Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Smoke Episode 7.
Smoke made a pretty major breakthrough with its sixth episode, as Dave Gudsen (Taron Egerton) finally caught the Milk Jug arsonist, Freddy Fasano (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine). His big arrest is at the center of the show’s seventh episode, but the ice underneath is getting thinner. Michelle (Jurnee Smollett) is closer than ever to putting Dave’s crimes out in the open, especially as every other major character, from former allies like Harvey (Greg Kinnear) to old acquaintances still holding grudges, like Esposito (John Leguizamo), are teaming up to bring Dave down once and for all.
‘Smoke’ Episode 7 Opens With Dave on Top of the World
Smoke Episode 7, “Whitewashed Tombs,” opens with Michelle on the phone with Steven (Rafe Spall). Following the last episode’s reveal that her mom is being released from prison, Michelle is in tears, reliving the trauma from the fire her mom started while she was locked in the closet. In her mind, no one can understand her pain, and what’s worse, they refuse to acknowledge it or her right to be angry at all. Steven offers to drop by, but she gently rejects him. The interaction is sweet, and it actually seems like these two can be real friends, despite their messy history. In the next scene, Michelle is having breakfast with her sister-in-law, Rose (Nozipho McLean), and tries to warn her against having her mom next to Sophie, Rose’s young daughter.
Dave gives an interview about his recent arrest of Freddy, and he’s loving every minute; he’s juggling lemons on daytime TV, for crying out loud. Erica Boswell (Nicole Oliver), an agent from the literary agency that rejected his book in Episode 3, tasks her assistant with reaching out to Dave, while Michelle and her team watch Dave’s interview in disgust and disbelief. They feel terrible, since they have no hard evidence against Dave while he’s parading himself around. However, when Erica contacts Harvey while looking for Dave, the team sees a way to nail the slippery arsonist. Back at Ashley’s (Hannah Emily Anderson), Dave is back, acting as if nothing has happened. She won’t have it, though, and throws him out; he doesn’t take it well, but she remains firm.
In an interrogation room, two policemen try unsuccessfully to get Freddy to talk. However, Freddy refuses to talk and says the only person he’ll say anything to is Dave. Mwine is at his eeriest here, and the scene is further elevated by some lush cinematography that makes bold choices, including surrounding Freddy in a halo. Now, Dave is back at the office, where he’s getting a real hero’s reception. Michelle does her best to maintain a friendly facade, and she succeeds basically by flattering Dave to oblivion. She even gets him to agree to take her to the meeting with Freddy; go, Michelle. At Erica’s office, Steven, Esposito, and Dawn (Anna Chlumsky) try to get her to be part of their ruse to bring Dave down, but she refuses — that is, of course, until they sweeten the deal and agree to give her the rights to Dave’s story and access to all case files, not ongoing litigation.
Dave and Freddy Have a Tense Interview in ‘Smoke’ Episode 7
The episode’s pièce de résistance is definitely the one-on-one between Dave and Freddy, a tense exchange shot at a close angle that makes it feel much more claustrophobic and unsettlingly intimate. The interview begins with Dave bragging about how his profile on Freddy will be used in college courses. Freddy watches intently before asking, “Who was she?” Dave doesn’t understand, but Freddy goes on: “The one that gave you the hole.” Dave keeps his line of questioning, trying to get more info about the previous fires, but Freddy ignores him and instead talks about maggots coming out of a dead bird; that’s Dave’s soul, he says, and the young detective’s confidence drops. Now, it’s Freddy who’s in charge of the conversation. “Who was she?” he asks again before correctly guessing: “Your mother.” Behind the two-way mirror, Michelle watches as Dave’s facade slowly crumbles.
Freddy keeps pushing Dave’s buttons. “Your mother. Why didn’t she love you?” Dave is visibly struggling: his nostrils flare up, his eyes can’t meet Freddy’s, his words drag. Freddy now has him under his thumb, especially when he gets to the bottom of it: Dave’s mother left because, in Freddy’s words, “she recognized shit when she smelled it.” Dave is doing his best to fight the tears and even tries to turn the tables, mentioning Freddy’s foster home past and asking him why he killed all those people. “I don’t know,” Freddy replies, before confronting Dave with his crimes. “I don’t commit arson,” Dave says. “I don’t kill people.” Freddy shakes his head and laughs knowingly before getting biblical: “You are like whitewashed tombs. Beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, full of the bones of the dead.” A shaken Dave leaves the interview and throws up while walking to his car.
‘Smoke’ Episode 7 Proves Dave Is More Resourceful Than We Expected
Rose goes to Benji (Mishka Thébaud) and questions letting his mother live with them. After all, she asks, would he let his mother alone with their daughter? Benji can’t answer. At a restaurant, Erica and Dawn, posing as an agent named Hilarie Milton, set up a sting operation against Dave. Outside, Esposito watches and suggests getting him a bit drunk to loosen him up — it works. The more he drinks, the louder and more relaxed he becomes, and Erica and Dawn are selling the hell out of their roles.
Dawn asks why Dave’s self-insert character, Donald, is an arsonist, and Dave says it’s because he can be; he’s superior. Dawn tries to get him to reveal more about the character’s psychology, and Dave slowly talks about how Donald is angry at those who rejected him. He basically says there are no real men anymore, just pathetic excuses for men, but Erica disagrees and says that every white man in America has every door open to him. A visibly angry Dave snaps but soon gains control and realizes something is off. He goes back to being defensive without revealing anything else, much to Esposito’s frustration.
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At the gym, Michelle is on the treadmill when Ashley arrives. Small talk turns into a mini-confrontation, as Ashley believes Michelle is Dave’s mistress. Michelle, however, takes a direct approach, asking Ashley if she believes Dave is capable of a crime; she basically says yes. The two then talk more, and Ashley reveals that Dave was gone most nights, leading her to think he was cheating. She also didn’t know that Dave had two ex-wives. Ashley admits she often thought that something living inside of Dave wanted to hurt her and reveals some of the most disturbing fantasies Dave shared with her, including one involving sexually assaulting her in a burning building.
Michelle then confronts Esposito, asking him if he ever filmed any of Dave’s fantasies. Under pressure, he confesses he has two videos of Dave and his ex-wife, Reba (Erin Karpluk), who he says knows Dave better than anyone in the world. Thus, Michelle pays Reba a visit. Despite it all, Reba has a high opinion of Dave: he’s a good guy, she says. Reba also reveals they divorced because Dave wanted a more traditional wife, and she cheated on him. Michelle tries to get Reba to talk more about Dave’s dark side, but she remains vague; whatever her relationship with Dave is, it’s clear that it’s tighter than anyone thinks.
‘Smoke’ Episode 7 Sees Dave Realizing the Plot Against Him
At a party being held for Dave, he’s over the moon… until he receives a call from Reba. We don’t hear it, but we can guess what she’s saying. Dave sits alone at the bar until Steven approaches him to sing the most passive-aggressive rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero.” The interaction soon becomes tenser, especially as Steven begins to antagonize Dave. The two end up in a staring match before Steven sucker-punches Dave in the stomach.
Dave storms out of the party and pretty much screams in Harvey’s face, but the man doesn’t react, so he walks away, angry. Michelle comes out of the bar, and Harvey tells her Dave knows they’re onto him. Dave then drives like a maniac while listening to heavy metal, because of course he does, and loses both his tail and the tracker on his car. He goes to the office and checks Michelle’s desk before breaking into Harvey’s office and doing the same. Finding nothing, he takes a photo of Harvey’s lake house. Back on the road, Dave sees Esposito with Dawn and realizes the literary agent meeting was a setup.
In the morning, Freddy sits alone in his cell. Slowly, he holds on to his sheets before tying them together. While boygenius & Ye Vagabonds’ “The Partying Glass” plays, Freddy goes back to the moments that gave him happiness: Brenda’s hands on his hair; a woman reaching out, offering a kiss; a merry-go-round. He is then hanging from the pipes while his life literally flashes in his eyes: a lake, blowing leaves, a tricycle, a toy car, a smiling child, a doctor offering a lollipop. And then, Freddy Fasano is no more. And that’s it for Smoke‘s seventh episode, which features the last appearance of the show’s most compelling figure. Dave now knows there is a target on his back, and it’s only a matter of time before Michelle and her allies catch up to him.
