I think promotional posters alone could have told me I was in for a weird ride, but actually watching Mrs. Davis confirmed that tenfold.
Betty Gilpin, a comedic goddess, stars as Sister Simone, formerly Lizzie, who is determined to stop an AI that calls itself Mrs. Davis. Simone is convinced this AI was the reason for her father’s death and she just generally hates to see how dependent the rest of the world is of her. Gee, if that doesn’t sound like people and their phones, then I don’t know what does. It is also a pretty obvious parallel to how much stock we take in what people online say or tell others to do. Simone is anti Mrs. Davis, but after much pestering talks to her via a proxy. Mrs. Davis wants Simone to find the Holy Grail and if she does so, she will grant Simone’s wish of turning herself off.
To complete this task, Simone gets the unexpected help of a resistance group co-lead by her former ex, Preston Wiley. They share a deep and complicated history, one part which involves Simone ghosting Wiley after she falls for J. What is J short for you ask? Jesus Christ. That took me a hot minute to put together, but it was quite clever! In fact, there are a lot of very neat takes on what it means to be devoutly religious in this show while not making fun of it. It shows that religion can be a bit looser, but a lot of the main principles still stand. Either way, J is all for this quest up until the very end when some other details get revealed, and then it all gets pretty emotional.
Aside from Simone’s complicated relationships with Wiley and J, she also has to contend with the extremely strained relationship she shares with her mother. Back in the day, Simone got shot through the liver by a bow and arrow rigged room dedicated to her mother’s work. Rather than process that guilt, she decides that Simone got even by helping her father with his final magic trick. Yes, aside from religion there is also hella magic in this show. There is also quite a bit of international travel. Did I also mention that there are a ton of awesome cast members?! Aside from Gilpin leading the charge, Jake McDorman plays Wiley, Margo Martindale plays Mother Superior, and Ben Chaplin shows up as a scientist along the way. And those are just a few of the awesome faces onscreen!
The road to the final episode is a long and complicated one, and I could probably type forever to try and cover it all. So instead of doing that, I have presented you with the basic premise and just know that it covers all the genres you can think of. Comedy, drama, sci-fi, religion, action, and even a little bit of body horror. When I think about what all went on in this show, I am very surprised it actually ever got made. Not that anything is too much, but the weaving of this story is just so odd that I can’t believe they thought this would reel in an audience. And just because I know most of the cast, I can’t imagine Gilpin is a draw for most people. I hope that others can give it a chance, and if we never get anything more from this, I was certainly satisfied with its end.