Fire of Unknown Origin Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dave Gudsen

The origins of fire were uncontrollable. Ancient man would have seen the devastation caused by wildfires and lightning strikes. In time, Man learned to control fire and civilisation, therefore spread. It provided warmth in colder climates, favouring migration to temperate shores: it provided a means to cook food, making nutrition easier to obtain, and later still, it provided power for machines that replaced manual labour. The control of fire mirrors the progress of civilisation. Uncontrolled fire is still possible in contemporary society, but it is uncommon.

This is how "Smoke" opened. Firefighter Dave Gudson (Taron Egerton) was trapped in a building that was burning out of control - he was disoriented and could not find an exit. He was powerless and terrified. (The photography and cinematography of this scene are both spectacular and horrifying. As a viewer, you are mesmerised and horrified by its power and the ability to destroy.) Then Dave woke up - he had had a nightmare about the fire he had once been caught in. He is now an arson investigator in the city fire department. Harvey Engelhart (Greg Kinnear) is the fire chief, his boss and a friend) Dave is portrayed as having PTSD, but he has a loving and supportive wife, Ashley, a librarian, and a stepson, but his relationship with Emmet is somewhat strained. Both Gudsen and his chief are under pressure to bring to justice two arsonists who have started many fires in the city. In the first episode, Gudsen revealed to Ashley that he had started writing a novel about an arsonist. Ashley was supportive.

Answer: It was seen as a demotion

Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett) is a detective and a former Marine. In the first episode, she was in bed with Steven and having a good time. Afterwards, Steven revealed that he had left his wife and kids for Michelle. She did not want this at all. She had her own emotional baggage. An argument started with Calderone breaking up with Steven, who just happened to be her boss, Captain Steven Burk. In retaliation, Burk sent her to the fire department to help Gudsen find the arsonists. It was viewed as a demotion or, at the very least, a punishment.

Calderone's trauma due to fire is hinted at during the first two episodes, but it is told in full over several episodes. Her mother locked her as a child in a closet, then set fire to the house in a drug-fuelled state. Calderone was saved in time, but other people died. (There is a separate side-story where Calderone attended a parole hearing for the release of her mother, but she was at odds with the rest of her family as she pleaded for her mother not to be released.)

The two protagonists get to work. Gudsen could demonstrate his proficiency to Calderone in his craft by quickly solving a torched stolen car case, and it is clear that Calderone was a proficient detective despite knowing little about arson.

Fun fact: The series is set in fictional Umberland in the state of Orrington in the US Pacific Northwest. (The show was actually shot in Vancouver, Canada.) There is a labelled map of Orrington framed on the office wall in Harvey's office. It looks very much like an inverted state of Oregon map. So Is Orrington an amalgam of two Pacific states, Oregon and Washington? Or, is it a nod to John Leonard Orr, America's worst serial arsonist, on whom "Smoke" is based?

Answer: Fast food restaurant cook

There were two arsonists in the city, both with different MOs. Gudsen explained to Calderone that serial arsonists feel powerless in their own lives and that setting fires in buildings with people inside makes those trapped feel powerless as well, so others can feel that powerlessness.

The first was an arsonist who became known as D&C, Divide and Conquer. This arsonist lit fires in the potato chip sections of supermarkets, then lit another fire elsewhere using time delay devices to spread the fire department thin. Cigarettes were used to light his fires. He wore sunglasses, a rain jacket, and a baseball cap with no logo. He was a white male and had a limp on his right leg, and he could avoid CCTV cameras.

The second (labelled Milk Jug as he used oil in milk jugs to start his fires) is Freddy Fasano, who the audience was shown to be the other arsonist in episode one. He is a middle-aged black man who worked at a fast food restaurant where he was bullied by co-workers. He lived by himself, and his apartment was cheaply furnished; he led a solitary, lonely life. He targeted people who were happy. This was not known at first to our two investigators. We were shown a case where a couple went out for the first time since they had their baby and were having a good time in a bar where Fasano was drinking alone. He followed them to their house, then set their home alight. In one of many memorable visuals in this show, we saw the image of Freddy surrounded by a soft rain of fire. He looked at peace, almost happy. This was in stark contrast to the inferno he had created, destroying the couple's home and seriously injuring the husband (the mother and baby escaped unharmed). Gudsen and Claderone could track the couple back to the bar and construct a composite picture of Fasano from other bar-goers.

However, the next day at work, a sympathetic customer at the restaurant, a hairdresser, Brenda, known to Fasano, encourages Fasano to apply for the manager position at the restaurant. She cuts his hair, changing his appearance from unruly and unkempt to almost smart. She arranged a crisp white dress shirt for him and practically pushed him to apply for the vacant manager position. This change in appearance meant he no longer resembled the composite picture that was circulated.

Answer: They were absent from work on the days when there was an arson attack

Gudsen and Claderone make some headway on the D&C arsonist. Calderone called his limp bogus. As she is a police detective rather than a fire department officer, she accessed fire department employee records. The two of them started looking for work absences on the days of the fires. They find two such firefighters. The first, Scotty Buytk, stated that the record logs were inaccurate. She dismissed this and went after him. Butyk explained he was an engineer. This is lost on Calderone until Gudsen explained that his job was to drive the fire truck: He was at work on arson days - the attendance records were indeed incorrect.

The second suspect, Arch Stanton, is uncooperative and insults Caldarone, her gender, and her race. Not cleared, the two tail him for several days, notable only that he has a trailer home in a remote location. Gudsen stated that they would not be able to get a warrant on such flimsy evidence, but that does not stop Caldarone from going rogue and solo by breaking into the trailer. She finds no evidence of arson paraphernalia, but she finds a trapdoor to an underground bunker, where she finds a doomsday bunker filled with illegal weapons and what looks like torture/sexual fantasy equipment. Stanton creeps up on her, and she shoots him in the thighs, disabling him. Knowing she would have a hard time convincing her superiors why she was there, she staged a scene where she said she saw Stanton load illegal weapons in the back of his truck (She put them there) and then called in the ATF. She is lauded as a hero, as it appeared she had prevented a mass shooting. At a subsequent party to honour her achievement, her former boss Steven pulled her to one side and told he he did not believe her story. Gudsen also told her Stanton was ruled out as the arsonist, as records and receipts showed he was building his bunker on arson days.

Answer: Gudson

In episode 1, we saw Gudsen and his wife in what appeared to be a loving relationship, acknowledging there was a strained relationship between Gudsen and his stepson, Emment. However, when Ashley, a librarian, gave positive feedback about his novel to her husband (her only criticism was that it needed more female characters [*viewer alarm bells ringing*]), the viewer could see there was unspoken tension.

In this later episode, Gudsen had a rejection letter from a book publisher stating thin characterisation and the novel needed female characters. Gudsen sought solace in Ashley, who dismissed his news as trivial, as she had learned that Emmett's biological father had accepted a new job 2000 miles away, which meant that Emmett would be staying with them full-time. You could see the dread in Ashley's eyes. Gudsen responded with a thinly veiled cheesy smile, saying it would be OK. However, Emmett, full of teenage angst and venom for his stepfather, took his unhappiness out on Gudsen, going as far as telling Gudsen that the house belonged to his mother. Gudsen's mask slipped momentarily, and his anger bubbled, but he left the house before the angry man underneath was exposed.

The respite was brief as we saw Gudsen's method of destressing: here he was in a supermarket in front of the potato chip section, wearing sunglasses, a hat, and a rain jacket, a big smile on his face as he walked with a limp. Moments later, as he exited the store, that section of the supermarket ignited, no doubt from a delayed timer ignition device. Dave Gudsen was the D and C Arsonist.

Answer: Adult film producer

After the reveal at the end of the previous episode, the next episode was deliberately 'quieter' with some of the back stories fleshed out.

We learned through Calderone's therapy session that she was still traumatised by her mother's arson activities. Her therapist advised that she was near the end of her rope, which Calderone denied.

Freddy had his manager interview with a Coop's restaurant executive called Roger Tillman. It did not go well at all. Tillman said he'll "be in touch". Freddy spent his entire night futilely refreshing his email. He went to see Brenda, the hairdresser, to ask him to restore his original hairstyle. She told him to come back after 5 pm. He did not. He shaved his head instead and set up a whole series of loaded milk jugs.

Gudsen and Calderone reconvened, no longer happy to work with one another and with Freddy not lighting fires as, prior to his interview, he had optimism in his life for once, they had no new leads.

Gudsen, despite his crime of being an arsonist in a position of trust, was a competent investigator. He determined that the melted plastic milk jugs were fused with melted black plastic bag material. Gudsen determined there were only two stores in the area that used black bags. Calderone wanted to add QR codes to the bags to trace them, but Englehart refused, due to a lack of funding.

Calderone worked solo on the diversionary fires created by the D and C arsonist. These were usually small grass fires located on the outskirts of town, far away from the 'main' supermarket fires. Through good detective work, she found a crude incendiary device, a cigarette, and three matches wrapped around a coin. near one of the fire sites. Burke refused to test the device for DNA as it was not from a proven arson site.

Calderone and Gudsen attend a fire-bombed car scene. As a viewer, we can see that Calderone suspected Gudsen of this new type of arson attack, as it was a diversionary tactic.

Gudson gave a presentation of fire, replete with small spontaneous fires arising around the room as he spoke. He talks of chaos overriding order when it comes to fire. Calderone, in attendance, is not impressed.

Calderone met her brother at a cockfight (she is unperturbed at the nature of the event), but it gives her an idea to trap the Milk Jug arsonist. With bird tags, they can tag the black bags in the two supermarkets, then when they find a burnt bag/jug, the tag, being metal, will persist, and the arsonist can be tracked with supermarket CCTV footage. When they were tagging bags, Dave tells Calderone about some of his troubled past when his mother abandoned him at 15 to run off with another man. Gudson went home to try to make amends with Emment. Ashley tried to help by suggesting Gudson pick up Emmett from school, as she could not. He forgot as he was engrossed in writing/dictating his novel. Calderone helped by taking Emmett home, and in the process, found out more information about Dave. Ashley arrived home before Emmet and was furious about neglected Emmett. Gudson offered his novel as an excuse. Ashley told him his book was "mediocre, pedestrian, predictable". Gudson left for the de-stress of arson in a supermarket, but he met a woman who flirted with him instead. He flirted back, and they indulged in a hotel room, with some BDSM, as Gudsen still had the desire to burn. He introduced her to "streaking": He tied her to the bed, dropped oil on her stomach and set fire to it. He promised this won't leave any scars, and after putting it out, she wanted more.

Meanwhile, Calderone found business cards for a police officer called Ezra Esposito in her desk. who has a sealed record, although she found out through Burk and Engelhart that he was Gudson's partner, but he was pensioned off. Burk found his current address. Calderone tracked him back to a trailer park where he made a living filming couples having sex in his trailer.

Esposito told Calderone that he believed that Gudson was the D and C Arsonist, but he had no proof. He showed her a video of what appeared to be an abandoned trailer. When Gudsen set fire to the trailer, dogs started barking inside. Esposito could not save them. He believed Gudsen knew the trailer was not empty. He also told her he believed Gudsen was responsible for him being pensioned off to stop him from finding proof of Gudson being the arsonist. He offered to help Calderone find the evidence needed to convict Gudsen.

Calderone also met up with Emment, who asked her if he was sleeping with his stepdad. Calderone denied this. Emmett explained that he does in his novel. Emmett believed the book was autobiographical. He had a downloaded copy of Gudson's novel. He gave Calderone an electronic copy.

Answer: Tillman, the Coops' HR manager

The unsuccessful attempt at applying for the Coops' Restaurant manager position sends Freddie Fasano over the edge. Firstly, he burned Tillman's house (using six, not the usual one milk jugs) to the ground, killing Tillman and his doctor wife.
He then skipped work - the first work day he had ever missed and went to an abandoned theme park where he burned identity papers, cash he had obviously saved, and Coops paraphanalia. The only person who talked to Fasano at work was Lee. He rang Fasano, who summoned him to the park. He explained to Lee that he was placed with many foster parents as a child, and he had one day at this park, which was the only day he remembered being happy. Fasano disclosed to Lee the address of the new Coops manager, and Lee realised he was the next target and that Fasano was now totally unhinged, and he ran off.

Meanwhile, Calderone, with Esposito, has convinced Burk that Gudson was the other arsonist. He brought in an ATF officer, and they formed a task force. Engelhart was not convinced but found a space for them to operate. Gudsen's dictated novel was playing in the background, and it appeared to be autobiographical. Engelhart heard something that changed his mind. He heard a passage that did not appear in any of the reports. The only way Gudson could know this information was if he was at the arson site immediately prior to it being set on fire. Everyone on the task force now believed Gudsen was the arsonist, but they did not have enough evidence for a conviction.

Gudsen himself is T-boned in a bad car accident.

Answer: Freddie see through Gudson and sees him as the other arsonist

Ashley comes to the hospital hoping that Gudsen had died in the car crash. When she found him relatively uninjured (mild concussion and a leg injury that made him limp [like the arsonist!]), she told him their marriage was over. This brings out the worst in Gudsen; any attempt at being genial was gone - the mask has not just slipped but was torn off. This only strengthened Ashley's resolve, and after his tirade, Ashley remarked, "And there it is," and walked out; her marriage had ended.

This caused Gudsen's grasp on reality to slip even further. Before his car accident, he correctly reasoned that Tillman was the target of Fasano's arson attack, not his wife, which was how it was reported in the media. He rang his workplace to take sick leave, hired a rental car and visited the arson site. He was then able to track the evidence (starting with the bird tag - Calderson's idea) back to Freddie Fasano, where he found oil-filled milk jugs and a business card with Brenda the hairdresser's address after he broke into Fasano's apartment. He drove over to Brenda's apartment to find that Fasano had doused Brenda's apartment with gasoline, possibly as some sort of revenge for making him apply for the manager's job. He had lost all connection to sanity. Gudsen burst in, disarmed Fasano, and stopped the fire from being lit. Fasano was arrested.

Gudsen became the city hero. Parties were thrown, and Gudson appeared on the morning news shows. Clearly, Gudsen loved the attention. He told the news shows he was writing a book about his experiences.

Calderone met up with Gudsen and pretended to congratulate him when she was actually searching for incriminating evidence.

At police headquarters, Fasano refused to speak. He said he would only speak to Gudson. Gudson came into the interview cocky because of Fasano's arrest. Fasano did not talk directly about the fires, but he saw straight through Gudson's arrogance facade. He identified correctly that his mother is the cause of all the darkness within Gudsen (Good Son?). Fasano called him a whitewashed tomb - Something that was beautiful on the outside, but ugly on the inside. This rattled Godson. He threw up when he left the interview room.

Calderone interviewed Ashley, who disclosed that Gudsen had fantasies about sleeping together in a burning building.

The task force tried to trap Godsen by using the literary agent who firstly rejected his novel but then contacted Godsen, reversing the decision. Godsen is wary and says nothing. He realised that Caldarone, Esposito, and even Engelhart were circling. When Burk sucker punched him at a party, this was the final straw - Gudson lit five more fires that night.

Fasano hung himself in his cell at sunrise the next morning.

Answer: Calderone killed Burk

The day after the sucker punch, Gudsen reported to work as if nothing had happened. He took Caldarone out to lunch, but the location was strategically chosen by him. He explained that this was near the place where Calderone was locked in a closet in a burning house. He even used her mother's name, Mercy (the title of the episode). This rattled Calderone. Up to this point, she had calmly told Gudsen she knew about his failed police psychology exam, his thirst for violence, and his dealings with Esposito. However, after he mentioned her mother, Calderone dropped the pretence and told Gudsen, "You slimy piece of ...You're an arson investigator who sets fires so you can look like a goddamn hero. You wrote a confession, and you're calling it a book. I'm not scared of you. You're the biggest joke I've ever heard".

After this confrontation, Gudsen sought refuge at his ex-wife Reba's house (Reba has tolerated his fire fantasies in the past). Calderone went to Burk's house to debrief.

After a few drinks, it was clear there was chemistry between them, but Calderone wanted them to be friends. Burk wanted more. When he was rejected when he went to kiss Calderone, he lost his temper and said he could "Keep her in exile forever". She grabbed her coat to leave. Burk grabbed her arm to stop her, but she spun around and punched him. However, she had punched him in the throat, probably crushing his windpipe, as he could not breathe. However, she did not help; she just watched him die.

Afterwards, rather than accept responsibility, she decided to cover her tracks, cleaning the house up and wiping evidence. She remembered that Gudson had dumped a rubber glove he was wearing in her car. She left that at the scene and torched the house - She had tried to frame Gudsen for the crime. She had become as bad as him.

Answer: The arsonist's 'fire' clothing was found hidden underneath Gudsen's car

Burk's house has been burned to the ground. Police Captain Pearson takes over the investigation. She disbanded the task force as she believed Gudsen started the fire. Esposito and Agent Hudson, who were surveilling Gudsen's ex-wife's house all night, said that Dave was with Reba all night, but the captain will not hear it. The planted glove is found, adding to Captain Pearson's theory. Calderone was summoned to the scene and expressed grief over the loss of Burk. However, she saw that the neighbour had a camera which overlooked Burk's house. She frantically calls her brother to break into the house and retrieve the footage.

Gudsen asks Reba to be his alibi, but she is not helpful. He goes to work to plead his case before Engelhart, but Engelhart has had enough and wants Gudsen brought to justice. Calderone arrived at work, but they were called to a fire scene, which was a wildfire that may have been caused by the fire at Burk's house. There is some spectacular photography here as we see the local sawmill explode in flames, reminding us how powerful uncontrolled fire is. Gudsen, unhinged, raced into the path of the fire. Caldarone pointed the gun at Gudson and blew out the driver's window. Gudsen unbuckled her seat belt and jerked the wheel, causing them to crash in a way that would kill Calderone would be killed. However, she was not dead. As Gudsen crawled from the car, she kicked him, slammed him against the wall, and stuffed her gun in his mouth. However, a downpour started and dampened the smoke and the fire. It caused Caldarone to swap the gun for cuffs, and Gudsen was arrested.

In the same interview room that Fasano was interviewed in, Gudsen would only speak with Calderone. He refuted all the evidence they had collected, the details from his novel, the planted glove, and Gudsen refused to confess. When Esposito found the disguise he wore to the grocery store fires in a hidden compartment of his wrecked car, Caldarone believed they had enough. But Gudsen still did not confess. It was a stalemate. Perhaps scriptwriter and producer Dennis Lehane (yes, that one) said it best in a 2025 interview with "Time" Magazine. "I call [Jurnee] my thespian queen," he said. "At this point, Michelle is desperate. Let's call a spade a spade - she started the incident that caused all this. Her morality is compromised by the end. She's interrogating Dave for a murder she committed and destruction she caused. Yet she's pursuing justice, which we all want. We all want Dave brought to justice."

Answer: What he really looked like: Older, heavier, balding

The final twist in "Smoke"'s final episode was the truth that Gudsen was in a tremendous amount of denial. Dave Gudsen is NOT the man that we've been seeing for nine episodes. When he looked into the interview room mirror, the good-looking man with a handsome face and a winning smile we've seen to date was not Dave Gudsen. The real Dave Gudson was a heavier, balding and older man we saw for a flicker when Dave looked into the mirror. (We also see his real demeanour briefly in photos, Ashley and Emett are packing away.) His feet nervously tapping are a telling sign that he's terrified of facing his own truth when Michelle showed him the clothing evidence Esposito found.

After this moment, we never saw Dave's handsome version again, but he did get his smirk back and still called himself a hero. We knew before now that there was something terribly wrong with Dave, but at this point, we realised how far from reality Gudsen had fallen. He created this illusion of a version of himself, and he became the protagonist in his novel. In his head, he will always remain a hero despite overwhelming physical evidence to the contrary, and as we now know, despite what any court will decide when the case goes to trial.