Pops Watched TV: MR. AND MRS. SMITH

Prime’s MR. & MRS. SMITH reboot is a really odd duck of a TV show. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine play the titular couple, placed together when they join a mysterious agency that engages in spy-like activity. The arranged marriage quickly evolves into a real romance, but problems arise when it turns out they “just want different things.” 

Now, here’s the problem with the show, and it’s pretty deeply rooted: We’re supposed to believe that in order to join this unnamed organization, you have to be some kind of sociopath, lacking in empathy, willing to completely abandon your previous life and all its connections, in addition to, you know, being okay with killing people for reasons you’re never told. And yet, while the only aspect of her previous life Jane seems to hold onto is her cat, John continues to stay in disturbingly frequent touch with his mother, and turns out to have really, REALLY conventional hopes and desires. I mean, I don’t want to spoil it, but… 

Okay, it’s kids. He wants kids (at one point whispering a cringe-inducing "I want to put a baby in you" during an al fresco coitus). And to buy a house (or two). And maybe move his Mom in at some point. All things that would seem to be COMPLETELY anathema to this chosen vocation, desires which would no doubt be disqualifying in a presumably strident screening process. But apparently, we’re supposed to believe that all it takes is lying on your job application to be embedded in this high-end, super-secret society of super assassins. 

It might be a bit easier to swallow if Mr. Smith WERE inept at the assignments, and while not every mission goes smoothly, he certainly has enough facility with weapons and hand-to-hand combat to indicate that he didn’t make this career choice on a whim. So his rather speedy embrace of traditional family values feels… like a fictional construct. Which, of course, it is. 

Now, I love Donald Glover. I think he’s multi-talented and has charm to burn. As his not-quite-as-conventional wife, Maya Erskine is likewise engaging, and they have enough chemistry and comic timing together to keep me tuned in for the whole season, although by the end, it was a bit of a struggle. I doubt I will be coming back for Season 2. Of course, as always, your mileage may vary. 

Especially if you have kids and a mortgage. Which I don’t. So. 

NOTE:
This is the first thing I've posted in a while, I've been lazy / discouraged at the lack of traffic, so I've been posting my reviews of things strictly on my various social media platforms. I realize that even if I'm just using this Blog as an online portfolio, I need to be putting even things like short reviews on here, so look for me to play catch-up on some dusty reviews in the weeks to come. Okay, Scott?