The Sniffer S01E01 "Episode 1" Recap

Meet the Sniffer. He's a man with a tremendously powerful nose. He's boarded a flight from Germany back to Russia when a man passes by him in the aisle wearing a cast. He calls for a flight attendant and demands to seethe captain, saying there is a terrorist on board with a bomb. When the flight attendant returns with the captain, he informs them that he smelled the parts that comprise the bomb. they are skeptical of this until he informs them that he can smell that they had sex in the cockpit twice in the last hour.

Sniffer's ex-wife calls him to demand that he go to their son Alex's school, as he's gotten into trouble once again. Upon reaching the school, he meets with the principal who has Alex in his office after he was caught with a bag of marijuana. Sniffer uses his ability to determine that the bag doesn't belong to Alex. Alex tries to cover and claim it is his bag and mustache the wrath of his mother, who arrives at that moment demanding to check his arms for track marks. Sniffer heads to Alex's class to trace the scent while the principal and Sniffer's ex-wife follows after him hurriedly. Sniffer tracks down the actual student drug dealer and dumps the content of his bag onto his desk, revealing numerous other bags of marijuana. Before leaving, he also informs the students that this marijuana is low-quality garbage, just to further embarrass the drug dealer.

Sniffer is called in by his friend Viktor, a police officer struggling to determine the cause of death at a murder scene. Sniffer determines that someone poured digoxin into his coffee, and determines many traits of the killer including his approximate age, gender, and nicotine consumption. Further sniffing leads him to believe that a large sum of money is in play with this crime.

A recently questioned person of interest is killed and a large sum of money stolen from him. Sniffer has placed himself in quarantine in his sterilized luxury apartment because of his allergies flaring up. Viktor calls Sniffer to tell him that he has booked Sniffer an appointment with a specialist to examine his nose and sense of smell. Sniffer doesn't want to go but gives in and meets Doctor Tatyana Voskresenskaya. Tatyana displays a strong knowledge of her field and is impressed by his strong sense of smell. She has him book a follow-up appointment so she can better understand how and why his nose works the way it does.

Viktor is called in to investigate the latest murder. The killer is shown to be lurking around the crime scene in the crowd of nosey citizens. He calls Sniffer to come to check out the crime scene for any further leads. The examination leads them to go to a weekly paint balling session where they believe they'll be able to find the killer. Sniffer doesn't want to come, feeling he shouldn't be required for Viktor to be able to find a man with a nicotine patch, but once again he relents.

Viktor and Sniffer arrive at the paintball match and in the locker room, Sniffer recognises the would-be bomber from the beginning of the episode and determines that he is the killer. But as Viktor has been placed on the other team, he isn't able to get to him before the match starts to point out the killer.  Sniffer is stressed over having to be in a match where everyone is shooting at each other and does his best to stay hidden behind a protective barrier. After some time he observes the killer be shot in the match and thus be eliminated, walking off. He stands up to try to warn Viktor that the killer is getting away, then passes out after being shot with a paintball gun. Viktor comes to check on him and Sniffer warns him that the killer has a gun. Viktor purses the killer and eventually manages to catch up to and apprehend him. Viktor threatens him, demanding to know why he killed Livashov. The man claims he owed him money for a forged diplomatic passport and the second man he killed for trying to blackmail him. Viktor also retrieves the stolen money, as the man was carrying it with him.

The Sniffer is available for streaming on Netflix.