Smoke (Apple TV+) - Review 

Rating: 4 out of 5

THE work of Dennis Lehane has already been adapted into some great films - Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island - while his first foray into TV, Black Bird, also won widespread acclaim. So, it was with a genuine sense of excitement and anticipation that I approached Smoke, a limited series he wrote for Apple TV+.

The result was suitably impressive. Inspired by a true crime podcast, the drama followed a former firefighter turned arson investigator named Dave Gudsen (Taron Egerton) as he teams up with a detective from the local police department, Michelle Calderon (Jurnee Smollett), to find two serial arsonists, who have been relentlessly setting fires all over his patch.

One suspect is a fast food worker named Freddy Fasano (an eerily mesmerising performance by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine), who sets houses ablaze using home-made devices. The second suspect targets supermarkets but his identity remains unclear at the start.

What is clear, however, is that all three of the primary characters are deeply damaged. Dave was forced to become an arson investigator following a traumatic callout that put an end to his original career. He struggles with relationships (his latest is falling apart) but he harbours notions of grandeur and is writing a book based upon the blazes he investigates.

Calderon is also carrying the demons of a traumatic past, most notably for her own experience of fire at the hands of her mentally unhinged mother, who tried to kill her when she was a child. But she also views her latest assignment as a punishment for ending an affair with her captain (Rafe Spall).

Perhaps worst of all, however, is Freddy, a desperately lovely individual who, we quickly come to suspect, has endured his own lifetime of abuse dating back to his own childhood.

[Spoilers ahead]

Lehane, by his own admission, was inspired to write Smoke based upon his own personal experiences with men like Gudsen.

“I grew up in a hyper-masculine culture. I knew a lot of people who were incredibly full of shit and who would make incredible justifications for their own failure, so I’d had a front row seat to a lot of that for years,” he explained in an interview with Variety (click here).

What’s more, he wanted to reflect modern, Trump-era America, both from the point of view of his supporters and those who feel left behind.

It makes for a fascinating piece of social commentary that adds further fuel to the incendiary nature of the story - which throws in twist after twist and progressively becomes more and more twisted.

Gudsen, in particular, is a chilling yet mesmerising character, brilliantly realised by Egerton in one of his best performances. Gudsen is a monster, especially once his role in the arsons is revealed (he is the second suspect). But discovering what makes him tick is fascinating, if sometimes ugly.

He’s a manipulator. He’s a narcissist. He’s a misogynist, prone to psychologically and physically scarring the women in his life. But he’s also a delusional - as the very last reveal of the series sensationally displays. He’s the hero of his own story, unable to see the monster he has become. Egerton plays (and even hides) this brilliantly… occasionally dropping the mask he has created for himself to see the monster but never the reality. It’s a tour-de-force from the actor in creating one of the truly memorable villains of recent times.

Waiting to see how (or even if) he will be outsmarted and caught is another of the show’s highlights.

But while Egerton arguably takes centre stage, his supporting cast are equally compelling. Smollett’s Michelle, while every bit as damaged, conceal her brokenness in different ways; occasionally appearing reckless in her decision making but relentlessly pursuing her suspects in the hope of a career progression left hanging in the balance by the many sexist men in her life.

Her torment and her pain are plain for all to see, as is the hurt and trauma caused by her mother. Going up against Gudsen places two combustible elements in the same vicinity of each other - so when they ignite, the results are spectacular. The final episodes are genuinely thrilling in the way that the cat and mouse game develops.

But then Lehane drops in a doozy of a twist in the penultimate episode that transforms the show even more; allowing Michelle’s rage to get the better of her. It’s a whopper of a turn of events - but one that adds an extra twisted element to the dynamic of the case, eventually even paving the way for Gudsen to be caught (a twist laced with irony).

And then there’s the final confrontations: one physical, the other verbal, between Michelle and Gudsen that push the envelope of a show that continually defies expectations and tip-toes the line between good and bad taste.

Elsewhere, Mwine brings a very distinct and even haunting quality to his portrayal of Freddy, an abuse victim angry with the world and prepared to burn it down when needs be. But incredibly, Lehane also adds an element of tragedy to this story, especially in Freddy’s final moments that further offers social commentary. Freddy is, in many ways, the show’s cautionary tale - a character inspired by another interviewee on the Firebug podcast… someone who life has forgotten and beaten down, who is desperately lonely.

Where Gudsen possibly had choices, Freddy had none. Their respective paths mirror each other in many ways - a point underlined in the only confrontation between the two of them, as Gudsen interviews Freddy, only to be recognised as something of a kindred spirit.

Lehane is a writer synonymous with great dialogue, so it’s little wonder that the conversations and confrontations in this series strike so many sparks.

Rounding out the terrific ensemble are the likes of Greg Kinnear, suitably conflicted (and good value) as Gudsen’s chief, John Leguizamo as Gudsen’s vengeful former partner (combining comedy with a deeper rooted sense of failure and something to prove), and Spall, as Michelle’s often chauvinistic boss.

Everyone contributes to a show that works on so many levels, despite a slow burn start, to keep you glued and guessing throughout; drawn to characters that shock and surprise, and a story that continually evolves.

Smoke takes viewers to some very dark and disturbing places, much like most of Lehane’s best work. But it’s a journey worth taking - highly intelligent, consistently surprising and extremely well performed. It even delivers a genuinely satisfying ending.