Smoke (2025) s01e04 Episode Script

Strawberry

1
["Dialing In" playing]
Telephone ♪
Calling me ♪
Who put all that shit in your head? ♪
Saying things ♪
Telling things ♪
Till you break ♪
Filthy water ♪
Bubbles up ♪
Who put all the shit in your head? ♪
[Gudsen] Morning, everyone.
[firefighters] Morning.
My name is David Gudsen,
and I'm Chief Arson Investigator
for Umberland.
[sighing]
Who remembers the Old Sully's fire?
Okay. Tell me about it.
- Uh, three years ago, I think.
- Four.
Uh, it burned up.
Uh, five people were killed,
several injured.
[Gudsen] Anyone remember the cause?
[firefighter] Faulty electrical?
Yeah.
Good memory.
Faulty electrical in the ceiling.
One box overheated and
[imitates explosion]
Still shouldn't have been a problem.
Old Sully's had a good sprinkler system,
more than enough fire doors,
clearly marked exits.
So, what could go wrong?
The sprinkler system was designed
to suppress the fire, not extinguish it.
And it couldn't handle a fire that big.
The fire doors were left over
from a previous merging of two buildings.
And when they dropped,
they formed a wall here,
which might've been okay
if this access door wasn't blocked
by this pallet of barbecue grills,
which were delivered just 20
minutes before.
What'd you do this morning?
Before you arrived in this room,
what'd you do?
Hmm?
[chuckles] Hi.
[firefighter 2 stammers, sighs]
- Uh, I got up
- [Gudsen] Yeah.
had breakfast.
Toasted bread you'd bought,
scrambled eggs you'd found
at the supermarket.
Had a kale smoothie and some egg whites.
- [firefighters chuckle]
- [Gudsen groans]
Okay, fair enough. And then?
- I showered, got dressed, came here.
- Mmm. Mmm.
[Gudsen] After this, what's your plan
for the rest of the day?
I don't know, um, uh, drink? [chuckles]
[Gudsen chuckles]
Then grocery shopping.
You always take a drink
before you go grocery shopping?
- [firefighter 2 chuckles]
- [firefighters chuckle]
- Do you work out?
- Yeah.
You work out, you go home,
brush your teeth, tweeze your eyebrows,
whatever, you go to bed.
Get up, next day you do the same thing.
You eat, you shower, you do your job,
you shop for groceries, you work out,
you go to bed.
You plan, you organize.
You control your environment.
Except,
- that says there is no control.
- [flames ignite]
- [firefighters exclaim]
- [firefighter 2] Oh, my God.
And that says,
"Your order, meet my chaos.
And my chaos wins."
Unless your plan is better than chaos.
[firefighters cheering]
Yet no plan is.
- Still, some are better than others
- [sighs]
because they accept chaos.
They accept the flame will jump the line.
There's a vent no one mentioned.
There's oil residue
in the corner of the room.
The sprinklers don't work.
Your oxygen tank doesn't have
as much air as its gauge says.
Now, my job is to ascertain the cause
of a fire, not to save a life.
That's your job.
But if I can help you understand fire
and the people who set them
maybe I can save your life.
- [pounding on door]
- [people chattering]
[hip-hop music playing, muffled]
Hide your shit. Five-O is here.
Motherfucking Mateo. How's the kid?
Forehead's so big,
it's basically a five-head.
- [laughing]
- I'll show you pics.
Look who he gets it from.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [chuckles]
- [hip-hop music continues, clear]
- [crowd cheering]
All right. Thank you.
[Calderone] Bart. Yo.
All right. [chuckles]
I see that leg's working again.
- My man. How you doin'?
- How you doin'?
- All right?
- Get outta here.
Oh, so you know me now, huh?
[chickens clucking]
When I said you could pick the spot,
I was hoping you were gonna say Denny's.
Denny's doesn't got cockfighting.
I appreciate you coming here.
Roman's 250. Silvo's 180.
- Guapo's 50. Chuckie's 450.
- [Benji] Okay.
You hustling these fools?
No hustle.
It's observation.
Some people fight their cocks
when they're desperate for cash.
Others fight the cocks
when the birds are ready.
You just gotta know who's behind on rent.
So the bitch found God again?
I guess so.
Where? In a bottle of gin?
[sighs]
All these long years,
you could have visited her.
You really just said that to me?
You really just fucking went there?
- I'm all about peace, baby.
- Oh.
- Hate eats the soul.
- [sighs] Or Mom does. One of the two.
I don't have your anger, little sis.
You ain't got my memories.
And how's the house?
So that's what we gonna do?
[stammers] We-We gonna change the topic?
You gonna bring me all the way here
to talk about fucking home improvement?
- [scoffs]
- [sighs]
- Don't be a punk.
- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
I gave up the booze
'cause of what happened.
Me talking shit to you.
You mean you grabbing me.
Grabbing you. Yeah, okay.
All right. I was out of line.
Yeah.
[sighs]
You gave up booze?
Mm-hmm. Two whole days.
- Then, you know, I got thirsty. [laughs]
- [laughs]
You are a thirsty-ass motherfucker.
[both laughing]
Nah, you and me,
we don't do each other like that.
No, we don't.
I'm waiting. I mean,
at any moment, it's
What?
- Two words, motherfucker.
- Okay.
Like, it's just two words.
Is it that hard?
- Okay, one's a contraction, actually.
- [sighs]
Fuck off.
- I'm sorry.
- Goddamn, thank you.
- [laughs]
- Shit. [laughs]
You want another beer,
or are you gonna shank me or some shit?
- I might take this bottle to your head
- Oh.
- or some shit. Come on.
- [chuckles]
- [chuckles]
- [crowd cheering]
- How's dinner?
- It's good.
I used extra cheese.
- It's exquisite.
- [chuckles]
I was thinking we could go
to the record store downtown on Saturday.
Oh, Sheryl Crow dropped a new record?
[laughs] Don't dis my music.
That Irish punk record
you bought last time
sounded like bagpipes begging to die.
- I know. It was awesome.
- [chuckles] Mmm.
And after we can hit up
that fancy burger joint
Dave won't stop talking about.
Dave's coming?
He's off work.
I figured we could all go.
People fight.
We all say stupid shit when we're mad.
That's part of being in a relationship.
So that's why Dave's a two-faced dick?
He's not a dick.
As long as he makes you happy.
Santa came early this year.
What did that
corpulent North-Polian bring?
- Bird tags.
- I worry about his heart.
We place the tags in bags,
stack them in numerical order,
have a clerk write down the numbers
at the beginning of each day.
If we find a tag at a crime scene,
we go watch the surveillance,
count the customers
until we find our man.
You wanna use chicken jewelry
to track shopping bags?
They're six cents apiece.
What do you know about that? [sniffs]
[sighs]
Merry Christmas.
[Gudsen exhales sharply]
You know, we're putting a lot of faith
in some high school dropouts
who can barely operate a Slurpee machine.
All they gotta do is operate a pencil.
What if he shops at a different store?
[sighs] Then we will be exactly
where we are right now.
Well, right now I'm staying late
at the office
instead of eating dinner with my wife.
There's the door, Investigator.
Mmm, well, it's 9:30.
It's too late for a hot dinner.
Too early to avoid doing the dishes.
Uh
No man's land.
[inhales sharply]
[clearing throat]
[both laughing]
Wait, so you were you were actually
married prior to the the one now?
- Twice. Yeah.
- Oh, shit, Gudsen. Wow, okay.
What about you, Detective Calderone?
Any lucky suitors?
[blows raspberry, exhales sharply]
Seeing someone, but it's not gonna last.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
Spill.
[sighs]
Uh, you know, uh, it's a rebound.
[Gudsen] Mmm.
See, my ex, he was, um
successful.
Like, a legit tough guy.
You know, I mean,
motherfucker would boss me around,
throw me around.
Had my fucking life in a choke hold
and told me I liked it.
So, you know, this new guy,
he's a fucking pussy. [laughing]
And yet he-he tells himself
he tells himself that he's
like a untouchable genius.
It couldn't be further from the truth.
No, see he's he's failing at work,
ruining our relationship,
and he cannot keep his dick hard longer
than a goddamn commercial break.
Mmm, give the guy a break.
Maybe he's under a lot of pressure.
I don't invest in losers.
[Gudsen chuckles]
I mean, shit, sounds like
you're just looking for the exit door.
- [laughing]
- [laughing] It does, right?
Fuck. What are you doing with this guy?
[laughs] Wow.
Okay, but, you know,
it's actually nice
to have an escape route,
- so that okay? [chuckles]
- [stammers] Yeah, right.
Call it "escape,"
then you can play the fucking victim.
Fuck you. I [stammers]
First of all,
everyone is a victim at some point
- to someone or something, okay?
- Um
- No, no, you're not.
- Mm-hmm.
- No? Really?
- No.
Man gets shot
woman gets raped
- [inhales sharply]
- child gets molested by some
- [sighs]
- lunatic fucking priest.
That's a victim.
Rest of us, we're just people
[inhales sharply]
driving through life.
And if you hit a bump in the road,
that is the price
of getting where you're going.
Yeah, but some people's roads
are smoother than others.
When I was 15, my mom disappeared.
[imitates puff of smoke]
We called the police.
Had a search party.
Posted flyers.
After a while
I knew what all the adults
around me were thinking.
She was dead.
Rotting in some ditch
the dogs hadn't sniffed out yet.
[sighs]
[smacks lips]
And I just hoped,
when they found her,
she'd still look like my mom.
Wanted to make it easier when I looked
in her face and said goodbye.
Few weeks later
[inhales sharply]
we come to find out she's alive.
She skipped town
with a 27-year-old substitute teacher
because she "deserved a fresh start."
[groans]
[grunts]
I could've felt sorry for myself.
Made it an excuse for not doing my best.
But I moved on with my life.
And I pretended the bitch was dead.
Rotting in that fucking ditch.
Mmm.
[glasses clink]
[both chuckle]
[people arguing outside]
[dog barking in distance]
- [water dripping]
- [light buzzing]
Hey.
I, uh, just wanna say
I wake up most days wishing I knew
what the fuck I was doing.
At anything.
Uh
I
I just wish I was, um
[gulps]
a better,
I don't know,
supplemental adult
or stepdad or big brother,
or whatever we're calling this.
But no one gave me a handbook.
And I'm a handbook guy.
A day at a time, right?
Try that.
Honey, why don't you
get ready for school?
Yeah, sure.
How about you pick him up after
cross-country practice this afternoon?
It'd be a huge help.
Would you do that?
Absolutely.
Okay.
[Gudsen chuckles]
Hey.
[chuckles] Hey.
I got this one.
You took the last one.
Yeah, I got good people skills.
[Gudsen chuckles]
[shop bell chimes]
[Gudsen] Have a good weekend.
I got that arson investigator conference
out in Leighton.
Oh.
Man, I wanna come.
Well, you know, these things book up
pretty far in advance. But, uh
I got a suite.
I'm gonna work on my house.
All right.
Hey, have fun.
[car engine starts]
[no audible dialogue]
[speaking indistinctly, muffled]
[Brenda] Hey.
What's up?
I need you to change this.
Excuse me?
I need you to make it so no one
can see me again.
I got a full day.
You come back after 5:00,
we can talk about it.
I can wait.
- I don't think that's a good idea.
- [stammers]
Come back after 5:00.
[sighs]
[mutters]
[lock clicks]
[grunts]
[desk drawer banging]
Ow. Shit. Fuck.
[sighs]
Hey, Harvey.
How'd the bird hunting go?
The seeds have been lain.
You know a Ezra Esposito?
- He's a cop.
- Huh.
Metro sent him over here
to work with Dave, fair bit before you.
Oh.
Dave had a partner?
[inhales sharply] He's, uh,
what do the swingers call it?
Amo Amorpho phous
- [chuckles] Polyamorous.
- Mmm.
So, he's had multiple partners?
- Hadn't had one for a while.
- Yeah?
You were his first lady partner.
[clicks tongue]
[chuckles]
Well, what happened with Esposito?
I mean, he's not in
any of the department files or
Files have been [stammers] sealed.
So, there was a gag order.
Bit of an ordeal.
Huh.
Legally, I can't discuss it.
[sighs] Come on. Off the
record, just between us two girls.
- Come on.
- No dice, sister.
Can I help you?
Hey, Harvey. Dave around?
Uh, he went straight home from the field.
Yeah?
[inhales deeply, sighs]
Hi, I'm Michelle Calderone.
I'm Dave's partner.
He was supposed
to give me a lift home. [chuckles]
- Oh. You all right?
- [Calderone sighs]
Yeah. [stammers] It's fine. I-I can Uber.
No. No, no. You know [stammers]
I'm actually packing up right now.
I-I can take you home.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
I read a bag of books in Afghanistan.
Is this the one about the, um,
soldiers in Vietnam, right?
Or-Or is that Slaughterhouse-Five?
- It's this one.
- Yeah? Okay. Yeah, I liked that one.
You read a lot?
- Uh [sighs] nah, not really.
- Oh. Mmm.
I'm more into music.
Okay.
- My dad gave me this.
- Mmm.
My dad, uh, he left.
[sighs] Listen, kid,
I'm not gonna try
to give you any horseshit
about how you'll get over it.
Just try to
try to spend time with the people
who still are here in your life.
[sighs]
"Maddox was filled with a fiery rage
as he was turned away from the scene.
This was no accident.
He knew in his marrow
it was the work of an arsonist."
[door slams]
[Ashley] Hello?
[inhales sharply]
Yeah! [sighs]
[footsteps approaching]
Hey.
[sighs]
What am I missing here?
What?
I'm on a roll here, babe. What's up?
Don't you remember the conversation
we had this morning?
Jesus Christ! You were supposed to
pick him up from practice!
Oh.
[Calderone sighs]
Does the name Ezra Esposito
mean anything to you?
Nope.
Hmm.
He was Dave's, uh,
partner a while before me.
[chuckles] Well, I didn't know
about you until today.
[sighs]
[inhales sharply]
You think you know a guy.
[scoffs] Nobody knows Dave.
[Gudsen] You're expecting me
to be a full-time parent in three days.
[Ashley] No. I'm asking
for a simple fucking thing.
To remember to pick
up my kid from school.
If I can pull this off,
nail two pyros and sell my book,
no one's gonna remember if I forgot
to pick up Emmett once after school.
We'll be too busy upgrading
from this cottage to a McMansion.
By the time that book's sellable,
if it ever is,
Emmett will be in grad school.
That is not nice.
What's not nice is abandoning a boy
three days after
his real father left his life.
Tell me you get that.
Tell me you
you understand that much, Dave.
Abandon?
That's what you're going with?
I didn't abandon him. He's 15 years old.
He's supposed to be
a cross-country runner.
He could've run his ass home.
He's going through emotional trauma.
The kid needs to man the fuck up!
You know what?
This could be a good lesson for him.
We're learning lessons today?
Okay.
Try this one.
That book you're writing that's so
important you left my son in the lurch?
It's mediocre.
It's pedestrian.
Predictable.
You know how I know that?
I'm a fucking librarian.
I read a lot. You don't.
Which means I know when a book works.
And yours, Dave?
It fucking doesn't.
There's your lesson.
Fuck you.
Fuck your stupid fake fucking glasses!
[breathing heavily]
[sighs]
[country music playing]
- There you go.
- Mm-mmm.
Don't do whiskey on weekdays.
It's on the chick.
Waste not, want not.
[coughs]
- No, no, no, no, no, no.
- Come on, man. Come on. D
- Hey, fu Come on.
- [laughing]
Fucking get in there.
Come on, don't be a punk. Let's do this.
[clears throat] So, this guy
[groans, coughs]
[groans] Mmm.
- This guy shoots himself in the foot.
- [inhales deeply]
- [laughs] No.
- Literally.
- I don't No.
- Literally. No, no.
He-He His-His finger, uh
[laughs]
His finger slips on the trigger
during fucking target practice.
- [wheezing, laughing]
- [chuckles]
- And he [imitates gunshot]
- I don't believe [laughs]
- Oh, yeah. [laughs]
- Wait, no. Not the foot.
- Yeah.
- Which foot?
- Left foot. [chuckles]
- [laughing]
- So, we, uh
- What an idiot. [laughs]
we fire this numbskull.
Good for you.
- And, course, he sues us, you know.
- No.
Oh, yeah.
He retires, full [inhales deeply]
benefit, pension, the works.
- Wow.
- It was all in the gag order,
which you didn't hear from me, obviously.
You didn't tell me shit.
What are you talking about?
As far as I'm concerned,
we're having a sprightly conversation
about the '05 Seahawks.
Nice use of "sprightly."
- It was good, huh? [laughs]
- [laughs]
- I thought you'd like it. [chuckling]
- I did, I did.
What a character.
- Oh.
- Dave still talk to this Esposito guy?
Uh, it's unlikely.
Right.
After the foot and the gag order,
all of it, he just became
Esposito became
very conspiratorial about Dave.
Mmm.
In what way?
Like, uh, Illuminati or reptile man?
[chuckles]
This fucker was convinced
that Dave Gudsen was an arsonist.
No.
[laughing]
Fucking idiot.
[bartender] Here you go.
This is the last.
You said that the last time. [chuckles]
Come on, come on.
[Muzak playing]
You don't seem the type.
What type is that?
Who eats junk food.
[exhales deeply]
Oh, I'm not.
And yet
I crave.
[Gudsen] He felt his heart stir.
Yes, his heart.
But other parts of him as well.
He may have been a hero,
but he was a man too.
Flesh and blood.
And Jacqueline's body
did things to a man.
This fucking guy.
As did her eyes. Her depthless
["Heroes" playing]
Where'd you go?
Where are you?
The longer you make me wait,
the better you're gonna have to be.
Hello?
Hello?
If you're robbing me,
just fucking release me
- [shushes]
- before you go.
[panting]
[chuckles]
Getting robbed is not what
you need to be afraid of.
Open your mouth.
What's our safe word?
[chokes]
[coughs]
[moans]
[chuckling]
Strawberry.
Mmm.
That's a good safe word.
Hmm. Yeah, you like that?
Mm-hmm. [chuckles]
[chuckles]
[gasps] What's that?
- Hmm?
- What's that? What's that?
Do you know what streaking is?
When people take their clothes off
and run through the street.
No.
No.
This is streaking.
[screaming]
Put it out! Put it out!
- [gasping]
- Hey, hey, hey, hey.
- Oh, you sick fuck!
- Hey. [chuckles]
[sighs] If I have a burn
[breathing heavily]
No burn.
No scar.
No nothing.
That's streaking?
Huh.
[breathes heavily]
Do it again.
[panting]
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