sees the smiley and runs back to Bruno, embracing him in the middle of the road as the series concludes with a happy ending.
Do Ramiro and Rosa reconcile?
Ramiro grew up with Rosa as her best friend, and the bond between the two was so strong that many suspected them to be lovers. Then came Juan, who Rosa actually fell in love with, while she always considered Ramiro a friend.
Rosa and Juan’s increasingly intimate relationship would eventually end up in the two marrying each other and having a kid — Álex. However, shortly after he was born, Ramiro left Rosa and didn’t come back until 25 years later.
While earlier in the series it appears as if Ramiro ditched his friend because he was in love with her and couldn’t see her being in love with Juan. It seems he left her after the birth of her son with Juan, which was the last straw for him.
After 25 years, Rosa is initially cold to him, and understandably so, because he didn’t turn up after Juan’s death, during a time she needed him most. However, now that he’s returned for a temporary visit, as he claims, he seems to be a changed man.
Rosa can’t help but fall for him, and it’s easy since she hasn’t had anyone she once shared such an intimate bond with. However, Ramiro bursts her misinterpretation of this situation, explaining to her it wasn’t Juan he was jealous of but her.
As it turns out, Ramiro has always been gay and he once had sex with Juan, although it was only one time. When Juan fell for Rosa, Ramiro couldn’t stay there any longer, as a future together with Juan was no more possible.
Rosa is hurt and shocked to learn the truth and doesn’t want to hear a thing Ramiro has to say.
Before leaving, Ramiro leaves a recorded tape of Juan, wherein Rosa’s husband tells Ramiro that he can’t be with him, as he’s in love with his wife, but also that he’d wish Ramiro to be there with his wife and child as a friend.
Rosa listens to the tape and stops Ramiro before he departs, eventually reconciling with him and becoming friends once again.
Ramiro, meanwhile, had begun a beautiful relationship with Javi, and after telling the latter that he’s reconciled with Rosa and Álex, the two get back together as well.
Do Vero and Patri break up?
Vero and Patri’s 7-year-old relationship goes through the rough patches the most out of everyone else’s in ‘Smiley’. They love each other very much, and that fact is not dubious at all.
However, the crux of all the ups and downs they have over the course of eight episodes is that Vero is ultimately not happy with Patri, in spite of the immense love she has for her.
Vero tries to save her relationship by first distancing herself from Patri, without telling her. Then she tries to save it by spicing things up with an open relationship, even though Patri isn’t all that down for it.
Vero can’t manage to be enthused about the new apartment they had always dreamt of moving into together. Patri finally sits down with her and addresses the big elephant.
Patri can’t be happy if Vero can’t be happy with her, and the two realise and come to terms with the hurtful fact at the end of ‘Smiley’.
While they both love each other dearly, a committed relationship requires more than that, and sometimes relationships run their course and fizzle out, which is what happens with Patri and Vero.
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