Ivan Radford | On 17, Mar 2024

“What happens if we fail?” “Our marriage?” “Our mission.” That’s the sound of Mr and Mrs Smith navigating the tricky world of relationships – and also spying.

Amazon’s new series, based on Doug Liman’s 2005 film, takes its premise and gives it a spin that’s surprisingly different to the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie vehicle. That saw two spies at different agencies, who weren’t aware of each other’s occupations, tasked with killing each other. This new tale – co-created by Atlanta veterans Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane – follows two strangers (“John” and “Jane”) who become spies and are required to marry each other to maintain their cover. The result finds ways to relive every beat of the original movie – but with eight episodes to play with, it brings so much more to the material. More laughs, more action, more emotions but also more stakes, because the couples’ very survival doesn’t depend so much on their skills out in the field as it does on their ability to learn to live together.

After a prologue that playfully acts as an epilogue to Liman’s film, we’re introduced to our couple through their audition interviews for the Smiths programme – and their responses make it clear that humour will be central to the show, but also distinguish between their two personalities. Jane has made sure she has life savings in the bank. John is living from month to month. Jane is happy to cut all ties with her family (but brings her cat, Max, with her). John still calls his mum every day. Jane says she’s secretive. John says that he’s too competitive.

Both of them, however, have one thing in common: they’ve signed up for “high risk” missions with an unknown organisation that communicates only via text. They dub their handler “HiHi”, because of the way their instructions always begin. The operations themselves are an impressively varied affair, beginning with a low-key tailing task to a swanky silent auction, a chaotic car chase and a ski slope shootout. Directors Hiro Murai and Amy Seimetz rattle through the assignments with a slick, gripping pace, peppered with stylish establishing shots and a freewheeling, intimate feel to John and Jane’s interactions.

As well as ensuring a mix of tones and locations, the mission-of-the-week structure also means ample opportunity for a seriously stacked supporting cast. An impressive roster of rotating stars make an appearance – and consistently leave an impression – from John Turturro as a chillingly depraved billionaire, Paul Dano as a disarmingly hot neighbour and Ron Perlman as a amusingly weary criminal to Michaela Coel as a deceptively formidable friend, and Sharon Horgan as a cynical businesswoman.

Each of these encounters, whether they’re allies or enemies, are brilliantly written to draw out more details about John and Jane’s relationship, whether that’s them commentating on a marriage that’s on the rocks, clashing over due diligence in a real estate deal or just struggling to work out when to take the lead and when to trust their partner to do so. One inspired episode revolves around a string of marriage counselling sessions, moderated by a hilariously self-centred Sarah Paulson, which digs deep into boundaries between work life and home life. Another standout episode introduces the brilliant double-act of Wagner Moura and Parker Posey as another spy couple, who are simultaneously experienced and deeply awful – and their dynamic, after years of being paired together, offers a beautiful mirror to John and Jane’s own strengths and weaknesses.

Each episode is titled “Double Date”, “Do You Want Kids?”, and so on, marking off milestones in a relationship as we go. That smartly underlines the way the scripts lean into rom-com territory as much as spy thriller, which wouldn’t work at all if Glover and Erskine weren’t such a good screen couple. They have fantastic chemistry that is at once earthy, steamy and sweet – they flirt with each other as much as they frustrate each other, clicking smoothly together in action even as they angrily pull apart when their missions are over. Donald Glover is wonderfully charismatic and open, while Maya Erskine is cautious and withdrawn, but they share a vulnerability with us and with each other that gives each conversation the potential to swerve into heartfelt romance or heated attacks right where they know to hurt their spouse. It’s that journey towards understanding each other in more depth that makes this eight-part ride so compelling.

The result is an electric piece of TV that works as a surprisingly sincere, thrilling and raw exploration of marriage and commitment – that just so happens to involve a lot of spying.

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