Watching this show, I often think back to the opening scene of the premiere, that brief glimpse of Alexander Skarsgård and Eiza González — not because I expect ever to see them again, but because they suggest a whole world of other spy couples doing the same stuff as our Mr. and Mrs. Smith. How many other Smiths are there? How widely are they dispersed, geographically speaking? How many partnerships developed into real romantic relationships, and how many of those relationships survived longer than, say, a year?
“Double Date†finally gives us a peek into the lives of a John and Jane we’ve never met — our first new pair of Smiths since the first episode. That makes for a really strong installment, delivering on both world-building and an especially successful relationship story.
The episode begins at the farmer’s market, where John runs into his ex, Rooney (Úrsula Corberó), and introduces her to Jane. Jealousy-wise, the scene levels the playing field a bit after John’s established suspicion of Hot Neighbor (which is how IMDb credits Paul Dano). Much like in “Second Date,†Jane pranks John, testing his powers of observation (and his trust in his own memories) by mentioning that Rooney only has one hand. And like that earlier episode, John learns the truth — that Jane completely made it all up in a fit of jealousy — at the end, during a very tender moment of honesty and connection. (More on that later.)
John meets the man I’ll call John-2 (Wagner Moura) at a juice stand, where their identical names lead to a drink order mix-up. That’s something that could happen easily, considering there are a whole lot of John Smiths out there (which is, obviously, the reason the name was chosen as an alias). But when John spots John-2’s company card, he recognizes it immediately. Without thinking twice about the potential danger of reaching out, he introduces himself as a fellow spy, and the two get to chat amiably about the spy’s life. John-2 has been doing this for several years longer than John, but he still really enjoys it. Eager to make more spy friends, he basically invites himself and his wife Jane-2 (Parker Posey!) over for dinner, an immediate red flag that I’m furious our Smiths didn’t even think to question.
In fact, I spent most of this double date a little distracted, waiting for the inevitable reveal of the other Smiths’ nefarious intentions. At first, I thought they were here on their own mission from Hihi (or, as they call him, “supeâ€), meant to test our Smiths’ current status and abilities. If that had been the case, John and Jane would probably end up jobless or dead by the end of the night because they failed basically every potential test — starting with John’s choice to give away their address to a suspicious man in the first place. Then Jane gives Jane-2 a thorough tour of the house, showing her the locations of the secret panic room, the secret gun cabinet, the secret mission debriefs, etc.
There is an eventual reveal, and one I didn’t expect, but Mr. & Mrs. Smith isn’t really about big plot twists (so far, at least). John-2 and Jane-2’s narrative purpose, first and foremost, is to get John and Jane thinking about their own relationship and career goals. This show is often structured more like a sitcom than a twisty spy thriller, and the new Smiths function much like the previous targets: as guest stars who help us understand the main characters better. Think of how many times you’ve seen a happy, confident, sickeningly affectionate couple on TV contrasted with a troubled, argumentative couple, bringing out the other couple’s insecurities with the sheer force of their love. (For a recent example, I think of Harper and Ethan versus Cam and Daphne on The White Lotus.)
It’s also just pretty fun to see John and Jane loosen up on their day off, trading work stories with friends in a way they’ve never been able to. It turns out Jane-2 wasn’t John-2’s first Jane (if you can keep that straight). He was assigned a new partner a few years in, and the new Jane-2 was a perfect fit — so perfect that they can’t believe our John and Jane didn’t rip each other’s clothes off the first night they met. Here, we learn more about the level distinctions: John and Jane are high-risk, but John-2 and Jane-2 are super high-risk, which apparently involves the same type of work but pays much better. Jane is definitely intrigued by the prospect of upping her level, but John clearly sees the appeal of stable, low-risk work. Regardless, it seems like eventually breaking up and quitting isn’t an option like they once wanted; the company “isn’t that open-minded.†(I have to wonder why John and Jane don’t have access to all these same rules — is there some employee handbook they tossed with the junk mail?)
The drunk banter continues in the living room, where Jane mentions John’s “obsession†with his mom, and they bond by sharing stories of their craziest and most emotionally taxing missions. Then the new Smiths suggest something crazy: What if John and Jane gave super high-risk a try by accompanying them on their next mission, which happens to be tonight? Swept up in the spirit of the evening and seduced by their new friends’ spontaneity, they agree to come along, piling into John-2’s car and heading to the helipad for a profoundly ill-advised adventure.
When they arrive, though, the new Smiths ditch them in the helicopter with some guns, letting them handle the entire mission themselves. John and Jane should immediately jump out of the helicopter and beat the shit out of their friends, but instead they let it happen, accepting the many hours of travel ahead of them.
At this point, I wasn’t sure how much time there was left in the episode, so I didn’t realize how short the actual mission would be. And what we see next is pretty funny, in the darkest way: John and Jane are abruptly dropped off in the jungle and tasked with delivering their stuff to some terrifying captain. But the boss and his teenage lackeys were expecting another couple, so they take John and Jane’s weapons and lead them to almost certain death. John has to improvise, and he manages to break free and kill the boss with a machete in a dark (literally), horrifying scene. John and Jane somehow make it back to the helicopter, but the whole experience leaves them bloody and traumatized in … the funniest way possible. Donald Glover especially sells the shell shock; during that perfect FaceTime call with John-2, I thought of Troy Barnes.
At least John and Jane get all the earnings, a whopping $375,000. And they still have that end-of-a-shitty-day camaraderie: During the lovely final scene, they vent about how much they hate their new friends, mocking John-2’s “sneezes in threes†quirk and laughing incredulously at how easily they fell under his sway. It’s a meaningful conversation, aided immensely by Glover and Erskine’s believable chemistry, and the escalating laughter and easy affection convey how much they love each other even more than their first machete-free “I love you†exchange. Maybe super high-risk is overrated.
Flaps and Seals
• I was a little confused by the line about how John-2 thinks the company is a 9/11 intelligence group “because they’ve been doing it for 15 years.†I know John-2 has been doing this longer, but that seems like an odd thing for him to know.
• And also, what does John-2 mean that John is the only one he’s ever run into “by accident� How would you get to know other Smiths otherwise?
• When Jane-2 asks if John and Jane would be compatible without being matched, the two of them just name some of each other’s good qualities, not really answering the question.
• At first, John-2 thinks John used the machete on a bunch of teenagers. His psychopathic response: “Well, John, they’re young. Probably easier to fight off, right?†He also makes sure to let John know that Eminem opened a restaurant called Mom’s Spaghetti.
• Trying to cry, Jane watches a video entitled “Former Ballerina With Alzheimer’s Dances to Swan Lake.â€