In episode 1 of Smoke, we were introduced to Umberland Fire Department’s lead arson investigator, Dave, and his newly assigned assistant, Michelle. Umberland was in the chokehold of 2 serial arsonists: Milk Jug (a nickname given by Dave because he used milk jugs full of gasoline) and Potato Chips (a nickname given by me because he targeted the potato chips aisles of supermarkets). Milk Jug mostly operated around Trolley Town, while Potato Chips hit supermarkets. Based on Potato Chips’ modus operandi, Dave and Michelle were of the opinion that he was an active or former firefighter who was faking his limp to throw the investigators off his scent. So, they started interrogating firefighters who hadn’t reported for duty on the days that Potato Chips had attacked. However, they kept hitting dead end after dead end. As for Milk Jug, whose real name was Freddy, he was revealed to be an employee at Coop’s Fried Chicken. He was a loner, and, as per Dave, he envied people who were happier than him. During the concluding moments of the episode, he proved that theory by burning down the house of a happy couple he’d been spying on. Did that help the arson investigators in any way in episode 2 of Smoke? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Michelle and Dave Are Stuck in Limbo
Episode 2 of Smoke opens with the revelation that when Michelle was a child, she got trapped in a house that was on fire. Later on, we get a brief snippet of Renata Calderone’s parole hearing notification, which means that that fire was caused by Michelle’s mother. Eventually, when Michelle’s sister-in-law gives her a call, we learn that Renata’s actions led to the death of multiple people. And it traumatized Michelle to such an extent that she is afraid of what she’ll do if she is set free. Now, call it fate or destiny; in the present day, she is assisting an arson investigator. Maybe this is something that she never imagined she’d be doing professionally, but such is life. Instead of being bogged down by her past, though, she chooses to stay in the present and analyzes the most recent CCTV footage of Potato Chips. As mentioned before, in Michelle’s opinion, the arsonist is faking his physical disability to mislead detectives. While looking through that video, Michelle notices Potato Chips supposedly forgetting that he has a limp for a few seconds. When Dave sees that too, he accepts her theory that they should be looking for an able-bodied former or active firefighter instead of one with a limp.
Meanwhile, Dave presents a really rough sketch of Milk Jug and explains how Freddy followed the family home after witnessing them having a fun time and then attacked them after they went to sleep. The episode almost immediately cuts to Freddy, at Coop’s Fried Chicken, dealing with a boisterous but encouraging customer named Miss Brenda Cephus, who thinks that Freddy has the chops to be in a managerial position instead of slaving away as a fast food worker. In fact, she likes Freddy’s shy demeanor so much that she’s willing to give him a free makeover. However, Freddy chooses to keep his head down and focus on his work. It’s only after he goes home that he starts looking for ways to level up at Coop’s Fried Chicken. He hits a roadblock pretty soon, because he doesn’t have the necessary educational qualifications to become anything but the person who fries the chicken, cleans the utensils, and throws out the garbage. Probably in an attempt to assuage his depressive thoughts, Lee, Freddy’s coworker, tells him that he is already making more than what an entry-level manager is earning; hence, there’s no point in starting from scratch.
Dave and Michelle follow Arch
Dave and Michelle take the sketch of Freddy to his victim, but he’s unable to recall seeing a man like that at the bar, which is understandable because he was too busy having a good time with his wife and friends. Hence, Dave has no option but to return to the drawing board and search for clues. But then he kind of deviates from the matter at hand and starts using all the information he and Michelle have gathered so far as fuel to write his book. When he shares an early draft of it with Ashley, her appreciation of the writing is tepid (she likes the “fire stuff”), but her criticism is very specific (there’s a lack of female characters). That’s fair, since Dave is a former firefighter and currently he’s an arson investigator; he can’t transform into a grade-A writer overnight. Speaking of his professional duties, later on, we see Michelle and Dave following Arch, not because they have found any clues that point to the fact that he is Potato Chips, but maybe because he insulted Michelle in a way that showed that he is a hateful (read: racist) individual. They arrive at his “cabin in the woods,” which seems like his “man cave.” Since they can’t enter the establishment without a proper reason, they follow him back to his house and initiate every noir fan’s favorite pastime: stakeout. 5 days go by and they make no progress.
We get a brief scene between Harvey and his daughter, Lauren, who is getting married and wants the family vacation home all to herself to plan the wedding. I guess this’ll somehow come into play later on in the season, because we don’t get any real payoff to this conversation in this episode. In another corner of the Umberland Fire Department, Michelle walks in on Dave recording his thoughts so that he can put them into words eventually, and the way Dave explains what he’s doing is too good. And since Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett are such talented actors, they just take the comedy factor of the scene to the next level. The chemistry between these 2 characters is so good that the revelation that comes at the end of the episode hurts a lot. I mean, I know that that’s the purpose of this build-up, but it still hurts. It’s good writing, and that’s why it hurts.
Freddy Gets A Makeover
Freddy has apparently secured an application form for the managerial position despite not having the required educational qualifications—maybe because he has worked at Coop’s for a long time, he has been deemed worthy—and that rubs Lee the wrong way. It’s not really obvious, but the sarcasm with which he says “Sky’s the limit” indicates that he isn’t happy that Freddy is actually trying to spread his wings instead of just dreaming about doing so. Brenda is relatively more optimistic about Freddy’s career moves and reiterates her offer of giving him a free makeover. Surprisingly enough, Freddy reciprocates Brenda’s feelings towards him and goes to her salon for a haircut and beard trim.
Now, the reason why this moment is so pivotal is because the sketch of him that the arson investigators have is based on what he used to look like pre-makeover. You can say that Freddy’s post-makeover look isn’t all that different, but with that full afro gone, I think it’ll be really difficult for Dave and Michelle to find him. By the way, I have a feeling that Freddy is responsible for Brenda’s son’s death. That’s why he has been so reluctant to avail himself of her services. Maybe he didn’t know that the 2 of them were related, and he allowed his envy to govern his decision to set fire to his world, thereby, knowingly or unknowingly, hurting Brenda in the process. That’s why he is so overwhelmed every time she approaches him, because she isn’t aware of the fact that he is her son’s killer. This is just a hunch, though.
Michelle Unearths Arch’s Bunker
Out of nowhere, Michelle decides to break into Arch’s “mancave” and look for evidence that he is the arsonist that she and Dave have been looking for all this while. She doesn’t have a warrant. She is just winging it. Now, of course, there’s nothing in Arch’s cabin or his bunker that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he has been setting fire to the potato chips sections of supermarkets. What Arch does have in abundance is firearms. I know that it’s not illegal in certain parts of the United States to possess firearms, because crime in that country is so high that even normal civilians need to defend themselves. But I think the excuse of “self-defense” doesn’t extend to a whole armory, and that’s what Arch has… an armory with enough ammunition to decimate Umberland. That’s not all, though. There’s a room in the armory that looks like it’s inspired by the Red Room in 50 Shades of Grey. Sure, there’s still no proof that Arch is an arsonist, but this is enough to accuse him of being a sadist, a terrorist, and a threat to society. With all that said, Michelle has discovered all of this while breaking and entering; hence, she is the criminal in this scenario, and she knows that.
So, when Arch catches her snooping, red-handed, she shoots him in the legs and then frames the whole altercation in such a way that it seems like she was already investigating him for possessing potentially illegal firearms and decided to catch him before he conducted a massacre. The ATF officers listening to her seemingly buy her version of the story, but Steven doesn’t, and he thinks it’s only a matter of time before the truth comes to light. Until then, Michelle is free to enjoy her 15 minutes of fame. If she wants to extend her time in the spotlight, she has to catch the actual arsonist, now that she knows that Arch isn’t the perpetrator. Given how her search for firefighters on active duty has led her to dead ends, she decides to go after former firefighters, probably starting with Dave because she knows him. If she follows this hunch, she’ll be going in the right direction, because our guy Dave isn’t the goody-two-shoes that he has been pretending to be. The guy has serious, serious problems, and he needs to be stopped ASAP.
Dave Is A Serial Arsonist
Dave has a seemingly odd conversation with Harvey about his relationship with Ashley and Emmett. I say that it’s “seemingly odd” because if you look at Dave and Ashley’s conversations, on the surface, they seem fine. But there are these minuscule moments where it seems like Ashley can barely contain her disdain for Dave’s worldview. Hannah Emily Anderson is very subtle about it, but it’s noticeable enough for us to presume that everything’s not fine and dandy in her marriage with Dave. To make matters slightly worse, Dave receives an email from Lord & Winters Lit Agency, where his manuscript has been lambasted to hell. At the end of Smoke episode 2, to add salt to his wounds (albeit unknowingly), Harvey gives Dave a call to let him know that the Umberland Fire Department is throwing a party to celebrate Michelle’s courageous act of uncovering Arch’s secret armory. When he goes to share his pain with Ashley, she puts his troubles to the side to talk about the fact that Emmett’s father, Gerard, is moving 2000 miles away from them for a higher-paying job. That means Gerard will be able to send Emmett to a great college, but Emmett won’t be able to meet with Ashley as frequently as he currently does. Or it probably means that Emmett won’t be able to regularly meet with Gerard and has to permanently move in with Ashley, which’ll be devastating for the kid.
I don’t know which one is the main issue, because Ashley isn’t exactly a great communicator, and Dave is too idiotic to have a conversation with as well. That said, while Dave tries to pacify Ashley, she antagonizes the hell out of him. When Emmett arrives, he joins the “Dave dunkfest” as well. And that causes Dave’s mask to slip. In order to let off a little steam and avoid getting into an argument with Ashley and Emmett, he walks into a supermarket and sets its potato chip aisle on fire. Yes, he is the hooded arsonist who fakes his limp. It’s pretty clear what his main issue is: Emmett and Ashley. He wants a “normal life,” but he is trying to attain that via a woman and a child who have issues of their own to deal with. However, instead of choosing to live by himself, he is punishing himself by holding onto them. I’m not saying Ashley and Emmett are saints either; they clearly have an attitude problem. Does that justify becoming a serial arsonist? No! Then again, that’s the drama, right? Dave can’t live by himself, and he can’t live with somebody else, and in order to cope with this self-imposed conundrum, he sets fire to the whole world. Well, I can’t wait to see how Michelle catches him and drags him through the dirt, because that’s what he deserves.
