Diksha Sundriyal
Apple TV+’s crime drama series, ‘Smoke,’ follows an arson investigator and a detective who band together to solve the case of two serial arsonists. The first two episodes set the ground by introducing us to the criminals and the people chasing them. However, by the end of the second episode, it becomes clear that things are not what they seem as the cops have just as much to hide as the criminals, if not more. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Dave Gudsen Meets Michelle Calderon
The story begins with Dave Gudsen trying to explain what fire is and what it does to a human body. In his memory, he is trapped inside a burning house. This is back when he was a firefighter, and in this particular incident, he was so desperately trapped that he mistook his mirror image for another firefighter. Somehow, he survived this ordeal, but it wisened him up to the dangers of his job, and he decided to take a step back and focus on investigating the fire rather than putting it out. Now, he has two serial arsonists he has been chasing for a while but seems nowhere close to catching them.
The first arsonist has a love for chips. This mystery man enters stores and starts a fire by lighting a cigarette and leaving it in the section with chips. From there, the fire usually turns into a monster and causes considerable damage. So far, the only thing that Dave has found out about the guy is that he walks with a limp, which Michelle points out is not real but for show. The other arsonist likes to set fire to people’s homes after stalking them. The only thing that Dave has concluded about him is that he must work at some burger joint, because the fuel he uses for his fires is the oil used in restaurant kitchens. The problem is that there are too many places to scour through and not enough information to single out the man. They do have the man’s DNA, but they don’t know who to match it with.
Seeing that the case is going nowhere, help is sent in the form of Detective Michelle Calderon. She was a rising star in the Robbery department, and on paper, she has been sent to help Dave’s department make significant strides in their case, given her experience with criminal investigations. However, it is clear to Dave and others that she is being punished for something; otherwise, why would she be sent to a place where the careers of people like her come to die? The truth is that Michelle had an affair with her captain, Steven Burk. When he told her that he was going to leave his wife, Michelle broke things off, which did not sit well with him, so he had her transferred. Now, she is adamant about solving the cases and catching one or both of the arsonists, because this would be such a huge win for her career that even Steven won’t be able to hold her back anymore.
Meet the Second Arsonist
While two police officers chase after him, one of the arsonists, Freddy Fasano, is revealed to be working at a restaurant chain called Coop’s. This confirms Dave’s theory about him, but there is much more to Freddy. At first glance, it is clear that his job has suffocated him. He is overworked and underpaid, and it seems that his superiors, who are much younger than him, take him for granted. He is also deeply alone in his personal life, which is why perhaps he goes out to seek other people’s happiness. From all the places he has burned down, Dave is convinced that Freddy chooses his victims carefully, rather than randomly setting fire to anyone’s house. His theory is proven right yet again when Freddy goes out on a weekend, sits alone at a bar, and watches a couple having fun with their friends.
Later, he follows the couple home to discover that they were on a night out, having left their newborn in the care of a babysitter. The baby’s presence in the house does not deter Freddy, and he sets the place on fire, which ends with the father getting severely burned while the wife and the child get out in time. The comfort that Freddy seeks in setting fire to other people’s houses comes to a halt when there is some development in his personal life. Because he doesn’t speak much, most customers don’t interact with him either. The only one who seems interested in talking to him is Brenda, who owns the hair salon next door. She tries to push through Freddy’s exterior and even encourages him to have some ambition and apply for the manager’s job.
The realization that he could want more from his life hits Freddy pretty hard, and he starts to consider the possibility that he might rise from his station. The fact that he doesn’t have a high school diploma worries him, but he has a GED from back when, and that allows him to go forward with the application. This gives him confidence that reflects in his clothes, which everyone, including Brenda, notices. She asks him to come by the salon for a free haircut, and despite his initial hesitation, he stops by and is moved by Brenda’s kindness. This is also when he discovers that she had a son who died sometime back, which makes him empathise with her more than most people.
Dave and Michelle Make a Breakthrough
When Michelle comes on board, Dave is initially unsure about her role in the investigation. She knows nothing about arson investigation or firefighters, and initially, he spends some time showing her around crime scenes and familiarising her with the case and the nature of fire. She turns out to be a quick learner and reveals a keen sense of observation as she starts to point out stuff that Dave either hadn’t thought of or hadn’t paid much attention to. Having had an encounter of her own with fire when she was little (courtesy of her mother, whose parole hearing is around the corner), she knows a thing or two about being in the middle of it all, but she doesn’t share this experience with Dave.
A major breakthrough comes in Freddy’s case when Dave talks with the family whose house was burned down. He retraces the victims’ steps and ends up at the bar where they spent the evening with their friends. The bartender reveals that the night had been a little slow that week, and the only person who stood out was a man who sat alone at the bar. She gives a description enough to get a sketch of the man, which might not be enough, but it is something. Dave is ecstatic with this discovery. Meanwhile, his partner does some digging of her own. In the case of the first arsonist, Michelle is convinced that the culprit is someone who works in the fire department.
Dave has reservations about looking into the men he has worked with and known personally and professionally. Still, Michelle’s logic is solid, so he has to follow her lead. They start by tallying the dates of the fire with the firemen who were absent from their jobs for those days. This brings two men in their sights, one of whom is removed from the suspects’ list when it turns out that he got a promotion, which meant that he was working a different job than the one Michelle and Dave were looking for. The second suspect is another fireman with considerable connections.
The problem is that they don’t have enough to nail him, so they follow him for a couple of days, hoping that either they will catch him in the act or he will make a mistake. But none of that happens. The only thing they find out is that he has a secret place where he spends a lot of his time. One day, Michelle decides to look around the place, but she is disappointed to discover that he is just stocking up weapons and there is nothing to suggest that he is the arsonist. A problem occurs when the man shows up, forcing Michelle to shoot him in the legs. Because she was inside the place without a warrant, she is forced to manipulate the scene to make it look like she acted because she sensed danger. Fortunately, her act works out.
Meet the First Arsonist
While Michelle may have been wrong about her first suspect, she is not wrong to believe that the first arsonist is a firefighter. Or as Steven points out, an ex-firefighter. This man has deep knowledge of how fire works and how much damage it will inflict. Interestingly, the first arsonist stops his spree when Michelle and Dave start looking into firefighters, but at the end of the second episode, he pops up again, and this time, the audience gets to see his face. It turns out that the first arsonist is Dave himself.
This plot twist is shocking, but does not come out of nowhere. In his personal life, we see Dave struggling to keep his marriage to Ashley from falling apart. The primary source of tension is her son, Emmett, who doesn’t care much for Dave and becomes more distressed when it turns out that his father is moving to the other side of the country. Despite Ashley’s tense state, Dave tries to keep things light. He tries to be fun and connect with Emmett, even though his efforts are not acknowledged. He even starts to write a book based on his experience as a firefighter and an arson investigator, and shares his writing with Ashley.
Eventually, however, none of that is enough, and there comes a point when he is at the brink of his patience. When Emmett talks back to him rudely, Dave lashes out at him, but he catches himself just in time. He leaves the house to calm down, but ends up at a store, which he sets on fire. Clearly, he has a lot of issues to work through, but the fact that he is the first arsonist puts a lot of things into perspective regarding why the investigation had been stunted for so long. The only question is: when and how will Michelle catch up with him?
Read More: Is Smoke Based on a True Story?
