Based on Doug Liman’s hit 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith, starring Brad Pitt (Bullet Train) and Angelina Jolie (Eternals) as the titular characters, Donald Glover (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) and Maya Erskine (Blue Eye Samurai) now take on the mantle. With very big shoes to fill, Glover and Erskine’s chemistry as Mr. and Mrs. Smith was simultaneously just as alluring as it was fit for the current times—and matched the weirdness of the times, too.
While the show shares the same name as the film, this Prime Video series took some liberties within its own Mr. & Mrs. Smith universe. In the series, two American strangers-spies are paired together to impersonate a married couple known as John and Jane Smith. They were both hired by a mysterious spy agency that promised them each a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. Basically, the whole concept of the American Dream.
The only catch is that they must comply with the agency’s high-risk missions that get delivered to them anonymously from a source they nickname “Hihi.” The show has been designed so that each week is a new mission for the espionage couple. Each week also offers a new relationship milestone (and new guest stars) in their pretend marriage, but complications also come with the job as their respective, genuine feelings intertwine.
From the jump, the series kicked off with an immediate action scene that leaves the viewers confused and shell-shocked. Shortly afterwards, it transitioned to the introduction of Glover and Erskine’s John and Jane characters. Their introduction was like something out of a sci-fi film like The Pod Generation, where John and Jane were asked a series of personal questions by an automated kiosk. It asked questions like ‘How many people have you killed?’ or ‘How much money do you make’? The usual questions in a job interview.
The open nature of the unknown spy agency in this version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a really great world-building aspect because it could set up a potential spin-off series or many seasons to come where the main characters do not necessarily have to be consistent. It could be similar to where the character of Takeshi Kovacs in Altered Carbon took on multiple actors. In this case, each season could be a different set of actors playing different versions of John and Jane.
“The overall vibes were as fun and playful as the original Mr. & Mrs. Smith but also brought the action and ruckus of the film.”
The charm of the series relied heavily on the human aspect of the show and having a challenge of the week for the couple—both to appease Hihi’s missions and to test out their relationship. Glover and Erskine delivered the emotional rawness that relates to many new, budding relationships in the current dating world. All of this was executed superfluously with the backdrop of the spy life. Each week also offered a sort of cameo with other great actors like John Turturro, Ron Perlman, and Sarah Paulson.
The double-edged sword of Mr. & Mrs. Smith was that it almost felt like the show was trying to show the viewer the greatest hits of John and Jane. What does that mean? There were some moments where they quickly flashback or show a mission they did as an anecdote told to other characters. These worked really well as they paralleled the whole therapy session from the source material in the film. However, it meant that viewers were only offered snippets of those missions.
The overall vibes were as fun and playful as the original Mr. & Mrs. Smith but also brought the action and ruckus of the film. Season one offered an insightful look into the spy world expansion that Pitt and Jolie started. Glover and Erskine have shown a great template for an adaptation some may not have asked for with these tight eight episodes, which were about 40 minutes each. It is well-crafted and maintains the tone of what the original was going for, and will leave viewers intrigued for what may happen in the next season.
