Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. That is especially true for the new Apple TV+ series, Smoke, which is mainly concerned with flames and those shaped by them. In fact, there’s rarely a moment that fire isn’t front and center. It’s the main attraction, and by the end of the first episode it will probably be the only reason you stick around.
Inspired by the podcast Firebug, based on the crimes of arsonist John Leonard Orr, Smoke follows arson investigator Dave Gudsen (Taron Egerton) as he teams up with detective Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett). Together, the duo must solve a string of arsons plaguing their corner of the Pacific Northwest. It soon becomes clear that they are dealing with two separate perpetrators and one of them might be inside the fire department. The story has plenty of twists from there, the biggest of which fans of the podcast will know going in.
For the rest of us, the twist gives the series a narrative boost it was previously missing. Which makes it all the stranger that it occurs at the end of the second episode. Smoke has a tendency to play the long game with its story, slowly putting the pieces into place. There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but it falls apart when your characters are ill-defined. Because the show also takes its time slowly revealing our main duo’s traumatic backstories (spoiler alert: fire is involved in both of them!) it feels like you’re constantly reevaluating who these people are with each extra detail. It’s a bold idea in theory, but falls apart in execution.
While the story is often lacking, Smoke has plenty of style to spare. Unsurprisingly, most of that flair comes in scenes involving fire. TV shows have a problem with making CGI flames look realistic, but Smoke and directors like Kari Skogland help thread that needle. The key is that the camera never lingers too long on the fire itself. Instead, it focuses on the people trapped in these moments to tremendous effect.
It’s a shame that Smoke sells its characters short because there’s a fun cast here begging for more to do. Egerton is a blast as the type of overly energetic co-worker we’ve all experienced before. He also proves to be the best at balancing the dramatic and comedic elements that pop up. Smollett is great as a hardened badass, still reeling from her own past. Egerton is giving the flashier performance, but Smollett proves to be a worthy foil. There’s also exciting performances by Greg Kinnear and John Leguizamo as the always-sarcastic fire chief and Gudsen’s bitter ex-partner, respectively. It’s almost enough to drag you through the show’s overlong table-setting.
Maybe it all comes together in the end and provides a satisfying conclusion. As things currently stand, Smoke only gets more confounding as it goes on. Each new wrinkle in the plot only adds to the structural problems that keep this series from being truly engaging. The show aims to be a raging fire, but can’t produce much more than a dim flame. It’s just a false alarm; don’t bother coming.
Smoke is currently streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes release on Fridays.