A fire investigator (Taron Egerton) is reluctantly paired with a police detective (Jurnee Smollett) to work the cases of two separate serial arsonists in the Apple TV+ crime thriller “Smoke.” One of the culprits won’t be a mystery to anyone familiar with the podcast “Firebug,” from which the nine-episode series draws fictionalized inspiration.

That’s not a spoiler; “Firebug” is cited in the opening credits. A true crime podcast about a real arsonist who was eventually caught, someone a lot like the person at the center of the podcast forms the basis for one of the characters here. The reveal is meant to be a twist (though it is heavily telegraphed) and it comes at the show’s midway point, when we already know the identity of the other arsonist, because he might as well be followed around by a blinking arrow pointing to him. So the question becomes: Will the show’s characters figure out what we already know, and will that process be interesting? Or will it drag on, filling time?

Most streaming shows suffer from “shoulda been a movie” syndrome, so you can probably guess the answer. But “Smoke” doesn’t have enough meat on its bones even for that. Created by Dennis Lehane (best known as the author of novels such as “Mystic River” and “Gone, Baby, Gone”), the series seems to have aspirations of Scorsese, but plays like an unintentional parody, working hard to capture “gritty” instead of just being gritty. Vibes abound, but they aren’t effective without a solidly constructed narrative.

Sometimes people set buildings on fire for the insurance payout. Sometimes they are driven by other reasons, and “Smoke” offers a paper-thin psychological study: Arsonists commit their crimes because they are filled with feelings of inadequacy, neglect and alienation, and this is how they regain a measure of power.

Two arsonists have been targeting a rainy, nondescript town and they’ve managed to elude the best efforts of Dave Gudsen (Egerton). His investigative know-how is supposedly legendary, but the arsons remain unsolved and there are new fires that keep following the same patterns. So he’s paired with Det. Michelle Calderone (Smollett), who is there to help narrow down the suspects.

He’s an ex-firefighter haunted by dreams of being trapped in an inferno. Married with a teenage stepson, he’s turned his real-life work experience into fodder for a novel. Great stuff, he thinks to himself! Outwardly, he is the picture of competence and regular guy-ness. Privately, he is both wildly overconfident and deeply insecure.

She’s an ex-Marine with a tough exterior. She’s only been a cop for a few years, and this new assignment does not seem good for her career, but someone in the police department has shuffled her off to arson investigations, likely due to her history of bad decisions, including an affair with a toxic coworker who is also her boss.

They are both outrunning demons, but otherwise, they are like oil and vinegar. Dave drops F-bombs liberally, but is the kind of person who flashes a big smile to massage a situation. Michelle has a chip on her shoulder and takes more of a dogged, sledgehammer approach.

Tonally, the show is all over the place, laying on the moody theatrics one moment, mocking Dave’s writerly pretenses the next. Greg Kinnear plays Dave’s worn-out boss, with John Leguizamo as the dirtbag ex-cop who was Dave’s partner before Michelle came along, and Anna Chlumsky is an investigator who joins the team late in the game. Everyone is compromised and not particularly good at their jobs, but the characters are too flat to register as meaningful. Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine especially is too good an actor to be stuck in the role of a troubled, slack-jawed man who might have developmental disabilities, but is rendered as an awkward person who has been treated poorly all his life and has finally been pushed over the edge. Only Smollett really shines.

The show is pulpy without being entertaining, with a ludicrous showdown in the finale that’s followed a few scenes later by another, even more ludicrous staredown. Plenty of smoke. No fire.

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'SMOKE'

1.5 stars (out of 4)

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: On Apple TV+ June 27

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