Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2024) – Scenes from a Spy marriage !
Director: Multiple directors
Genre: Spy thriller. Drama.
Time: TV series – 8 x 55-minute episodes
Platform: Amazon Prime
Cast: Donald Glover. Maya Erskine. Wagner Moura. Parker Posey.
(Hopefully Ingmar Bergman fans will forgive me for that title) .
A mysterious agency gives two strangers new identities. “John” (Donald Glover) and “Jane” (Maya Erskine) Smith are supposed to work together and conduct taskings by the mysterious agency. Their controller known only as HiHi because of his electronic messages starting as Hi Hi, sets them assignments, which they are supposed to finish in set times and locations. The duo draw together and become a couple. The transition from separate beds to a shared one soon sparks romance. Like any other couple, the thrill of a new relationship eventually wears off and ennui sets in, leading to fights that disrupt their dangerous professions. Another couple, also named John (Wagner Moura) and Jane (Parke Posey) Smith, contact them. They too are in the same line of work, which gives the couple an idea, that there are other Johns and Janes out there. Since both have volunteered for “high risk” assignments, the risk level keeps ratcheting upwards with each successive assignment . So does the bickering between them.
Yes. It’s evident that this is influenced by the 2005 film, featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, where two assassins turn against each other and then work together. However in this case, the duo bond in the initial episodes and by the end of the season are at loggerheads, which is compounded by their intense competition with each other, to finish the assignments and earn points with Hi Hi, who has said they can only have three failures before they get ‘re-assigned’.
While watching the serial, suspension of disbelief is important. Otherwise you will ask questions like “an African American man and an Asian American woman do a hit, literally run away from various locations and no one identifies them? That too in New York” 😊. In keeping with the “Bond style” template, slick story telling, international locations, car chases, explosions, all play a part. That doesn’t mean all of them are poorly executed. We can anticipate and foresee the expected outcome (especially if you are an excessive fan of spy shows and spy films or even regular films!).
The episode with the psychiatrist is extremely amusing as the duo narrate their experiences of working in the “software industry” and Jane “moving in aggressively” (= shooting the targets dead quickly) “while I am wooing them and connecting with them” (playing poker and shooting the breeze). The issue with the episodes may stem from having multiple directors for the eight episodes, resulting in an uneven touch. Some are interesting; others at a blistering pace (especially the one set in Lake Como and with Toby), while others have a meandering pace.
What saves the day are the superb all-round performances, especially by Maya Erskine as “Jane” and Wagner Moura as the “other John”.
The last episode’s ending means that a Season 2 is certain.
Script – 4 out of 5
Story – 4 out of 5
Direction – 3 out of 5
Photography – 4 out of 5
Total – 3.8 out of 5