Amazon’s excellent reboot seems more interested in interrogating Bond movies and television domestic dramas than its thin source material. 

So, remember that movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith? Not the Alfred Hitchcock Mr. and Mrs. Smith from 1941, the Doug Liman one about the two married assassins that end up trying to kill one another? (No, Scott Bakula was in the television show from the 90s about two married assassins called Mr. and Mrs. Smith.) This is the 2005 movie with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Remember all the tabloid stories about their relationship? Great! Do you remember the film itself? Kinda? Yeah, that’s exactly the kind of movie it was. Neither good nor bad, Mr. and Mrs. Smith modestly cleared the “watchable” bar mostly on the backs of its cute premise, Pitt and Jolie’s magnetism, and competent (if unremarkable) direction.

It is, in that respect, a perfect candidate for a reboot – just good enough for you to wish someone had put in the work to make it better. Now, almost twenty years later, someone has. 

The someone(s) in this case are Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community) and Francesa Sloane (Fargo, Atlanta), and the result is a stylish, thoughtful story that, outside of the title and premise, shares very little in common with the 2005 film. Glover stars as John Smith, along with having a hand in writing most of the episodes, and Maya Erskine (Pen15, Plus One) is the other half of the titular duo, Jane. Eschewing the blockbuster bombast of the movie, as well as the surreal, nonlinear freeform structure of Atlanta, Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s closest relative is probably FX’s The Americans.

It would be unfair to compare the eight episodes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith to the seventy-five of The Americans, but it’s obvious that Glover and company are aware of the similarities. Episode two has a scene that couldn’t be more of a nod to The Americans if they flashed “We know, we love it too” on the bottom of the screen. 

That said, while the shows share thematic and genre elements, they’re also quite distinct from one another. Both shows are essentially domestic dramas about navigating adult relationships compounded by the tension that arises from their having to work together. But The Americans is more middle-aged – we meet the two agents after they’ve been working together for almost twenty years, they’re settled into their working relationships and even have two kids. It’s deliberately mute, more Le Carre than Fleming, concerned with the bureaucracy and politics of espionage, along with the routines and challenges of family life.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith, on the other hand, is pure Fleming, crossed with a glossy melodrama about two lonely souls who meet, fall in love, and become upwardly mobile Manhattanite yuppies. The assassins go to exotic locations and wear (presumably) bespoke fashion while trading bullets with mysterious villains. It’s just that the interpersonal drama takes center stage, and it’s the action that’s peripheral. 

That’s not to say there isn’t action, because there’s plenty; it’s just not the focus. Instead of uncovering some sinister plot, Mr. and Mrs. Smith focus on tracing the arc of the couple’s relationship, starting with their first meeting and ending with… well, where it ends. It would be stupid to say nothing happens with them, because there’d be no show. There are bumps in their relationship, underscored by the uncertainty of whether they could split up at all. Government-directed deep-cover kill squads, after all, are notoriously tricky to disentangle oneself from. 

Glover and Erskine sell the evolution of the relationship; they act stilted around each other in the first couple of episodes, to the point that it’s hard to pin down to the characters or the series as a whole. Very few characters outside of the pair have dialogue in the first few episodes; you’re really in it with them. The show also skirts the edges of boring: it’s realistic to have two people fumbling in their attempts to get to know one another, but it’s not always that interesting. It’s a gamble to start a television show in such a stuttering manner, as it risks alienating the audience by spending so much time with uncomfortable people having shallow conversations. Parts of it would almost feel like mumblecore if it weren’t all so ostentatious. But the show settles down and finds its groove right along with John and Jane, and after a while, it’s hard to remember that there was a time in the show when they didn’t feel like a couple.

There isn’t an overarching plot so much as a series of independent events that add up over time to a natural climax — feeling like a book of interconnected short stories, like Salinger’s Nine Stories or Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad. Each episode feels pleasingly distinct; along with the gorgeous settings (you better believe their adventures take them all across the globe) and fabulous clothes (Glover especially seems to take great pleasure in playing a man whose wardrobe budget appears to be limitless), this episodic feel gives everything a veneer of elegance and class. And the bevy of guest stars (there’s someone new and impressive in each episode) make the show feel relevant and modern.

This is where everyone wants to be in 2024, and you’re right there with them. Back in the 60s, Bond movies were travelogs and lifestyle porn as much as they were action-adventure films, Mr. and Mrs. Smith succeeds in recapturing a little of that glamorous magic.

But none of the gleaming surfaces and gaudy spectacle would mean anything if the relationship between John and Jane didn’t work. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is the opposite of Bond’s disposable nature; there are no one-off girls and gadgets. It’s about two people who won’t (or can’t) leave each other and how that knowledge informs their relationship. It’s about how hard it is in life to get everything good enough, let alone just right, and the compromises you have to make to the people you care about along the way. Bond has no family, no friends (apart from Felix Leiter, who lives on an entirely different continent); there’s nothing he couldn’t walk away from in 30 seconds flat. By the end, John and Jane are so enmeshed with one another they can’t stay apart even when they need to. And in the end, neither can we. 

Also, it’s super funny. 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith take the plunge February 2nd on Amazon Prime.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith Trailer: