Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2024): Love’s pitfalls

*Heavy Spoilers Ahead*

Francesca Sloanes and Donald Glovers’ smash streaming hit Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2024) is a show marketed as an espionage drama that, in actuality, is a meditation on the pitfalls one can experience with a partner within a relationship, and the seeming implausibility of overcoming some of these inconveniences. It is a thoughtful and beautifully crafted show that focuses on this seemingly simple, but overlooked premise: To be in a relationship is to have a partner in crime, an equal in all regards meant to give and receive support. 

The general plot of this show follows two strangers—portrayed by Donald Glover and Maya Erskine—who gave up their identities to become international hitmen and are forced to live and work with one another, all the while masquerading as husband and wife. Throughout the series, we see this pair grow closer, more reminiscent of a couple, and, in the end, they poetically live up to what they were always supposed to be. Yet, though the story is now complete, as an audience, we’re left with a question aching to be answered: How can one avoid the collapse of a relationship? 

Though on a hyperbolic level at points, the portrayal of John and Jane Smith feels genuine like a real couple, and one that can occur with any of us and our relationship if things turn seemingly too sour. With that said, however, I hope none of us solve arguments with our partners by committing attempted murder. Beneath this story’s spy and action-centric surface lies a loaded warning advocating communication and compromise within relationships. 

Now, that may seem like a given to the majority of us. Still, as this series beautifully illustrates in its brief runtime, it is easy for someone to become distant, absent, or nonexistent in a relationship without equal footing. If you put your wants and desires before those of your partner, you risk creating a rift between the two of you either through offense or spite. For example, John was able to rationalize emotionally cheating on Jane because of one thing: In his eyes, he finally experienced a relationship as an equal rather than a means to a mission’s end. Though it is not defendable, this demonstrates that if one feels belittled or lesser within a relationship, it causes a rift that can never be filled.  

With that said, you may be asking yourself, “Okay, cool, but you never answered the question,” and to that, I say: The way to do this is through treating your partner as that, a partner—an equal in all respects and someone who is there for the sake of being your support, not a nuisance. In most circumstances, these people are not in a relationship for the sake of exploiting your worth, nor are they there to use you as a means to an end, as both our protagonists did. 

I know this may seem like a straightforward and relatively obvious answer, but in the present day, it never hurts to reiterate the facts: Love is a two-way street that requires mutual dedication by both parties to maintain, and if it doesn’t meet these requires, like a malnourished flower, it will dwindle and crumble under the weight of what once was. Going into 2024, keep in mind the needs and wants of your partner, put them on a pedestal equivalent to that of yourself, and try to uphold that. 

In addition to this, check out Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2024) on Amazon Prime Video today! This is a show that demands your attention, and, you never know, you may walk out of it more aware of the mutuality that goes into a relationship, even if you already knew it to be apparent

Thumbnail Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons