Mrs. Davis review: A brilliantly silly series about a nun battling AI that will win your devotion

There is a karaoke scene inside leftovers; I hope you saw that. Justin Theroux’s Kevin Garvey is stuck in a hotel that might be disinfectant, and can’t get home until he’s endured the excruciating ordeal of singing in public. Mrs. Davis It takes the spirit of this scene—a task so absurd it’s profound—and then dials up the absurdity and makes it into a show. “Because he’s stupid!” Kevin protests leftovers When asked to spin the karaoke wheel in the afterlife. “This is so stupid!” Mrs. DavisSimon (Betty Gilpin) spat in [redacted major reveal], a gag so good it kept me happy for weeks. She’s right! And it’s great!

Mrs. Davisa delightful new series from Peacock from Tara Hernandez (The Big Bang Theory) and Damon Lindelof (leftovers), dare to doubt it. dancing the accepted foolish line; Several times in the early episodes, he almost loses you just so he can win you back. What makes her work is her total commitment, which starts with her drive. Betty Gilpin, who was an electrician radiates, she returned to the kind of deserving role as Sister Simone, a nun in an offbeat convent who sets out to destroy an artificial intelligence algorithm known as Mrs. Davis. Gilpin, witty and unpredictable, moves through scenes like a human exclamation point, heightening comedy and grounding emotion with piercing sincerity. She’s asked to do a little bit of everything, and she usually does.

For Simon, who blames the algorithm for a family tragedy, the fight against Mrs. Davis is personal. It also puts her at odds with almost everyone else in the world. The app is so beloved that it has rendered all other social media obsolete. People communicate with Mrs. Davis through a single earpiece; Her voice is never heard by the public, so the dedication of users to her is special. (The program’s creators named the app after Hernandez’s first- and second-grade teacher, which is short for the kind of personality most users see.) Simone, who isn’t a user, only talks to her through other people, yet the AI ​​seems to have endless ways to woo her. Simon’s attention. As with any authority figure, the full extent of Mrs. Davis’s power is apparent to those beyond her. And Simone’s best way to take them down is to complete a classic quest: find and destroy the Holy Grail.

Why? There are definitely plot reasons, which the show cleverly wraps around more than once. It’s also just plain fun. Why not let the nun be Indiana Jones? One of Simone’s few allies in her quest is her childhood friend and ex-boyfriend, Wiley (Jake McDorman), a former rodeo star who has his own reasons for wanting the algorithm to disappear. He has started a secret resistance to frustrate Mrs. Davis with his brothers. McDorman makes for a funny, likable sidekick, and he and Gilpin bounce jokes off each other like they’ve been doing for years.

Wiley is an overgrown boy who surrounds himself with other Lost Boys, giving his side of the show a cartoonish but also sweet masculinity. That balance is epitomized by his friend GQ (Chris Diamantopoulos), an Australian peacock who teeters on the edge of being obnoxious but totally pulls it off. This is strength Mrs. Davisejaculate. Andy McQueen brings soul to a tough part as Jay, a character I can’t say anything about. Ben Chaplin plays a professor who is stranded on an island (a reference to Lindelof’s work on… Lost), Margo Martindale plays Simone’s Mother, and EvilKatya Herbers stars in a scene-stealing role as a main character in Simon’s quest.

Davis may not be self-aware, but the series is just that, winking at viewers as it goes along. The brilliant fifth episode is a story told mostly in flashback, with Simon and Willie playing Statler and Waldorf in the audience, influencing every development. (“It’s like a recurring theme,” Wiley notes.) In another episode, Wiley warns Simon, “Don’t underestimate this, baby,” and in another he tells a mysterious priest (Tom and Lachiha), “I advise you to ground your performance. You’re big.” very.” Simon Willy repeatedly reminds not to over-explain himself, which is a technician’s mission statement that the series also (usually) follows. One of the show’s fears is that technology will drain the magic of life by providing all the answers; There is joy in not understanding everything, and Mrs. Davis This gives you joy.

The daughter of the Reno stage magicians (played by Elizabeth Marvel and David Arquette), Simone suspects being played for a fool in someone else’s grand plan. In charming terms, she hates being forced: “It’s when you think you’re choosing something, but it’s already been chosen for you.” But as a nun, she wants her own kind of magic—from a belief system that Mrs. Davis threatens—and sometimes wonders if she’s subject to a different kind of power. behind all the merry chaos, Mrs. Davis He asks serious, if slightly mixed, questions about whether life unfolds according to a plan, whether or not that plan is clever, and whether power can also be love. In the end, all of her ideas seem like metaphors for one another, and they can all be traced back to the fraught relationship between mothers and daughters.

There’s no avoiding timing a show about artificial intelligence right now, when the hottest debate in technology is whose job will become obsolete next. Is this a “bad technology” show? Not exclusive. Mrs. Davis Alternately skeptical and horrified at what our phones can do (when Ms. Davis speaks through a person, it can feel possessive in a horror movie), but the series is also willing to acknowledge the good: the possibility of connection, the chance to help strangers even the convenience of a distraction. He is concerned, but not scolding. The writers used an algorithm (developed by writer Johnny Sun) to craft episode titles, giving them hits like “Baby with Wings, Sad Boy with Wings and Mighty Helmet”. Perhaps the AI ​​will do well to poke holes in itself on its own.

It’s hard to talk about Mrs. Davis Without spoiling the suspense – some of the show’s coolest ideas are surprises, and the gags keep coming. Anything that looks serious can be made fun of later, anything that looks funny can be taken to heart, and the best elements of the series all at once. If I wanted to criticize it, I’d point out that episode three is the closest Mrs. Davis Come to slow clock there Hands on HardbodySimilar to the competition that runs down the middle. The show schedule does not necessarily add up. Its theology is hard to understand without bending your mind, but, again, meaning is not the point. Mrs. Davis Dedicated to the sacredness of the inexplicable. It’s a show that invites you to study the details, but it’s also one that works well when you let it sink in, a feeling rather than an algorithm.

the first show: The first four episodes air Thursday, April 20 on Peacock, followed by new episodes every Thursday
Who’s inside: Betty Gilpin, Jake McDorman, Andy McQueen, Elizabeth Marvel, Ben Chaplin, David Arquette, Chris Diamantopoulos, Katja Herbers, Mathilde Olivier, Margo Martindale
Behind her: Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof (Co-Authors)
For my fans: leftovers at its weirdest
How many episodes have we watched: 8 out of 8