Mr. & Mrs. Smith S1E3: First Vacation

We leave New York this week for the Italian Dolomites, and a mountaintop ski resort that can’t help but be a homage to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The Smiths’ assignment is to spy on their neighbors in the next hotel room over, billionaire Gavol Martin (Sharon Horgan), and her surfer husband Parker. It’s also a romantic getaway, as Jane and John impulsively had sex at the end of the previous episode, and our now a couple and not just pretending to be one.

We could have used a little more buildup before they got together. In an eight-episode season, we can understand why the writers would want to move things along, but simmering romantic tension between two people living in close quarters is always a compelling dynamic, and we got about half an episode of that before they resolved the will-they-or-won’t-they.

But they will, and they did, so here we are. The Smiths lay in bed together, flirting and teasing each other, while they watch the Martins through a hidden camera. The middle-aged couple are sleeping in separate beds, and trying to work through layers of resentment with therapy speak. Whereas our young couple is still in the “let’s not go out, I want to stay here in bed with you” stage.

There’s another reason to stay in bed. After accidentally killing their target last episode, they’re on thin ice with their mysterious boss, who’s leaving passive aggressive notes about not fucking it up this time. John acts unconcerned, but Jane’s a little wary of their new relationship distracting them from the task at hand.

And while the Smiths’ relationship has changed, it’s no less fraught. They still don’t entirely trust each other, as John’s hiding texts and calls that turn out to be from his mother, who he was supposed to break off all contact with for the sake of the mission. And the more they observe the miserable, resentful middle-aged couple, the more they have to face the fear every young couple has — that that’s where they could be headed.

The problem is, the cracks in this particular relationship are life-and-death. When the mission takes a sharp left turn, as it always does, their trust issues nearly get one of them killed. And that’s what makes the show work. As we’ve discussed in previous reviews, the spy stuff is secondary to the relationship stuff. But it also heightens the relationship stuff. Jane and John have the same issues plenty of new couples have, but those couples usually don’t have people shooting at them. The relationship complicates their jobs, their jobs complicate their relationship, and failure on either front will have outsized consequences for both of them. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Stray bullets:
• “You don’t know how to ski? But you bought all this ski gear” “Yeah, cause I look fly,”

• The Martins have a young son, who only takes his headphones off long enough for one line. In other words, the most accurately-portrayed child on television.

• At one point, John gets frostbitten and has to be nursed back to health after lying outside in the snow for ten minutes, tops. Maybe that made sense to Glover, who grew up in Georgia, but no one in Buffalo is going to suspend their disbelief for that.