Glover and Erskine deliver entertaining performances and have great chemistry, complimented by visually stunning aesthetics and well-executed action sequences.
Donald Glover’s new show, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in eight parts, episodically showcases the various stages of a/any relationship albeit, in a heightened environment. It is a loose and updated remake of the 1996 TV show and 2005 movie, available on Amazon Prime Video.
John and Jane (Donald Glover and Maya Erskine) have been hired by an ominous entity ‘HiHi’ to spy. The recruits are unaware whether the entity is private or their agenda favours the government. They know, however, that their assignments will be ‘high risk’ and they will be well paid. Not until the final interview were they informed they would have partners. And they will have to pretend to be married. A romance gradually develops and that’s when the fun begins.
Once the relationship blooms. they look like any other regular couple. Only, they are not because their ‘high risk’ job escalates not only the situations but also their emotions. There is a small limit to how many missions they can fail and it’s unclear what happens once they reach that limit. This keeps the drama elevated. Once the show’s novelty wears out, you realise that the plot is pretty thin as all we see is a relationship unfold between two, not too particularly interesting people.
To keep us engaged, the show uses the ploy of including one or more guest stars in each episode. It works as most of them are very entertaining. Paul Dano as their neighbour is unusually normal. John Turturro as an eccentric billionaire is funny yet poignant. Wagner Moura and Parker Posey as the other Smiths are a hoot. But, Sarah Paulson and Ron Perlman have the best roles of the lot. Perlman plays an old dude the Smiths are supposed to protect, wherein Jane’s maternal instincts kick in. In that episode, we also see ‘HiHi’ singling out Jane for doing a better job between the two and who may get a promotion, possibly in the future. In the episode called Couples Therapy (Naked & Afraid), Paulson tries to bring the Smiths closer together as she hilariously excavates the root cause of the issue in their relationship to be their job.
Glover is an amazing actor who can deliver a range of emotions with not only his voice but his whole body. I was pleasantly surprised by how good Erskine is in the show as I didn’t know what to expect. She matches Glover toe to toe, comedic chops-wise. But, it’s the emotional fragility they both portray in the show, which is impressive. The entertainment value and the stakes of their assignments keep escalating as the show proceeds. And as they do, the performances of the duo get richer. The moments spent arguing, fighting or just discussing incidents are the best parts of the show which is to say the show is at its best when the two leads are together, alone.
It’s a fancy-looking show with a graphic novel-like appearance to it. High production values, beautiful photography and great outdoor locations make it pleasing to the eye. The action too is quite well done for a TV series. Atlanta regulars Hiro Murai and Amy Seimetz expertly direct 2 episodes each. The episodes based in Europe (the most beautiful of all) are directed by Karena Evans. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a fun, funny ride that looks gorgeous and should be enjoyed on a big-screen TV.
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