Taron Egerton’s New Apple TV+ Crime Drama ‘Smoke’ Is Already Making a Major Change From the Procedural Format

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 2 of Smoke

When it was announced that Taron Egerton was reuniting with writer and creator Dennis Lehane for Apple TV+’s Smoke, expectations were immediately high. After all, their last collaboration, Black Bird, earned Egerton an Emmy nomination and delivered a gripping, deep character study. While Smoke initially looks like a more conventional procedural, the show’s second episode quickly proves it’s something entirely different.

Instead of following a familiar procedural formula, Smoke delivers a clever subversion almost right from the start, upending expectations, revealing its secrets early, and establishing itself as much more than a straightforward crime drama about a fire investigator solving arson cases. Rather than stringing viewers along with a season-long guessing game, the series boldly decides in Episode 2 to show exactly who’s setting the fires — and it’s someone central to the story. The twist doesn’t deflate the tension, but instead shifts the focus from “who” to “why.”

Apple TV+s ‘Smoke’ Is a Character Study More Than a Crime Procedural

From the very start, the premise of Smoke seems straightforward enough: Dave Gudsen (Egerton), a fire investigator with a complicated past, is tasked with tracking down a string of arsons terrorizing his community. He’s paired with Detective Michelle Calderon (Jurnee Smollett), who joins the investigation to help uncover who is setting these fires — and how they’ve managed to stay a step ahead of everyone trying to catch them.

But by the end of Episode 2, titled “Your Happy Makes Me Sad,” the series makes a daring pivot. After a tense argument with his wife Ashley (Hannah Emily Anderson) and her son, a darker, more unsettling side of Dave surfaces. He leaves the house to clear his head, but in a chilling sequence, we watch the next arson unfold from the perspective of a limping figure in a green jacket — the same signature detail the investigators have been following. In the final moments, the camera reveals the arsonist: Dave himself.

This early twist is a bold narrative gamble that instantly reshapes the entire trajectory of the show. Instead of waiting for the inevitable unmasking, the tension shifts to when — and how — Dave’s secret life will collide with his public persona. We’re no longer wondering who committed the crimes. The audience is then forced to ask questions like: why did he do it? How far will he go to keep his secret? And what happens when he loses control of both sides of his identity?

Taron Egerton’s Character Reveal in ‘Smoke’ Completely Reinvents the Crime Procedural

Dave Gudsen looking intently to his left in Smoke. — Image via Apple TV+

In a single moment, Smoke changed everything we thought we knew about Dave. He’s presented as a dedicated investigator and aspiring writer who may have some secrets. But, the one that is revealed changes the course of the entire show. Instantly, the show transforms into a character study like Breaking Bad and The Americans, rather than a straight-forward crime-solving procedural. It puts the audience in a privileged and unsettling position of knowing more than everyone around Dave. The mystery and tension no longer hinge on who committed the crimes, but rather why he did it and how long he can keep his secret before it destroys everything.

This kind of approach isn’t something most American procedurals tend to do. In fact, it feels much more in line with UK crime dramas than with the typical US formula. Series like Broadchurch, Hidden, and Line of Duty have long embraced the idea that the most compelling question isn’t always who committed the crime — it’s why. Smoke follows in that tradition, using the investigation as a lens to examine trauma, motive, and the crumbling of a person from the inside out.

Jurnee Smollett and Taron Egerton in a poster for Apple TV+'s Smoke

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It’s a tall task for a young actor, but Taron Egerton has proven he’s fully capable of that kind of performance. He showed glimpses of his remarkable range in Black Bird, after already proving his versatility in Rocketman and the Kingsman franchise, but even across just two episodes of Smoke, he reveals new depths. It’s a nuanced, sometimes deeply unsettling portrayal that elevates the show beyond what it could have been. Lehane clearly knew Egerton’s capacity for complexity, and put the entire weight of the series working on his shoulders. While we’re only 2 episodes in, it definitely sets the tone for a season that promises to keep pushing into darker, more fascinating territory.

What Does ‘Smoke’s Big Reveal Mean for the Apple TV+ Series?

Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett talking with an ambulance and firemen in the bacground in Smoke — Image via Apple TV+

The revelation that Dave is the arsonist doesn’t just upend the structure of Smoke, but it also puts a new tension between him and Michelle. She already knows in her gut they don’t have the right suspect, but as the fires keep breaking out, she’ll be working ever closer with Dave, believing he shares her mission to find the real culprit. But, the next time we see Dave with Michelle, we’ll know something she doesn’t.

As the season progresses, the question will be when Michelle or the big boss, Harvey Englehart (Greg Kinnear), the chief of the Umberland Fire Department, will start to see the cracks in Dave’s facade. Every time they share information or strategize over evidence, viewers are forced to watch for the moment one of them realizes that Dave is not who they think he is. The tension doesn’t come from the unknown but from the inevitability of discovery.

This dynamic is what sets Smoke apart from other firefighter and emergency dramas like 9-1-1 or Chicago Fire. While those shows have plenty of strong character moments, they’re ultimately built around following the “good guys,” watching them save lives and catch criminals. Smoke flips that formula on its head. Here, we’re following the bad guy, but he’s more than just a typical villain. Dave is deeply humanized, thanks to Egerton’s layered performance. With seven episodes still to go this season, it will be fascinating to see how far the series is willing to push this premise, and what will happen to Dave by the end of it.