‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ (Prime Video) Season 1 Spoiler Review – A Near-Pristine Retelling Of The 2005 Action Comedy

Performance as a Theme

The Smiths’ love for New York via the benefit of having “free theater” as part of the job is evident. With that, the series relies on performance as a theme. This could be akin to that of Bill Hader and Alec Berg’s HBO dark comedy-drama series, Barry. John starts the series wanting to role-play as a married man. He makes sexual advances towards Jane at times when she is not comfortable with engaging in such activity. Through these two characters, there is a balance between playing the roles of a married duo and putting on a professional facet.

Rhetorically speaking, actors/ performers do what they do to elicit a response from their spectators. In the Smiths’ specific example, they are tasked with fulfilling their assignments in exchange for benefits and advantages from their employer, whom they refer to as “Hihi”. Hihi is also a performer in that this is claimed to be an entity masked behind a computer screen. While the older Smiths call Hihi something of a god, oftentimes the audience finds it entertaining when the main Smiths share dialogue with Hihi. There is an irony in the protagonists’ therapist (guest star Sarah Paulson) telling them that their relationship is a choice and that nobody is urging their unison as a couple. Mr. & Mrs. Smith revolves around an arranged marriage at “the hands” of an algorithm.

The Crew Behind Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Producer Christian Sprenger (Netflix’s GLOW, The Rental, FX’s Atlanta) serves as the director of photography for the pilot, Episodes 2, 5, and the finale. Stephen Murphy (Atlanta) is the cinematographer for Episodes 3, 6, and 7.

Cody Jacobs serves as the cinematographer for Episode 4 and an additional director of photography for the first two episodes.

David C. Lee serves as the stills photographer for the series. Antonio Catanese is the assistant stills photographer for Episode 3, while Paolo Priori is the assistant stills photographer for Episode 5.

Kyle Reiter (HBO’s Barry, The Rental, Atlanta) and Isaac Hagy (Guava Island, Atlanta) serve as the editors for the first two episodes.

Greg O’Bryant, Kate Brokaw, and Reiter are the editors for Episode 3. O’Bryant and Brokaw edit the following two episodes, with O’Bryant having edited the final three episodes.

Cameron Ross (Guava Island, Atlanta), Jen Bryson (Barry, The Rental, Atlanta), Jacqui Kaplan, Steph Zenee Perez, and Mike Lafond serve as the series’ assistant editors.

Adamma Ebo (Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul, Atlanta, Swarm) and Adanne Ebo serve as the executive story editors. Julia Seales serves as the writer’s assistant.

Patrick Campbell (Men in Black 3, If Beale Street Could Talk, Netflix’s Maniac, Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy, No Hard Feelings) is the storyboard artist for the pilot, Episodes 2, 4, 6, 7, and the finale—i.e., the episodes not set in Italy.

Music and Sound

David Fleming (Dune: Part One, HBO’s The Last of Us) scores the musical composition for the series.

Forest Christenson (Aquaman, The Gilded Age, Prime Video’s Hunters, HBO’s The Last of Us) and Aldo Arechar score additional music for the pilot and the two Italy-set episodes. Christensen scores additional music for the second, fourth, seventh, and final episodes. Arechar scores additional music for the sixth episode.

Jen Malone (Creed II, Zola, Malcolm & Marie, Yellowjackets, Euphoria, The Umbrella Academy, Atlanta, John Wick: Chapter 4) serves as the music supervisor. Robbie Adams is the music editor, while Sarah Chapeck is the music coordinator.

Glenfield Payne serves as the series’ supervising sound editor. James Redding III serves as the sound effects editor.

Casting, Stunts, and Intimacy Coordination

Carmen Cuba (The Butterfly Effect, Contagion, The Martian, The Florida Project, Stranger Things, Guava Island, Devs, Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy, The Matrix Resurrections, Nope, Entergalactic, Swarm) serves as the casting director.

Charley Medigovich (Piranha 3D, Zero Dark Thirty, Logan Lucky, Bad Times at the El Royale, Stranger Things, Devs, The Matrix Resurrections, Swarm) is the series’ casting associate.

Corey Pinchoff (Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy, HBO Max’s Kimi, Nope) and Maggie Kissinger serve as the series’ casting assistants. Selena Montania is the casting assistant for the pilot, second, third, and fifth episodes.

Candice Alustiza-Lee is the New York casting director, with Bernadette McBrinn as the New York casting associate.

Teresa Razzauti serves as the Italy casting director in the third and fifth episodes. Alejandro Reza is the Mexico casting director for the fourth episode.

Stephen Pope serves as the stunt coordinator for the series.

Claudio Pacifico is credited as the stunt coordinator for the Italy-set episodes. Viola Marini is the assistant stunt coordinator.

Wadi Jones is the John Smith stunt double. Tara Macken is the Jane Smith stunt double.

Irmingard Mayer is credited as the intimacy coordinator for the pilot, second, sixth, and seventh episodes.

Production and Costumes

Gerald Sullivan serves as the series’ production designer.

David Offner, Hinju Kim, and Sorangel Fersobe serve as the art directors for most of the series—i.e. the episodes not set in Italy. Marco Furbatto is the art director for the Italy-set episodes.

Jeffrey D. McDonald (Malcolm X, American Gangster, The Lovely Bones, The Dark Tower, Joker, Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Ada Mitchev, and Martin Fahrer are the assistant art directors for the episodes not set in Italy.

Andrew Baseman is credited as the set decorator for the series’ first two episodes. Luisa Iemma (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The White Lotus) is the set decorator for the fifth episode. Michael Nallan is the set decorator for the finale.

Madeline Weeks serves as the costume designer.

James Ghazarian and Benjamin Chait are credited as the assistant costume designers for the episodes not set in Italy. Chait is an assistant costume designer for the Italy-set episodes as well.

Makeup and Hair

Martha Melendez serves as the department head of makeup for the episodes not set in Italy. Kirsten Sylvester is the co-department head of makeup for the third through final episodes.

Nathan J. Busch serves as the series’ department head hairstylist.

Rob Harmon serves as the key hairstylist for the episodes not set in Italy. Romina Ronzani serves as the key hairstylist for the Italy-set episodes.

Brittany Romney (Netflix’s The Punisher, In the Heights, The Many Saints of Newark, Fire Island) and Lisa R. Thomas are the hairstylists for the first two episodes. Romney and Deedra Smith are the hairstylists for the fourth as well as final episodes. Romney, Thomas, Smith, and Judy Lawrence are the hairstylists for the sixth and seventh episodes.

Federica Rutigliano and Carolina Cubria Piris are the hairstylists for the Italy-set episodes.

Visual Effects

Eric Pascarelli is the visual effects supervisor for the series.

Colleen Bachman, Eun-Duk Cho, Camara Edwards, and Sunny Ye are the VFX producers for the pilot and fourth episodes. David Nort, Ye, and Cho are the VFX producers for the second episode.

Bachman and Isabella De Blasio are the VFX producers for Episode 3. Bachman, Edwards, and Ye are the VFX producers for Episode 5.

Nort, Edwards, Ye, and Cho are the VFX producers for the final three episodes.

Conor Guy serves as the series’ VFX editor. Guy, Eric Fakharzadeh, and Oliver Bleich are the VFX editors for Episode 5.

On the next page, I will be discussing the characters, the roles they play, and how well the actors deliver their performances!