Taron Egerton was awesome in Black Bird and he did it again here in Smoke alongside Jurnee Smollett. I think the 6.7 rating on IMDb seems about right for this series. Maybe just a tad bit lower would be okay too. I am however just a bit saddened the series hasn’t been renewed yet. With a initially planned three seasons in the making from what I’m reading, I can sort of see how this came to be. The story started off on the right foot but like so many others, it started to just coast, even if bit by bit, downwards.

So here we have an arson investigator teaming up with a police detective to catch two arsonists that have been terrorizing the community. One sets fires to homes while the other prefers to burn down supermarkets. I guess they call it beautiful chaos or something. I mean with fire involved, you always can tell there will be a sicko involved that can wax poetic about how beautiful a burning scene can be. However, it didn’t take long until we’re only at the end of episode two for the big reveal to show itself. At that point, I’m thinking okay, so it’s going to be that kind of cat and mouse game. Did they give it up too early? It depends because obviously it could go both ways. Revealing Dave to be the Divide and Conquer arsonist this early means the shock value of the finale will need to be something else completely. The cat and mouse game between Michelle and Dave from episode three and on will need to be exciting enough to keep viewers on their seat being that the reveal already happened. I was only able to pick out one thing prior to reveal that might have suggested Dave. No, it was the book he was writing but rather when he pretended at first to not have noticed the missing limp of the D&C arsonist when Michelle showed it to him on video. I thought it was clear cut but when Dave couldn’t see it at first, I thought it was weird but not weird enough to believe he would have been the arsonist himself.

I think it’s great that almost every single character in this series is messed up in some way or another. With Dave, it’s obvious. With Michelle, her relationship with her boss and not wanting to fully commit to a relationship leads to disaster in the end. Harvey likes to skim money from the department. Ezra is a drunk and has a job of filming kinky stuff. Benji leads an underground cock fighting league. And of course we have Freddie. Dear ol’ messed up Freddie. But back to the story, I think the biggest disappointment involves the semi lackluster game played between Michelle and the other guys with trying to catch Dave. Towards the middle, Dave just wanders off and does his own thing to catch Freddie. Which is fine, but I’m not sure how Freddie, messed up as he is himself, was able to determine that Dave had a messed up childhood as well by simply seeing him with a hard on while arresting him. 🤣 🤣 But anyways, I think the chemistry and direction took a bit of an odd turn towards the last half of the series. Dave getting more and more unhinged as it went on though saved it somewhat.

As to the ending, I wasn’t too shocked when the other major reveal about Dave was shown. It was even somewhat expected. We had to know that Dave’s fictional story and narration had to come to a head on collision with reality at some point. It is interesting in that we, as the viewers, discover that we were watching Donald all along through Dave’s eyes and not the other way around. With no season two confirmed so far, I can only guess what happens. I’d like to think that Dave gets away. The best evidence they got against him is the jacket, hat and sunglasses used by the D&C arsonist. However, there are zero eye witnesses to any of his crimes. His altercation between Michelle in the forest is a he says/she says affair. If her affair with Burk leaks out to even more people, it would only hurt her image and reputation. The gloves found in Burk’s house with Dave’s fingerprint on it could be explained away easily by a good lawyer. Even if Reba falsely testifies that she can’t be sure if Dave was with her that night with 100% certainty, the fact that he was surveilled that night by Ezra and the other woman ATF agent outside Reba’s house would only help Dave’s defense. If season two did happen, I would assume Ezra would play a larger role. Benji would likely use the video evidence he downloaded against Michelle although for what reason I can’t think of. At first, Benji didn’t agree with Michelle on what happened with their mom but it seems that later on, he agreed with her when he told his wife that he wouldn’t have wanted his mom to live with them being that they have a little daughter. Maybe he would get into some other illegal shit and force Michelle to return the favor. Here’s to hoping for a season two of Smoke.