What Is The Company From Mr. & Mrs. Smith? And Is It The Same As The Movie?
This post contains spoilers for Prime Video's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith."
At first glance, the new version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" seems to share very little with the 2005 film of the same name. The new Prime Video series follows an entirely new Jane and John, this time played by Maya Erskine and series co-creator Donald Glover. While the Doug Liman film of the same name drops in on its married couple (played by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt) years after they begin working as contract killers for dueling companies, the reboot shows audiences the inception of its central couple's relationship.
But there are still a few details the two barely-related stories have in common. Both follow a spy couple who (don't read on if you haven't finished the new show yet!) eventually end up tasked with taking one another out. Each set of Smiths also work for top-secret companies that aren't exactly overly communicative about their missions, and that seem to have no moral compass whatsoever. But does the new series take place in the same world as the Liman film, or are these completely different agencies?
With nearly two decades of time in between the original "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and the new series, it's possible that one of the original companies featured in the film got a major makeover to become the entity the new John and Jane call "Hihi." However, it seems unlikely for several reasons. For one thing, the Liman film featured not one but two companies that were at odds with one another. Though a second company is mentioned at one point in the new series, both John and Jane work for Hihi.
We haven't seen a company like Hihi before
The companies also seem to serve different functions. Jolie and Pitt's characters in the film work solely as assassins, in a job that's akin to the second pair of Smith's "super high risk" work in the new series. That pair, played by Wagner Moura and Parker Posey, seem like the series' most overt reference to the original film, as they've been through marital high and low points and work primarily as contract killers. That being said, they still work for the same company, and were matched together by the entity they know as Supe – whereas the original "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" had no mention of arranged relationships.
Most of all, though, quality seems to be the difference between Hihi and the agencies referenced in the original film. Hihi acts as a sort of all-knowing entity, yet it also reminds me of a crappy, AI-driven startup. The company uses a basic chat interface, seems to auto-generate responses almost instantly in most cases, recruits middling spies who already have lots of work experience from past agencies, and cares much more about data and details than any sort of context surrounding the Smiths' missions. Several of the show's targets are extremely wealthy, but so far we don't know why any of them needed to be taken out. Could the entire company be algorithmically driven, a la Peacock's "Mrs. Davis"?
A dream that's too good to be true
There's a hint to this possibility in the season finale, when the other Jane and John admit they conceptualizes their unseen boss as a god. "He knew us all before we were Smiths," the super high risk Jane says. "The things that he knows, that he tells us. They're incredible." She also gushes about the company's ability to predict what will happen next and know where the agents are and where they're going at all times. While the original "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" featured more classic shadowy agencies — the kind that viewers wouldn't be surprised to learn were in bed with the CIA, FBI, or MI6 — Hihi seems to quite clearly be its own, smaller entity operating outside the boundaries of the law. When Jane and John are in a pickle, the company doesn't send in reinforcements. Instead, they're left to struggle through it with only one another for support, just like in a real relationship.
In a letter to press ahead of the show's release, series co-creator Francesca Sloane explained that the series isn't meant to replicate the original movie, writing, "What we set out to do was to make something wholly original." One of the questions she recalled herself and Glover asking themselves when writing was, "What if you were being sold the great American dream: a gorgeous house, money, travel, and a partner to spend it all with?" That phrasing alone confirms that Hihi, as suspected, isn't all it's cracked up to be. John and Jane were sold an exhilarating dream by a secret agency they know nothing about. If the show returns for a second season, it seems likely it'll focus on how it feels for the pair to wake up.