The tale of a changing American community through vivid characters and audio: unnerving 911 calls from Elon Musk’s Tesla Gigafactory, rancorous city-council meetings, private-eye stakeouts, activism within a residential hotel, and salty straight talk.

It’s the kind of clear-headed reporting that’s unafraid to show its work, even when that work isn’t the sensationalist fare that can power some other shows of its kind. The result is a show that can see and convey Reno as the city it is rather than one an outside observer wants it to be.

The series provides an impressively sweeping but intimate look at an American city; I began it knowing little about Reno and emerged wanting to know everything.

It clearly wouldn’t have been nearly as good had a longtime local reporter not been tapped to report this story.