I Watch TV: Mr And Mrs Smith (2024)

 

Mr And Mrs Smith (2024)

Two strangers volunteer to work for a mysterious spy agency. They’re re-named John and Jane Smith and put into a nice house in New York. They’re told to leave all trace of their old life behind. They are given mysterious instructions over an app which they name Hihi, as that’s how it introduces itself.

In each episode they have to spy on, or kidnap, or steal from, or interrogate someone. Meanwhile their relationship becomes fraught. Having initially decided to remain professional they have sex, and they continue to disagree on how to perform their tasks. Things almost always go wrong and they have to improvise, each blaming the other.

The action scenes are pretty good, and the relationship, the way their snappy scripted lines spiral into hurting one another, that felt surprisingly real. I say surprisingly as I found I didn’t really care about them. They both hang onto something from their old life, they both bring their baggage with them, and I wasn’t invested in it. The other problem is that the mysterious organisation, which has no name, is immensely powerful yet has this arguing couple perform their missions, apparently with no back up. The very little we see of the organisation suggest it is immensely dysfunctional*. This obfuscation is of course deliberate - the show is called Mr and Mrs Smith and is about their relationship, not Mystery Spy Agency. Still since I wasn't excited by the relationship I kept picking at it.

Watch This: Bickering couple perform exciting spy operations
Don’t Watch This: A high concept that seems fascinated in people that I don’t especially interesting

* Three failures and they’re out, and by out they send another John and Jane to kill them. Not running, not betraying, just not completing this very difficult missions to the standard that they want. Seems wasteful. Also as is revealed, they have too big a footprint in the street for their nosy neighbour who is a real estate agent. And finally, I think there was a fun bit when a delivery van drops something off for them, and it’s full of packages to Smiths. Seems like a bit of a security weak point.