CABLE | Donald Glover Marries 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' on Prime Video

"I thought you were the prettiest lonely girl I'd ever met."

Amazon MGM Studios / New Regency

Mr. & Mrs. Smith, starring Donald Glover (also co-creator) and Maya Erskine as married assassins, reworks the premise of the 2005 action movie of the same name famous for uniting Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie both professionally and personally, into a loose but episodic spy-themed romantic comedy series. Only barely inspired by the film, this show inverts the original concept by having two strangers turned covert agent recruits posing as a couple into its ongoing marital throughline along the lines of The Americans.

Co-created and showrun by Atlanta writer/producer Francesca Sloane, Glover and Erskine are surrounded by a star-studded supporting cast of side characters and cameos to enhance the drama behind the central pretend relationship. Initially directed by longtime Glover collaborator Hiro Murai, things are ably set up as a case of the week structure where our agents go on various missions for a mysterious organization they both work for known only as "The Company."

Despite wildly inconsistent shifts in tone and extended sequences of very loose casual banter, the series revels in its unpredictable sense of a thriller. There's a playfulness when unexpected missions go sideways or new characters show up to complicate matters. This sense of danger bonds the "John" and "Jane" as the Smiths navigate a new life together without any outside ties.

Glover and Erskine have a sparkling on-screen chemistry as a fake married couple playing pretend before things turn slowly turn real. This Mr. & Mrs. Smith stands on its own as a fun contemporary spy fantasy comedy series about the drama inherent in romantic relationships—even fake ones.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith's eight-episode season is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.


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