Likes for Sale, or Compro Likes in Portuguese, is as quirky and lighthearted as you’d expect from a half-hour sitcom. Its main premise, that of creating a fake persona in the age of online disinformation, also poses interesting questions. How ethical is it to buy likes to boost your career? And if you’re as desperate and rundown as Wagner, does the end justify the means? The ways in which Wagner and his team of frustrated artists navigate these dilemmas are what make the show relatable and interesting, but they’re also what make it frustrating at times. Some of their resolutions are questionable, and when they do tackle weighty matters, they seem too flippant to warrant serious thought. And the cast—as ebullient as they are—aren’t always convincing or charming enough to win you over. It’s admirable for the series to tackle such a novel concept (I’ve only ever seen it in the 2022 film Not Okay), but it looks like it’s something that needs to be lived in more to be fully fleshed out. 

The vibrancy of the Brazilian arts scene. Wagner and his group of frustrated artists are the soul of this series, and it’s their hunger for something creative and real outside of the humdrum of life that keeps the show running. They also pose as a foil to the inauthenticity of the entertainment industry, which they rightly and funnily critique.