A solid comedy-drama that’s maybe too much of a retread, and not of the 2005 movie.
Mr and Mrs Smith does not impress straight away; and to be clear, I’m not talking about the original 2005 movie, which hopefully we can all agree wasn’t exactly the height of cinema. It was actually for that very reason that I wondered why Amazon MGM wanted to create a series remaking it. Sure, the movie had its moments, but surely it doesn’t lend itself to expansion – however, it turned out that the best way to expand on Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) was to… make something completely different. Not that it doesn’t try to convince you otherwise, which brings me back around to my original point. The ‘in media res’ intro of the first episode had me very worried; a generic, flatly directed and edited action intro that would fit snugly in the new Fast and Furious or Terminator sequel. Luckily this prelude is a red herring, and whilst still reeling from it we are introduced to our protagonists as well as one of the highlights of the entire show, it’s wonderful action-electronic soundtrack.
However, the soundtrack, as good as it is, does bring me on to my main thought coming out of the show – for an adaptation of a movie from 2005, it sure is preoccupied with television of the mid-to-late 2010s. From the heavily Mr Robot-inspired soundtrack and equally Ismail-esque cinematography and colour grading; to the story that becomes more and more reminiscent of 2023’s Beef as it goes on, especially in the final episode (which, ironically, is the episode that makes the most reference to the original movie). The show tries to balance this hyper-contemporary weird-drama style with the comedy you’d expect from this… franchise? I guess this is a franchise now – and it does it to mixed results. It’s at its best when it does what feels natural (which for the most part is confined to the first and last episodes), having the characters just respond to situations in ways that make sense but still end up making things weird – it’s in these times it feels closest to Beef – when the show is actually trying to make ‘jokes’ or have humorous situations arise, it often comes off as not just out-of-character but unfitting with the tone the rest of the show has set up.
Another problem that comes from this lack of confidence in it’s own tone in the intermediate episodes is that many of the humorous moments just come off as fetish content – we all know the gag from police academy: ‘this week: the writer’s barely disguised fetish’, and there is one episode during this season’s eight entry run that intentionally uses fetish content in order to de-sympathise one of the ‘targets’ the protagonists are going after – but even outside of that almost every episode contains some strange comment presented straight or strange salacious moment that makes me wonder what I’m meant to be feeling and what the writers meant by that – but this could easily be overlooked or just my own personal problem; hey, it’s my job to read too deeply into these things!
Outside of jokes that don’t land and some unfortunate derisiveness, there is a lot to like here. Individual episodes, split up into the titular character’s ‘missions’, all have interesting plots that weave nicely into the overarching… It’s hard to call it a narrative, there are a few times where one wonders where any of this is even going; another sentiment shared with Beef, but it does a good job of using these episode-to-episode country-hopping stories to keep the viewer engaged. Even better, it knows when to take a break from the action and take it easy – one of the episodes is essentially just John and Jane having two work colleagues over for dinner, and it could be one of the most engrossing episodes thanks to the consistently
fantastic script. It’s got a real finesse in the dialogue, when they don’t (presumably) pass it over to some guy in the corner to add in the jokes the studio wants, that weaves in world building and subtle character moments in amongst the bigger plot and story beats. I do worry, though, that some viewers may find it hard to stay engaged without a solid hook to drive them forward.
If you’d like to really get an idea of what this show has to offer, why not jump into episode 6, it’s not one that will give you any major spoilers for the overall show but it does a lot to the most important part of the show, unravelling their relationship. Episode 6 is a perfect microcosm of what Mr and Mrs Smith is; in it, the titular characters go through several sessions of marriage counselling as they try to talk about how their top-secret job is getting in the way of their relationship. Throughout we see little vignettes of missions they’ve been on together that aren’t featured in other episodes, and get a greater idea of how much time has passed and how much they have in common despite often standing against each other. Episode 6 could be released by itself as a pilot for this show and it would work flawlessly. This stands at odds by being followed by the second-before-last episode of the series, which is almost entirely filler; but even this feels like it adds to the microcosm of the show, great, extended highs, followed by meandering periods that leave you wondering if you should keep watching.
I am being too harsh though, this show, despite its flaws, is very good. Great locations and production design, great performances all around, a fantastic script every episode, if you ignore the jokes, but the biggest problem this show faces is the very first one I mentioned. It just feels too similar to too many other recent shows, to the point where I wonder if, at the end of the year, this will even stick in our memories enough to warrant discussion. Mr and Mrs Smith is a substantially better product than its predecessors, but wears its influences on its sleeve and struggles to be rid of them; even through that, though, it’s well worth watching.
Mr. And Mrs. Smith releases on Prime Video on February 2.
