Warning: Spoilers ahead for Mr. and Mrs. Smith episode 1!
A hidden reference to a ’90s sci-fi comedy classic starring Eddie Murphy during Mr. and Mrs. Smith‘s first episode adds a creepier layer to one character. Donald Glover’s new show based on the homonymous 2005 film premiered February 2nd on Prime Video and has been well received by critics. Besides having co-created the show with Francesca Sloane, Glover stars in the series alongside Maya Erskine. Although its audience rating is not so great, Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s Rotten Tomatoes score already beats Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s original version.
One of the main differences between Mr. and Mrs. Smith TV Show and the 2005 film is the fact that the two main characters are not actually married, but they are spies pretending to be married for the sake of a mission. It is for that reason that, instead of not knowing anything about each other’s professional lives, in this case, they know nothing about each other’s personal lives. In that context, Jane tells John a curious story about her past that weirdly happens to involve a reference to an Eddie Murphy film from 1996.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith Show Cast & Character Guide
The star-studded cast of the new Amazon series Mr. & Mrs. Smith is jam-packed with A-list actors, adding to the hype of Donald Glover’s latest show.
“Buddy Love,” The Pedophile Jane & Her Friend Had Pancakes With Is A Reference To The Nutty Professor
In Mr. and Mrs. Smith‘s first episode, “First Date,” John and Jane are getting to know each other while following their first target. In what seems to be a casual conversation about their past, Jane tells John that her first time in New York was during a school trip that she ditched to have pancakes with her friend Dina and a pedophile. Although the conversation gets interrupted, John finds out later that the man Jane and her friend had pancakes with referred to himself as “Buddy Love,” which is a reference to a character from Eddie Murphy’s The Nutty Professor.
The Nutty Professor is a 1996 sci-fi comedy film starring Murphy as Professor Sherman Klump. Sherman is a scientist who comes up with a weight-loss potion that helps him with his lack of self-confidence, but that also has an unexpected side effect: a double personality disorder. Sherman’s alter-ego after drinking the potion is Buddy Love, one of Eddie Murphy’s most iconic characters, a thinner version of the professor who also happens to be extremely self-confident to the point of being annoyingly pedantic.
The Man’s Buddy Love Reference Means He Knew He Was Being Creepy In Mr & Mrs Smith
In addition to being pedantic and arrogant, The Nutty Professor‘s Buddy Love is presented as a perverted man with a taste for dirty jokes and no respect for women. Taking that into consideration, it can be assumed that the man Jane and Dina had pancakes with called himself Buddy Love on purpose, knowing he was being creepy and out of place by taking two 14-year-old girls for breakfast. That hidden reference adds a creepy and curious additional layer to the man from Jane’s backstory in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, even if Erksine’s character never caught on with the man’s reference.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a TV adaptation of the 2005 film starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine take on the lead roles for the series as spies who are placed in an arranged marriage for an undercover mission only to develop real feelings for each another.
- Release Date
- February 2, 2024
- Cast
- Donald Glover , Maya Erskine , Paul Dano , John Turturro , Michaela Coel
- Seasons
- 1
- Creator(s)
- Donald Glover , Francesca Sloane
- Writers
- Francesca Sloane , Donald Glover , Yvonne Hana Yi
- Streaming Service(s)
- Prime Video
- Directors
- Christian Sprenger
