Is Adults woke?
Adults (2025)
TV Show
Released: January 1, 2025
Wokeness Score
7/10
Strongly Ideological
Woke messaging is very prominent and often feels forced or shoehorned in. Characters and plot are primarily shaped to serve the ideology. Many viewers feel the agenda overshadows the entertainment.
Key Summary Points
- Diverse cast emphasizes queer and ethnic identities as normalized core traits
- Plots integrate sexual fluidity, same-sex relationships, and identity exploration
- Satirizes cancel culture, healthcare, abortion, and performative progressivism
Wokeness Analysis
The FX sitcom Adults centers on a diverse ensemble of Gen Z friends navigating early adulthood in Queens, with intentional casting that includes South Asian (Samir), bisexual/fluid (Paul Baker), gay (Anton), and other non-heteronormative or ethnic minority characters. Queer identities are normalized and integrated into plots, such as Paul Baker's sexual fluidity leading to a marriage of convenience with Anton for visa reasons and a slow-burn romance, alongside bisexuality and casual same-sex encounters for Billie and Issa. Episodes satirize or reference progressive topics including cancel culture via 'the Scrub' of old social media posts, healthcare navigation, abortion access subplots, identity politics, and critiques of performative activism or outdated language norms. The show eschews heavy-handed lecturing in favor of character-driven humor but foregrounds these elements as core to the modern Gen Z experience, drawing comparisons to Girls and Broad City while updating them with contemporary social commentary on precarity, dating apps, and fluid identities. This makes the messaging prominent and intentional, often shaping character arcs and conflicts around ideological or identity-based themes rather than pure escapism, though it remains balanced within the hangout comedy format.
Plot
Adults follows five codependent twenty-something friends—Samir, Billie, Paul Baker, Issa, and Anton—living together in Samir's childhood home in Queens, New York, as they struggle with jobs, relationships, healthcare, dating in the age of apps and location sharing, and the humiliations of early adulthood. The ensemble comedy, created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, premiered on FX on May 28, 2025, with seasons streaming on Hulu. It blends hangout sitcom tropes with heightened Gen Z anxieties, tech references, and interpersonal chaos, earning comparisons to Friends, Girls, and New Girl while featuring guest stars and strong ensemble chemistry.