Taron Egerton is often a strong performer in works ranging from great to mediocre to fairly poor. He’s been in the best thing in an ill-conceived tale of a video game (Tetris), a compelling scumbag discovering his conscience (Black Bird), and a convincing everyman action hero in the early Die Hard mold (Carry-On). But he’s never had as much fun as he’s having in Smoke.

As arson investigator Dave Gudsen, his city’s at the mercy of two arsonists he can’t seem to bring to justice. To assist him, the police department assigns Detective Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett) as his partner. For her, though, this is the equivalent of career Siberia. She made the mistake of sleeping with her mentor, Steven Burk (Rafe Spall), but not reciprocating his romantic feelings. Given he’s the rare cheater who went through with his promise to leave his wife, he takes her rebuff after the fact a bit personally. Until he gets past her “betrayal,” she’s stuck. Overseeing them is Harvey Englehart (a warm but grumpy Greg Kinnear).

Playing arson investigator Dave Gudsen, Egerton presents as a pretty trope-y law and order type. He’s a family. His time as a firefighter has left him with a bit of trauma in his past. He has a bit of inflated swagger, true. But mostly he feels like the kind of guy who does a decent job. Then he punches a clock, and goes home to be an ok husband and father.

It is no spoiler to say Dave’s got more going on than that. His beginning to write a novel is the first sign of that. But it is by no means the last. Every two episodes or so, Smoke offers another facet of Dave, each seemingly like the one that reveals him in full. Then, two episodes later, something new emerges, and the audience must reevaluate their assumptions. Each reveal seems to delight Egerton, centering a live wire in the middle of what could’ve easily been a standard-issue crime drama.

While Egerton is the headline, Smoke does other things well, too. For one, there’s the aesthetic. While it feels lifted nearly whole cloth from two David Fincher films—Gone Girl and Zodiac—it nonetheless compliments the story well. The series’ three directors—Joe Chappelle, Jim McKay, and Kari Skogland—and three cinematographers—François Dagenais, Todd McMullen, and Sam McCurdy—know what they are doing and why they are doing it. That assuredness ensures that even if the visuals are familiar, they don’t feel stale or stolen. Smoke may look like other things, but there’s no doubt it is the right look for this series.

Another perhaps easy-to-overlook but nonetheless impressive aspect of the show is how well it showcases bad writing. It is difficult to do anything poorly on purpose and make it resemble honest bad work. Look at films that set out to be “bad but cult movies” and how uninteresting and ugly they feel in comparison to the sort of miraculous alchemy of The Room or the features of Neil Breen. However, writer-creator Dennis Lehane and the rest of the writers’ room have a great handle on the kind of overheated (pun intended) and self-aggrandizing prose someone like Dave would both put to paper and be convinced was great.

While it is important to highlight these small things, again and again, I keep coming back to the performances as the biggest reason Smoke is a kick to watch. While Egerton does a ton of the lifting, his co-stars lighten the load. His interactions with Smollett frequently feel like they might tip over into a fistfight or a one-night stand. Even better, both seem equally excited about either possibility. Their chemistry is crossed up enough that the flirting feels like a weapon or threat while the anger approaches something like empathy. As good as she is, though, Erin Karpluk matches and exceeds that energy with Egerton as Reba, a woman who’s both an antagonist and enabler for Dave in the latter half of the series.

John Leguizamo as Dave’s former partner, Ezra Esposito, and Anna Chulmsky, as federal agent Dawn Hudson have their own skewed chemistry as two investigators brought in to assist as the fires continue to rage. Leguizamo is energetic and crude, Chulmsky cool and collected. It’s fun to watch them play off each other as Esposito steadily comes back from being an utter mess of a person.

Finally, there’s Freddy Fasano (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine), the arsonist hiding in plain sight. A fast-food worker, he wanders through life near catatonic, struggling to conjure the words for even the most basic social interactions. Whenever the urge seizes him, triggered by envy and compulsion, the screen comes to life with sparking ash falling like gentle snow and Mwine’s eyes flickering with passionate delight for the briefest of moments. While by definition he’s a pyromaniac, his relationship to the flame feels less like a mania or compulsion and more like gentle appreciation. Unlike other arsonists in the series, the fire isn’t erotic for him. His relationship with it is almost familial. To him, a blaze feels like a glimpse of home.

To set expectations fairly, Smoke is the TV equivalent of a mid-budget crime thriller film. From its look to its pop psychology, there’s nothing especially new here. But like those films, attention to detail and performances elevate it. Smoke shouldn’t be confused with prestige television. No. What it is is a dark delight, a dark delight. With Egerton in the lead, Smoke is the kind of thing you’d come across channel surfing back in the days of Cable TV rule. You’d tell yourself you’ll just watch a few minutes. Before those few minutes pass, though, you’re fully hooked.

Smoke blankets AppleTV+ starting June 27.

Smoke Trailer: