Mr. & Mrs. Smith Review: A Rushed Tale of Romance and Spy Craft

Warning: This review contains spoilers for the entirety of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith introduces us to a new John and Jane Smith, and we follow them as they begin their marriage and career with the agency. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine deliver amazing performances, and it doesn’t take long to fall in love with their characters and their relationship.

While the show is less successful in other aspects, one thing it nails is the relationship between Glover and Erskine’s John and Jane. They’ve got fantastic chemistry, and you completely become invested in their journey.

If the show was only going to get one thing right, John and Jane’s relationship is the right one. It would have been brutal if the show botched their romance.

There are some aspects the show could’ve improved on, such as allowing us to learn more about the spy agency and hihi.

It’s set up as this mysterious agency that even John and Jane speculate about from time to time. It would have enriched our viewing experience to understand a bit more about how everything worked.

The show has the perfect opportunity to do so on Mr. & Mrs. Smith Season 1 Episode 4, “Double Date,” but instead we’re treated to a very weird outing with the two spy couples.

The super high-risk John and Jane make comments here and there about the company, but our couple doesn’t seem to understand their meaning — like about how the company isn’t open-minded about quitting — and then our couple doesn’t take the opportunity to ask any worthwhile questions.

The agency doesn’t need to be completely unmasked to us; there can still be some mysteries surrounding it. But, a couple of answers here and there would have gone a long way. 

Mr. & Mrs. Smith‘s main issue is that the pacing is horrendous.

Everything is rushed — the romance, the conflict, the resolution of their fight, everything.

While I prefer a slower burn when it comes to romance when there are only eight episodes, you know going in that John and Jane are going to get together pretty quickly. So this is a more forgivable pacing issue, unlike how the show botches the main conflict between them.

This is something that should’ve started much slower, and we could’ve watched tensions build between John and Jane until it turned into a huge fight.

Seeing as how John takes issue with Jane taking control of the missions and hihi’s preferential treatment toward her, the show could’ve killed two birds with one stone — showed us more of how the agency operates while weaving in their relationship issues.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Season 1 Episode 6, “Couples Therapy (Naked & Afraid),” is a decent effort by the show to remedy the fact that this conflict is sprung on us.

We do see John and Jane grow further apart in each visit, but it’s still not as impactful as it could have been if we witnessed these issues first arise and fester.

We have to talk about Mr. & Mrs. Smith Season 1 Episode 8, “A Breakup.” It’s the best episode of the season.

Certain aspects from earlier episodes are brought back into play — the panic room, the other couple, our couple’s lives pre-signing up — and the twist of what “super high risk” entails is extremely well done.

Those final moments of our John and Jane in the panic room are captivating. You can’t look away as he slowly dies, and she begs him to stay with her. It’s proof that the show had this in it all along; it could have been fantastic.

The ambiguous ending stays with you, as you wonder what the outcome is and vacillate between optimism and realism — realistically, I don’t think they made it out alive, but a girl can hope.

To close out my review, let’s specifically address the rating I gave it.

Initially, this was going to be a 3.5-star review because the show is fine. It has plenty of issues, but it is still funny and entertaining. However, the moment Max died, I had to lower my review.

Do not give your character a pet if the pet does not survive. No one needs to see an animal death on TV, and you can raise the stakes just fine without doing it.

Max could have run outside during the chaos, and Jane wasn’t able to find him. She would have still been justifiably upset after being shot at, and Max running away would have set her even more on edge.

All killing an animal does is make this a show I have to caveat if I recommend it to a friend or if someone asks me if it’s worth a watch.

Stray Thoughts

• The show does not need to beat us over the head with the “Todd is acting like their child” bit; it’s obvious very early on in that episode.
• John says some completely unforgivable things to Jane during their fight in the woods. I don’t know how she moved past that.
• I would’ve loved to learn more about the rival spy agencies.
• There is no point in seeing the first John and Jane die.

What did you think of Mr. & Mrs. Smith? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Mr. & Mrs. Smith is now streaming Prime Video.

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