Mr. and Mrs. Smith Ending Explained: What Happens to John and Jane?

This article contains spoilers for the final episode of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Through its eight-episode run, Mr. and Mrs. Smith follows the familiar rhythms and milestones of any romantic relationship, with appropriate episode titles to match. From “First Date” to “First Vacation” to “Do You Want Kids?” and even “Couples Therapy,” John Smith (Donald Glover) and Jane Smith (Maya Erskine) go through a journey of self discovery and come to understand each other better as well.

That’s why it’s more than a bit discomfiting that the eighth and final episode of Mr. and Mrs. Smith is named “A Breakup.” True to the title’s promise, John and Jane break up in this finale and they break up hard. Here the Prime Video series begins to resemble its 2005 film inspiration more than ever as John and Jane engage in an epic life-or-death battle across Manhattan, culminating in a close quarters fire fight in their home.

At the very end, however, Mr. and Mrs. Smith throws viewers one last wild card as John and Jane come to a truth serum-assisted understanding. Unfortunately, the episode’s final moments reveal that it might be too late for them anyway due to The Company’s inflexibly vengeful policies. Mr. and Mrs. Smith concludes on a seemingly ambiguous note. But for those paying close attention, John and Jane’s ultimate fate is tragically clear. Allow us to explain.

Who Killed Our Sweet Kitty Max?

“A Breakup” opens in a hail of gunfire. Moments after we see Jane pondering her most recent instructions from unseen boss Hihi (“Terminate: Take out your Smith.”) bullets begin to whiz through the windows in her kitchen. Jane is able to take cover but her poor cat Max catches a few strays and is killed. Over on the other side of town, John returns home from a day out with his mother only to find that his toilet seat has been uncharacteristically left up. He does some quick sleuthing and discovers an improvised explosive device attached right inside his door, rigged to detonate the moment he walks inside.

Naturally both John and Jane believe that the other has attempted to kill them. After all, they both presumably received the same “Terminate” instructions from Hihi. When John is able to restrain Jane and administer truth serum into her and himself, however, they both admit that they weren’t behind the initial attempts on each other’s lives. Who was then? Is that Parker Posey’s music we hear?!?!?!?

Yes, the “other” Smith couple that John and Jane met in episode 4 tried to take our John and Jane out. Let’s call this couple, played by Wagner Moura and Parker Posey, “John 2” and “Jane 2.” Upon arriving to the Smith household to discover John and Jane doped up on truth serum, John 2 and John 2 decide to tell them a little more about The Company, its boss, and their status as “Super High Risk” agents.

They argue that the unseen Company boss, who they know as “Supe” rather than “Hihi” is so powerful they might as well be a god. Supe instructed the the 2s to meet John and Jane in the first place, probably expecting that one day they would prove inadequate and need to be terminated (they failed their first mission pretty early on, after all).

Our John correctly works out that the only job of Super High Risk agents is to take out other wayward Smiths. The individuals we see in the series’ opening scene (played by Alexander Skarsgård and Eiza González) were rogue Smiths who needed to be killed by other Super High Risk Smiths (potentially John 2 and Jane 2 even). Additionally, the man that John and Jane killed in the El Salvador jungle at the 2s behest was also a Smith.

John 2 and Jane 2 reveal that they’re “finalized a lot of Smiths.” And the mere fact that they’re still alive suggests that they’ve never failed to successfully do so. That doesn’t bode well for John 1 and Jane 1.

Do John and Jane Die?

Sadly, our main John and Jane both probably do die, the show just politely excuses us from witnessing it. John and Jane do a solid job of getting away from John 2 and Jane 2. Using the knowledge that John 2 always sneezes three times, they make a break for it on John 2’s first sneeze, grazing his face with gunfire and running off to their panic room.

Unfortunately John received a pretty gnarly gunshot wound to the gut in the process. With Jane 2 prowling around outside the panic room, John and Jane take stock of their situation. Jane has one bullet left in her gun and John is completely out of ammunition. John argues that they should wait until nightfall to emerge from the panic room as they will better be able to attack Jane 2 in the darkness. Jane initially agrees but then realizes that the injured John isn’t going to make it that long.

So with one bullet in the chamber, Jane readies her gun and prepares to open the panic room door to assault Jane 2. She counts down from three and the show switches its perspective to outside the home. There viewers witness the faint light and popping sounds of three gunshots – a number that bodes poorly for John and Jane.

It’s possible that Jane was able to disable Jane 2 with one gunshot and the following two gunshots represent Jane killing Jane 2 with her own gun. The sounds happen in such quick succession though that it seems far more likely that Jane 2 merely killed the rogue Smiths as she’s done countless times before. It’s tragic, to be sure, but Mr. and Mrs. Smith is at least kind enough to give viewers at least some small semblance of hope, faint as it may be.

What Are John and Jane’s Real Names?

It turns out that John’s real name is Michael, as revealed by his mother to Jane. Jane’s real name is Alana, as revealed by John’s asking her under the effects of the truth serum. John and Jane both seem to agree that the revelation is fairly anticlimactic as John says he prefers Jane anyway. Those are the names they knew each other as when they fell in love and therefore those are the only names that matter.

What Was Up with Paul Dano’s Hot Neighbor?

Amid all the grim subject matter, the Mr. and Mrs. Smith finale does allow for one little moment of unexpected levity. The Smiths’ “Hot Neighbor,” played by beloved character actor Paul Dano, has stuck out like a sore thumb throughout the entire season. He always seemed to be in the Smiths’ business, suggesting that he had a major role to play in the finale. Is it possible that he would be revealed as a Company bigwig? A rival spy? Hihi himself? No, it turns out that Mr. and Mrs. Smith really just tapped Paul Dano to play a real estate speculator who was obsessed with the Smiths’ house.

When John cuts through Hot Neighbor’s home, he takes a detour to his basement where he discovers detailed renderings and floorplans of his own house. Pointing a gun under the neighbor’s chin, he demands to know who he really is. The neighbor reveals that his name is Harris Baderbach and he’s an agent for Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest brokers of luxury real estate. He describes John’s home as his “Moby Dick.” Harris and his company are obsessed with the house and have no idea how they were even allowed to build it within New York City code. Two historic brownstones combined into one unit with a garage added and bespoke art placed throughout? It could very well be the most valuable real estate in the world.

As the credits begin to roll on the final episode, they briefly cut in for a look at John and Jane’s completely trashed home. A cautious Harris steps in, views both the wreckage and absence of occupants and picks up his phone to say “Seth … so, I think they might be ready to sell.”

It’s nice to know that at least someone got a happy ending here, even if it’s just Sotheby’s International Realty.

All eight episodes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith are available to stream on Prime Video now.