TV Dad Review – Smoke Episode 1 (Apple TV+)

From its opening moments, Smoke locks you into a world that’s slow-burning but deadly serious. Created by Dennis Lehane, this arson-driven crime thriller throws you into the eerie, rain-slicked town of Umberland, where two serial arsonists are wreaking psychological havoc on the public.

Taron Egerton stars as Dave Gudsen, a former firefighter turned arson investigator who’s still haunted from his past with fire. Early on, he’s paired with Detective Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett), an ex-Marine battling her own past, including a messy affair with her boss and the trauma of her incarcerated mother.

Episode 1 sets two arsonists in motion: one targeting grocery store chip aisles to spread emergency services thin, the other using milk jugs soaked in fry oil under porches. We get brief but unsettling glimpses of fry-cook Freddy Fasano (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine), whose simmering rage hints he might be one of them.

Egerton is the emotional core—quiet, brooding, a man whose charm conceals something darker. Smollett brings sharp edge and emotional weight to Calderone, rallying viewers with her first hard-edged case. Ntare Mwine steals what little screen time he has, a performance critics already name a standout—“fragile authenticity,” Guardian says.

Apple’s budget shines here—not with fireworks, but in shadows. Cinematographer Sam McCurdy and director Kari Skogland layer every frame with fog, streetlamps cutting through murk, and unshakable atmosphere. Music by Thom Yorke (Radiohead) adds a haunting ambience even before credits roll.

Smoke draws deeper from true-crime roots (including the Firebug podcast and elements of the John Leonard Orr case), but Lehane turns it inward: Why do people light metaphorical and literal fires? By the close, there’s a voice-over riff on fire that reads like a manifesto.

Not everyone’s all-in yet. Time argues the show flirts with cheesy procedural tropes and voice-overs that feel forced. Decider notes the pacing can drag—dreamy sequences that prioritize mood over momentum.

TV Dad’s Take:

 The pilot episode lays strong foundations with layered characters, unrelenting mood, and enough tension to justify sitting through the slow burn. There are still questions: Who’s setting the fires? Why are these two investigators being crippled from the start? And is Dave Gudsen as pure as he pretends?

If the rest of the season delivers on this tension—and Episode 1 teases a bigger twist this could be another good Apple TV+ show.