The show Mr. and Mrs. Smith snuck up on me. I had heard they were doing a series based on the Brangelina movie, but I hadn’t heard anything else til it popped up on Prime one day. The new show stars Donald Glover as Mr. Smith and Maya Erskine as Mrs. Smith. Donald Glover is also the creator, and I admittedly like his show Atlanta, so I was curious to see how he handled an action espionage series.
The New Mr. and Mrs. Smith
The show takes a different path than the movie. In the movie, the Smiths are two assassins who are unwittingly married to each other and try to kill each other before inevitably letting love win and teaming up to kill everyone. In this series, they are paired together by the enigmatic company in an arranged marriage and work together as legally married spies. They are given a home and conduct missions around the world.
The show is a slow burn. It strays fairly far from the original movie idea. Outside of the names and the idea that two people are married and conduct espionage, assassinations, and more, the movie and show are fairly separated. Honestly, one could argue tying it to the movie wasn’t even necessary due to the originality of the show, although near the end, we see some of the film’s influence take hold.
My overall, spoiler-free take is that it’s a great show. It’s well-acted, well-shot, and has a nice, slow burn to it we don’t often get from modern TV. It’s funny, and the huge rotating cast of guest stars is interesting but not overbearing. A certain degree of mystery is contained throughout regarding the company and its motives. We rarely know why Mr. and Mrs. Smith are doing what they do.
Without spoiling anything, I’d advise against watching the show expecting a ton of action or spy stuff. It’s not what you expect if you’ve seen the 2005 film. In fact, this is a show that is really about the relationship between the two spies. It’s not an action-filled show like Reacher but a drawn-out series that portrays the start and end of a relationship in a dramatic fashion.
Spoilers On: The In-Depth Review
The show starts with Alexander Skarsgard and Eliza Gonzales seemingly hiding out and being tracked down. A gunfight ensues, and both are killed. From there, we get into the lives of our new Mr. and Mrs. Smith as they are interviewed by what appears to be a computer and eventually paired up to be married and live in a rather nice home in New York City. The show details the beginning of a platonic relationship and their first mission: follow a lady, steal a box, and drop the box off.
Each episode follows a similar formula until the end. They do a mission, and the mission acts as a way for them to explore their relationship. They tackle interpersonal issues as they conduct missions as a pair. It quickly becomes obvious that the show is an exploration of a relationship using their jobs as spies to keep us entertained, but also portray the highs and lows of their relationship.
The show does this for seven episodes, and we see their relationship eventually fall apart, and they even enter counseling. Along the way, a number of guest stars are present, including Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, John Turturo, Parkey Posey, Ron Perlman, and quite a few more. They get to play big characters but never outshine our stars.
If I created a show with a big Amazon Prime budget, I could see the temptation to go to exotic locations like Italy to film. Several episodes are set in beautiful parts of the world where the couple executes their mission.
Everything looks nice and is well-shot. It’s mostly easy to see. My one major complaint is that the show relies on texting and expects you to be able to read the tiny text on their phones to follow the story. I gave up by episode five, so I likely missed important plot points. I’m watching the show on a 65-inch TV, so I should be able to read the texts, but it’s a struggle and a pain.
Lights, Guns, and Action
I like the action, but I love the guns. The action is mostly fine, but when it comes to fistfights and some of the gunfights, it starts to look pretty rough. There are several scenes where Mr. Smith is shooting a gun, and it looks terrible. He’s supposed to be a former Marine working as a spy and assassin, but he holds his gun like he’s scared of it. In one scene, he appears to just close his eyes and fire blindly.
I can’t say the same for Mrs. Smith. Maya Erskine seems to have had some firearms training and looks comfortable in most cases. She also seems to be the more physically talented actor for fights unless she just got the better stunt double. In some of the fights, the blows are painfully slow, and the choreographing is super easy to see. Episode 8 is when the Smiths turn against each other, and it is the most action-packed episode by far. It’s a stand-out for the series in terms of the action.
Throughout the series, we do see a number of very high-end firearms, including the MCX and MPX guns from Sig Sauer. Our super spies aren’t isolated to the old classics by any means. They typically wield Glocks as their sidearms, but to be fair, even JSOC uses Glocks.
The Smith’s armory includes an Alien, which is name-dropped, and they mention the low-recoil function of the weapon. Sadly, it’s never used. It’s mentioned they have carry permits, which is no small feat for New York City.
As the show continues, we get a dose of MP7s and bad guys carrying Uzis. We see a mix of Sig Sauer ARs and MP5s, but it’s fairly rare they have a massive action set piece until episode 8. We see the Smiths shootout in the house, which involves their handguns, a Mossberg 590M Shockwave, a Micro Uzi, a Sig Sauer Copperhead, and a VZ 61 Skorpion. It’s a nice throwback to the film. My favorite gun has to be the Glock with the Flux stock. I’ll give the show props for going with higher-end, more exotic weapons than the typical M4 and MP5 options.
Worth the Watch
While the show has some action, it’s not going to satisfy the same itch as a show like Reacher. It’s really more about a married couple’s relationship. They have trust issues, control issues, intimacy issues, and all the other fun parts of marriage, on top of being in gunfights and stopping kidnappings.
The 2005 version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith doesn’t have much in common with the new series, and it’s not nearly as action-packed. Still, it’s a slow burn with an ending that leaves you wanting more.
