Mr & Mrs Smith: Would You Still Love Me if I Was an International Super Spy?

-Mukisa Mujulizi

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By now, we should have all seen the original Mr. and Mrs. Smith, starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. In that story, we follow a married couple that spends six years unaware that their partner is a spy. Hard to believe, I know, but the charm of Angelina Jolie and her co-star whisks away any form of logic and replaces it with romance. And a Spicy Romance at that. Their dynamic is undeniably attractive to their counterpart and the audience, spurred on by the real-life affair initiated while filming this very movie. At this point you would have to ask yourself, what more could this story need?

That is the very question I asked myself when it was announced that Donald Glover would be helming a new Mr. and Mrs. Smith series. I, much like most audiences, felt a little weary. We currently exist in a period of mass remakes, which would be exciting if those remakes offered something — anything —new. But they rarely do, and I was hesitant with my discouragement of the show, simply because it had one very important aspect: Donald Glover.

Glover is known and appreciated for being an Artist. Starting out as a comedian, then starring in the wonderfully successful Community, while making music under his stage name, Childish Gambino. At the time, Glover’s stardom ballooned, and we watched him transform fully into this character. It was like watching his real persona morph into his music persona which made him all the more intriguing as an artist. Was this someone going full method and leaving their past self behind for a new curated persona? Or was this new persona him all along, and what we were allowed to see was his stage persona? A performance to appease the masses? Honestly, those questions are parasocial and unhealthy because what matters is the art he produces.

Celebrities should not and do not owe us their lives. We as an audience are simply there to receive what it is they produce for use to consume. Anything beyond that creates an expectation from the masses that we are owed answers to artists lives, and we simply aren’t. But I digress; Glover’s persona does not change the fact that he is an incredible writer, actor, and musician. The good will he has built in the past with his projects such as the incredible Atlanta, to short films like the rarely discussed Guava Island, featuring the Rihanna. Glover knows good story-telling and any project he takes on will always be received, at the very least by myself, with a modicum of respect.

Thus, when Mr. and Mrs. Smith released in early 2024 to a great reception, and I was not surprised, but I was certainly relieved. Without giving too much away, the story does away with the classic Jane and John Smith spy-story we might have come to expect.

Very early on, the story establishes itself as something similar but unique. For example, the dynamic between John and Jane that we witnessed in the film, is still present in this version. Glover’s John is not quite as sharp as Maya Erskine’s Jane. They are both entirely competent at their jobs, but John’s more improvisational approach is a constant headache to Jane’s need for meticulously planned out missions. Where it differs from the movie, however, is the love story. These two are aptly aware of who they are (spies) and what they do (hired guns). This invites the audience to learn to love the characters in conjunction with John and Jane.

I think what makes this story additionally unique, is in their portrayal of the Smiths. Most series today that span eight episodes demand one story told over the course of an excruciating 8-episode saga, often filled with fillers in between. Well, this show does away with that, opting for an episodic, mission-by-mission flow. This allows for the passage of time between episodes as we get to watch our characters simultaneously fall in love with each other while growing frustrated with their separate quirks along the way. There is a reason why John and Jane Smith were in therapy in the movie, and that finds its way into this story. Falling in love is one thing, the show reminds us, staying in love and growing together is something else entirely. The show doesn’t shy away from this reality, often shouting it to its audience.

I personally appreciated this aspect of the story, as it pointed to each other’s strengths to also be weaknesses that the other must learn to navigate. This is all exacerbated by the high-risk lives they lead, going away on missions that are always life-threatening. This aspect might highlight that, while the characters initially connected through trauma, they were forced to interrogate their love once that trauma became a part of their day-to-day lives. While this can sound like the most boring action drama, I assure you, it is not. The romantic and comedic chemistry between Erskine and Glover is palpable. I laughed in every episode of the series, the humour multifaceted; Both in your face and incredibly subtle. What emerges then is a series that has it all: Moments of darkness, humour, joy, pleasure, love, grief and most of all, passion.

The creators of this show knew what audiences gravitate towards and what we were yearning for. They were not afraid to appease our hunger for great television. I am not saying the show is perfect by any means. But what I am saying, is it is damn near it.