So, is it me, or is it somewhat strange that there's this whole string of movies and television shows coming out shortly that suggest that extreme violence committed in the name of espionage will spice up your love life? There's the Cameron-Diaz-and-Tom-Cruise-meet-cute-via-airborne-murder flick Knight & Day. There's the unforgivable-because-Ashton-Kutcher-is-involved-in-it-and-Katherine-Heigel-is-playing-dumb-and-high-maintenance Killers:
Then there's the we're-ripping-off-Mr. & Mrs. Smith-but-but-with-an-attractive-and-intelligent-black-couple Undercovers:
And then there's the involuntarily-single-gal-mends-her-broken-heart-through-spying series Covert Affairs, which I am very much looking forward to.
I don't necessarily mind this as a trend. I like genre mashups, and married life and spying isn't the worst combination of all time. But I do think that it reveals some odd anxieties on the part of audiences and studios. I think there's some real reluctance to make criminals heroes these days--even the folks in Leverage and Burn Notice are rocking Robin Hood complexes--and even more so to suggest crime as an aphrodisiac. Casting the folks who are blowing things up and causing trouble as spies in the service of their country, and their service as a way of improving their marriage, allows us to justify the pleasure we take at beautiful people wreaking havoc, while eliminating the guilt we feel about sympathizing with, even desiring, bad people.