Mr. & Mrs. Smith S1E4: Double Date

We were a little worried at the end of last episode that the Smiths would be in trouble with the boss after John kills a bunch of people without being asked to do so, but the only message from their mysterious boss is, “enjoy your day off.”

So they go to the farmer’s market, where John meets another man named John Smith. Another spy named John Smith. He works for the same outfit, he’s also fake-married to a Jane (Parker Posey), and they invite our John and Jane to dinner.

What follows is a reverse Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, as our Smiths’ new relationship is tested not by how unhappy the older couple are, but how happy and well-adjusted they seem. They’ve been together for six years, and work well together, both as a spy team and an arranged marriage. They’ve grown to trust their mysterious employers, and take on even higher-risk missions than our Smiths. 

They also claim to have never failed a mission, after our John and Jane sheepishly admit to screwing up the John Turturro mission. And they claim their relationship didn’t have the early awkward phase our John and Jane did. They seem to be happier, better-adjusted, and better at their jobs than our Smiths, which is not lost on the younger couple.

The other Smiths also find it hilarious that our Smiths want to earn some money and walk away. The company won’t simply let them quit, and that never seems to have occurred to John or Jane. Other John ominously mentions they had to kill another pair of Smiths once. “Maybe they were getting divorced.” Our John and Jane are starting to realize they may have gotten in too deep.

Now, at this point, most shows would go one of two ways. You could poke at John and Jane’s insecurities until there’s some kind of blow-up. Or you could slowly reveal the cracks in the Other Smiths’ marriage and show that they’re not so perfect after all. It’s entirely to the show’s credit that it does neither. Instead, once all the various Smiths are very drunk, the Other Smiths invite our couple on a mission. Jane’s eager to try a higher-risk mission; John’s not so sure but doesn’t want to let on.

A mission with their new friends! It’ll be fun! Except the older Smiths abruptly ditch our Smiths and leave them to fend for themselves, in a deadly situation, with even less information than usual. The question of their motives had been hanging over the whole episode — are they insinuating themselves with our Smiths so they can spy on them? Punish them for screwing up? Kill them? Nope, they’re just assholes.

So there’s no grand design behind the chance meeting of Smiths, and there’s no point where John and Jane’s relationship comes to a head. We just reinforce that they genuinely care about each other, and are only just starting to realize that taking this job might have been a mistake.

Stray bullets:
• Our John realizes Other John works for the same spy agency because he has the same all-black credit card.

• They get paid $375,000 for this week’s mission. They’ve probably already earned enough to retire on… just in time to find out they’re not allowed to retire.