The nightmare came as expected.
In the dream, he, a firefighter, was in the middle of a sea of fire. The flames burned everything around, cutting off all paths of escape.
A figure suddenly appeared opposite. Could it be a colleague coming to the rescue?
No, it was just himself in the mirror. The intense heat swept over, the mirror shattered, and he was swallowed by the raging fire.
He suddenly woke up from the chaos, covered in cold sweat.
Dream or reality, can he really find his own way out?
Smoke
AppleTV's original series Smoke will be available on June 27.
Created by Dennis Lehane, the screenwriter of The Wire and The Outsider, who is also the original author and screenwriter of high-rated suspense crime films such as Shutter Island, Mystic River, and Gone Baby Gone.
Taron Egerton takes the lead role.
The two collaborated on the 2022 series Black Bird, for which Taron Egerton was nominated for both the Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor.
At the end of last year, the Netflix action thriller Carry-On starring Taron Egerton was released and saw a surge in viewership, becoming the most successful Netflix premiere film of 2024.
Since then, the film's popularity has continued to rise, with a cumulative 172 million views, ranking second in Netflix's global top 10 most popular films.
This time, returning to AppleTV's crime drama, he will take off the uniform of an airport security officer and rush to the scene of a tragic fire to uncover the truth behind the serial arson cases.
01 Suspect
The scene in David's (Taron Egerton) nightmare is actually his own experience. Fortunately, he survived the fire.
Now he no longer works as a frontline firefighter, but has become a fire investigator, away from the risks of his previous job.
His life is also going well. He is deeply in love with his wife, and David has recently been planning to write a novel about his experiences.
Now, what troubles David is the successive arson cases in his jurisdiction.
In these cases, the modus operandi is clearly different - one arsonist specializes in setting fire to goods on shelves in supermarkets, while the other is used to filling milk cans with gasoline and then igniting them.
They are simply called "Supermarket Man" and "Milk Can".
The suspects are not the same person. So far, this is the only inference, and there are almost no other clues.
The superior department is dissatisfied with David's investigation efficiency, so they send police detective Michelle (Jurnee Smollett) to assist.
David is skeptical and disdainful, wondering how a detective without experience in arson cases can be of help.
Faced with David's sarcasm, Michelle does not back down at all, saying that she has rich experience in crime scene investigation, which is the key to solving the case.
Words alone are not enough; practice is the only way to test the truth.
David takes Michelle to the scene of a burned-out vehicle.
After investigation, Michelle keenly notices something unusual - there are residues of artificial firewood under the engine block.
Combining the cold attitude of the car owner during the call and the suspicious sign that the owner had removed the items from the car before it was "stolen", David infers that this is a self-directed arson case.
Looking at it this way, the two are actually quite in sync.
Regarding the series of unsolved cases, David has a unique insight. Serial arsonists often have a strong sense of powerlessness in life
Such people are often defined as "losers" by reality, and they try to make others feel the same as themselves through arson.
After all, nothing can convey this emotion more accurately than the despair of being trapped in a sea of fire.
To put it bluntly, it's "taking revenge on society".
David's analysis is correct. There are countless "losers" living in this city.
Freddy is one of them - working in a fast-food restaurant to barely make a living, the work is already heavy, and he is often forced to work overtime; after work, he drags his tired body back to a shabby rental house, and spends the long night drinking beer and watching "pornographic movies".
At the bottom of society, the "freedom and opportunities" in TV advertisements have nothing to do with him.
In the folds of people's hearts, in the corners of the city, some evils are quietly breeding.
A new fire breaks out, and a woman is trapped in the supermarket.
She crawls among the smoke-filled shelves and finally finds the safety exit. Without hesitation, she pushes open the door, a large amount of oxygen rushes in, and the fire explodes.
The woman is severely burned, and her skin slides off her body like rags...
02 Investigation
The fire is put out by firefighters, leaving the scene in a mess.
Based on the clues, David reconstructs the suspect's arson method for Michelle - wrap a circle of matches around a cigarette with a rubber band, light the cigarette and place it on flammable materials. As the burning point of the cigarette gradually moves back, it will eventually ignite the matches.
This time is also enough for the suspect to escape smoothly.
The method is professional and the device is unique.
David and Michelle begin to shift their target to active firefighters. As the saying goes, "each profession has its own expertise", and the person who is most "familiar with fire" may be the real culprit they are looking for.
After numerous data comparisons and arduous checks, they finally lock in two suspects -Archie and Scotty.
Both of them were absent from work when each arson case occurred.
First, they go to talk to Scotty, but it turns out to be a false alarm. Due to network issues, the attendance records are inaccurate.
More importantly, Scotty is a fire truck driver. If he is absent, how can other firefighters respond to the fire alarm?
On Archie's side, he does not give a proper reason for his absence and is extremely uncooperative.
Even, he speaks rudely and drives the two away.
The investigation hits a dead end again.
On the way back, David encourages Michelle not to lose heart. He shares his criminal profile analysis of "Milk Can": his criminal motive stems from jealousy of others' happy lives; he will observe and screen targets before committing the crime; he will use a mixture of gasoline and frying oil when committing the crime.
From this, it is inferred that the suspect may work in a fast-food restaurant.
In addition, in previous cases, David extracted the suspect's hair from a glove left at the scene - which means that as long as "Milk Can" is caught, a DNA comparison can be made.
However, the premise is that he can be caught.
"Milk Can" is about to strike again.
In the bar, the laughter of young people one after another stings him like fine needles.
The happiness of others makes him angry.
Late at night, the young man's house is set on fire, and the flames soar into the sky.
Freddy stands not far away, admiring his "masterpiece" and smiling with satisfaction.
Sparks fly and fall... He reaches out to touch them, feeling a slight burning and tingling, as if he is in a dreamlike country, and his heart is completely occupied by distorted and evil pleasure.
He cannot hear the screams of the injured or the terrified cries of their families.
Freddy is "Milk Can".
03 The Real Culprit
Although after visiting, David sketches a portrait of "Milk Can", catching him is by no means easy.
As for "Supermarket Man", Michelle insists that Archie is a major suspect. So, the two start to stake out. After five days and nights, they have no gains.
David chooses to "sound the retreat", but Michelle is not willing to give up. She sneaks into Archie's RV alone to look for clues and is shocked to find that there is a large-scale hidden bunker under the RV.
The bunker stores a large number of guns and ammunition, comparable to an arsenal. One of the rooms is decorated more 诡异，with shackles and whips available.
It seems that Archie is an out-and-out terrorist + pervert.
On the other hand, David is suffering successive blows.
First, the novel he wrote is ruthlessly rejected by the publishing agency.
Later, he learns that his wife's son from her ex-husband is coming to live at home for a long time.
David is extremely unwilling in his heart because his relationship with his stepson is not harmonious.
What's more outrageous is that his partner Michelle acts alone behind his back and takes down Archie on the spot. She eliminates the potential security crisis and accidentally makes a great contribution.
A group of people celebrate in the bar, but no one thinks of inviting David.
In the next moment, thick smoke rises from the supermarket shelves, and tongues of fire shoot up.
"Supermarket Man" commits another crime.
The man wearing a hood, pretending to be lame, with the corners of his mouth under the sunglasses slowly rising -
It's actually "him".
The series has 9 episodes, and 2 episodes have been used to identify the two arsonists. It is expected that the subsequent plot will revolve around how the female lead arrests the real culprit.
The story line itself is not complicated, but to be honest, the first 2 episodes are just so-so.
The frequent use of flashbacks to deliberately create a sense of suspense, as well as the female lead's emotional subplot, result in a rather slow pace of the series.
A friendly reminder to those who are following the drama: be sure to stick with it until the end of the 2nd episode, otherwise you will miss the unexpected "twist".
Who "Supermarket Man" is will be left as a suspense for now.
Taron Egerton's overall performance is still commendable.
However, perhaps due to the character setting, some scenes make the viewing experience fluctuate between "explosive acting" and "overacting".
The series currently has an IMDb rating of 6.4, and Douban has not yet scored it. It is estimated that the score will not be too high, with 3.5 stars for observation, but I still look forward to the subsequent plot being more exciting.
After all, the style of the series, which combines reality and human nature mapping, psychological analysis, and fire investigation, is indeed quite rare.
Whether in the play or in reality, the element of "fire" may have another symbolic meaning.
Fire is a gift from nature, and it has no distinction between good and evil.
It can be used to cook rice and dishes, keep warm and drive away cold; it can also be held as a torch, burning through the roof and licking innocent flesh and blood.
Fire does not choose a direction; it is the hand holding the fire that determines the temperature - the kind use it to convey warmth, while the despicable use it to vent malice.
The real sin is not in the intensity of the flames, but in the undercurrents in the heart of the one who holds the fire.
