‘Mrs. Davis’ is a Creative Whirlwind
It’s unhinged in the best way.
A nun joins forces with her ex-boyfriend to find the Holy Grail and destroy it in an attempt to shut down a powerful AI, Mrs. Davis.
What a fun premise! And the show gets more unhinged from there.
Mrs. Davis is absolutely wild! The writing of this show is so sharp and smart and is filled with immense creativity all throughout. This show is filled with loads of symbols and recurring themes — there’s so much detail; I imagine it took a ton of time to develop it all.
The premise of the show starts out pretty out of the box and somehow gets more creative as the episodes go along. The series exposes you to the most insane Renaissance fair you’ve ever seen, secret societies, wannabe mercenaries, magicians, and so much more.
But even in the most ridiculous moments, the story stays grounded in some really relatable and human themes. I think the humanity of these characters helps make this show incredibly watchable. It’s also filled with many concepts that are really relevant to our world today.
Mrs. Davis is an algorithm that essentially runs the entire world. Because of her intervention, war and famine have ceased to exist (which, honestly, sounds pretty good right about now). She has given people purpose and helped make their lives better. But you can also see how people have given up some aspects of human relationships in order to spend more time connecting with Mrs. Davis.
While we’re not quite as dependent upon our technology as this society is in Mrs. Davis, we’re not far off. We are so deeply connected by and reliant upon technology, just like the people in the show. There’s a reason why we so often need to be reminded to go and touch some grass… get out of digital spaces and get back into the real world.
It’s fascinating that this show, which is so focused on this advanced technology, leads Simone (Betty Gilpin) on such an incredibly globe-trotting adventure. And, along the way, she learns so much about herself, her family, and the world around her. It’s fascinating to watch her learn and grow throughout all eight episodes.
It has to be said that Betty Gilpin is great in this! She helps make Mrs. Davis as fun and entertaining as it is. She delivers the dry humor absolutely perfectly, and her sense of comedic timing is spot on. But she’s also convincing in the dramatic moments, which this show is also full of.
Simone is such an interesting and complex character, and Betty Gilpin does an excellent job bringing her to life.
While there are elements of Mrs. Davis that didn’t quite work for me, on the whole, this show is incredibly fun. It’s creative and ambitious. It’s humorous and off-the-wall while also being grounded as it explores important themes.
Mrs. Davis is one of those shows that will make you laugh and make you think — what more could you possibly ask for?
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