Mrs. Davis: Nun of the Above

In the early 1300s, on a Friday the 13^th in October, the Knights Templar were all killed for heresy, but, in reality, they were slaughtered because they harbored the Holy Grail.  A single nun survived the onslaught and took the “Cup of Christ” to her sisters across the sea.  Now in 2023, an artificial intelligence referred to as “Her”, “She”,” The Algorithm”, or (by the end of the first episode) “Mrs. Davis” has ended war, famine and poverty across the world.  But not everyone is happy about that.  Sister Simone (Betty Gilpin), a nun in Reno, Nevada, refuses to even talk to “Her”, but “She” is very persistent.  Simone moonlights as a type of avenging angel that saves poor schmucks from being hoodwinked, Jay (Andy McQueen) gives her the missions which show up on the order wheel at a diner.  Her tasks usually involve revealing magicians that try to con tourists.  There are factions fighting the AI’s control and one resistance fighter in particular, Wiley (Jake McDorman) has a past with Simone and wants her help in fighting it.  But “The Algorithm” wants Simone for a specific quest, to find a very specific item.  It isn’t until “Mrs. Davis” completely ruins Simone’s happy life that she agrees to talk with the AI and we find out what her quest is.

Besides the death of a beloved animal, which I am getting so tired of happening in television shows, I absolutely loved the first episode.  It was exciting, adventurous, funny, witty and very well acted.  The fight scenes in the beginning are well choreographed and there is a lot of blood spilled in the first episode.  Some television shows try to pack too much exposition into an episode which causes it to feel forced and disingenuous.  Other shows don’t give you enough and you feel lost and befuddled, but there are other shows who give you a type of mixture.  Little clues like breadcrumbs that lead you to draw some conclusions on your own, but also keep you guessing and in a state of confusion, which is a shared condition with the main character.  It is difficult and dangerous to do in a pilot, but Mrs. Davis does it extremely well.  We are introduced to characters and have no idea how or if they will fit into the larger picture leaving the audience anticipating and wanting more.

The production value of the show is high with the, aforementioned, blood and gore looking real enough.  There aren’t a lot of splashy special effects really needed, but some good fight scenes and a motorcycle chase through Reno keep the story exciting.  The script’s pacing is good, and it has a nice rhythm. The show is a dark comedy, and the material is handled very well by director Owen Harris and the writers Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof. There are some nice touching scenes and Betty Gilpin gives Simone subtle depth that could have been overlooked by a less talented actress.  She is also not your normal nun, with swearing and a bit of drinking and for a show about nuns, the religious aspect hasn’t played too much of a part (yet). The choice of music was appropriate, even though they opted for existing songs in many cases instead of originally scored music.  But the choice of songs fit in well with the setting and set an appropriate mood for the show.  I am excited to see where this show leads and how all the pieces, we got in the first episode will fit together as a whole.