Smoke Episode 8 Recap: Mercy

Episode 8 of AppleTV+’s ‘Smoke‘ brings to the forefront a conflict that has been bubbling for much of the narrative. With all cards seemingly on the table, Dave Gudsen and Michelle Calderon enter a silent but raging cat-and-mouse chase. In the previous episode, Dave learns that he is now the prime suspect for the Divide and Conquer arsons. This spells equal trouble for the investigators, as they know just how fearsome the protagonist can be as an enemy. This episode, titled ‘Mercy,’ follows the perspective of both camps, tracking the eventual collision of their respective plans. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Divide & Conquer Arsonist Has Evolved

The episode picks up right where the previous one left off, with Dave Gudsen on a rampage. Upon learning that his cover is blown and his closest confidantes are working to put him behind bars, the protagonist heads for the roads, desperate to vent his frustration in the best way he knows: arson. However, his rage doesn’t diminish his cunning, as Dave improves on his incendiary device by making it untraceable. After reading multiple cigarettes on the fly, Dave tours throughout the city in an arc, setting fire at no less than six spots. The true gravity of his actions is only calculated the next morning, and Captain Steven Burk is furious at having wasted all of their leads. He exclaims that he has a mere 24 hours before his superiors reassign the case to someone else, and with a deadline at hand, everyone gets to work.

Meanwhile, Ashley, now aware that Dave is a threat to the family, rushes to get her son, Emmette, out of Umberland. She tries her best to make up excuses about a last-minute trip to visit her ex-husband, Emette’s father, but the latter sees right through things and confidently declares his intent to stay no matter what. Unbeknownst to her, Dave is right outside the house, peering in and contemplating whether to burn his family down. He ultimately decides against it, instead choosing to maintain an image of normalcy. Back at the fire department, Harvey is still reeling from the events of last night, and his tensions only increase when he sees that Dave broke into his office and smashed through a picture of the chief’s lakeside cabin. However, he has no time to process all of this, as before long, the protagonist struts into the office, doing business as usual.

With no time to waste, Harvey calls up Steven, informing him of Dave’s presence. At the same time, the protagonist calls up Michelle, asking her to get back to work as well. She relents, but not before wearing one of Ezra’s wire taps disguised as a shirt button. A complicated series of exchanges then begins, with Dave and Michelle keeping up their respective charades, despite an underlying mutual understanding. Gradually, both of them begin to trickle down the details of what they have been up to, starting with Michelle, who brings up Dave’s book. She criticizes the obscene portrayal of the character of the protagonist’s partner, clearly modeled after her. He launches his own counterattack, directly poking at her affair with Steven, blaming her for using the stint as a stepping stool.

Dave’s Newest Shenanigans are an Open Secret

With tensions at an all-time high, Dave and Michelle head out to investigate the recent string of powers, which he boldly declares is the work of the D&C arsonist. He doesn’t stop there and mockingly brings up elements of a crime scene that he engineered himself, such as the remains of the incendiary device, a single coin buried in the middle of the burnt remains. Elsewhere, Ezra, accompanied by Dawn Hudson, breaks into Dave’s car and inserts another tracker, one much sturdier than the last. Michelle and Dave, on the other hand, refuse to back down, and the conversation then heads to the latter’s failed attempts to join the police force at one point. She brings up how he failed the psychological evaluation due to his anger issues, and, much to Dave’s annoyance, the game continues.

At the second site of the crime, Dave and Michelle are shocked to learn that there is a witness in a nearby apartment. The two head out to interrogate her, with Steven’s team keenly listening in. The witness, a paralegal, explains that she was in the washroom when she saw a man drop a device out of his car, which then started a fire in a few minutes. While she identifies the suspect to be a white male, this is not enough to narrow it down to Dave. However, he wastes no time in putting pressure on her, not hesitating to scrutinize her private affairs in order to trigger her insecurities. While Michelle puts a stop to this, she realizes that Dave is now more emboldened and, at the same time, cautious than ever. As such, she is unable to say no when the protagonist takes her for lunch at a burger joint of his choosing,

Dave Unearths Michelle and Harvey’s Hidden Pasts

Unsurprisingly, the burger joint turns out to be a ruse for Dave’s real play. He points out the building opposite the joint, and charts its history as a dollar store, a showroom, a pet shop, and before that, a motel. The conversation suddenly takes a dark turn when he reveals that this is the very motel where Michelle was trapped in a fire as a child. The cause of the fire was none other than her mother, who, in a drug bender, had invited and then killed a man. The fire she set in the motel resulted in the death of two more people, but Michelle was rescued. Twisting the knife further, Dave addresses her by her real name, Marcy. This triggers the deuteragonist, who finally brings her simmering hatred out in the open, labelling Dave as an arsonist whom she will ultimately take down. With the truth out at last, she drops her end of the charade and leaves.

The trouble continues for Harvey, who meets with his daughter at the office and relays the circumstances surrounding Dave. When she tries to comfort him, he finally admits to the real source of his fear. It turns out that Harvey is a dishonest cop who has been stealing money from law enforcement in order to fund his lifestyle, particularly in the aforementioned lakeside cabin. With the total sum amounting to a staggering $256,000, the chief is trapped. Things go from bad to worse when we learn that Dave knows the truth, and it is only a matter of time before he reveals the secret to the authorities. Meanwhile, Michelle calls up Steven, and the two sit down to catch a break. She laments how the case is nearly out of her grasp, but her former boss comforts her and the two decide to head to his home.

Reba Taps Into the Real Dave Gudsen

Dave tries to rekindle a past spark of his own and makes his way to Reba’s house. She explains that she is home alone for the time being, and the stage is set for both of them to seduce and insult each other in equal proportions. When he expresses his dissatisfaction with his married life, Reba is quick to call out his hero complex. She continues to probe into her ex-partner, bringing up Michelle’s interrogation and how she covered for him. While she told the detective that Dave was generally a twisted person, but knew to stay within social and civil boundaries, the reality is completely different. Reba bears firsthand proof of Dave’s disregard for rules and regulations, in the form of a burn scar on her stomach. It appears that Dave had participated in streaking with her as well, and the subsequent injuries were the result of a mishap.

Reba goes a step further, finally enquiring Dave about his arsonist tendencies, seeing how her burning accident left a smile on his face. No longer able to conceal his emotions, he finally admits to imposing himself on the world using fire as his medium. Meanwhile, Ezra and Dawn set up camp outside Reba’s house, secretly observing their suspects’ actions. Eager to kill time, the duo begins a game of truth and dare. Here, Ezra asks her about the happiest night of her life, and Dawn gives a unique answer, describing a formative event in her decision to become a cop. She recalls the time she was in a laundromat when a man committed a murder in front of her eyes. Instead of panicking, she crept up behind him and hit him with a clothing iron. This act made her conscious of her innate talent for law enforcement, and she was on her way shortly after.

The Line Between Michelle and Her Mother Blurs

Back at his house, Steven begins bonding with Michelle once again, and the topic of his separation from his wife comes up. Notably, they skirt the question of their complicated relationship. This is juxtaposed with Dave having rough sex with Reba, and Ezra and Dawn sit awkwardly spying through their binoculars. Steven tries to uplift his former subordinate’s spirits by suggesting that she be more active in social gatherings. When she expresses hopelessness about her professional trajectory, he brings up her immense talent. The conversation soon gets trickier, as his words segue into sexual advancement, much to her disappointment. Instead of retreating, Steven loses his cool and retracts all of his previous hopeful statements, replacing them with vicious threats of never letting Michelle’s career thrive.

Realizing that Steven has not been her friend this entire time, Michelle angrily tries to leave the house. When he tries to hold her back, she resists, accidentally rupturing his windpipe in the process. As Steven begins to choke and falls to the ground, he looks towards Michelle with eyes desperate for help. However, in a curious turn of events, she freezes up, refusing to even take on his request of performing an emergency tracheotomy. Instead, she watches her former boss die a slow, painful death. The panic settles in soon after, and when she realizes her blunder, the deuteragonist only finds one way out. She scours through his house and gathers her tools: a matchstick, a cigarette, and a rubber band, and soon her intentions become clear. She plans to frame Steven’s death as the work of Dave, complete with the burning of his house.

After dousing Steven in inflammable liquids, she sets the makeshift device on fire and makes a rushed exit. However, just when she is about to take off her gloves, she has another epiphany. Earlier in the show, Dave left his gloves in her car, and that detail becomes the final piece in the puzzle. Immediately, she takes his gloves and plants them on the scene, transforming it into a fake piece of evidence. Thus, the episode ends on a shocking note, with Michelle’s trajectory heading toward a dark point of no return. While she has successfully killed two birds with one stone, she has committed a serious crime in the process, and Dave is likely to exploit it to his benefit. Thus, the season firmly delves into the grey for its final stretch, and the stage is set for an arsonist vs. arsonist showdown.