On paper, Peacock’s new series Mrs. Davis seems like the TV equivalent to Rachel’s English trifle on Friends — an unexpected mixture of genres, themes, plot points, and more — but it’s a far more delicious surprise, and was wholly intentional to boot. Created by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof, the series is a thought-provoking epic on the scale of Arthurian legend, while also serving as a hilarious and humanist romp throughout its eight-episode run. But it only took around ten minutes for me to be unmistakably convinced that it was scientifically crafted to hit all my brain’s pleasure centers. It’s not only one of Peacock’s best originals, but it’ll instantly be one of 2023’s most memorable shows.
What Is Mrs. Davis?
To divulge too much about Mrs. Davis’ core plotline is to dampen some of the exploratory fun, but it’s certainly easier to speak to some of its more specific story details now that its Peacock premiere is imminent. The series stars G.L.O.W. and Gaslit star Betty Gilpin as Simone, a rabble-rousing nun within a convent boasting Margo Martindale as its Mother Superior. (Or at least a character portrayed by Martindale.) With a past that she’s constantly trying to avoid and ignore, Simone finds herself tasked with an age-old quest, though delivered in the most modern of ways possible: she must find the legendary (but totally real) Holy Grail, as a way to appease a highly advanced A.I. app that has been nearly universally embraced around the world.
Simone is but one exception to that adoration, as she harbors much ill will towards the algorithmic entity and its seemingly total control over others. Another exception is her ex-boyfriend Wiley, who has a connection to others who are similarly jaded about the all-knowing program. Wiley is played with abundant glee and self-supporting machismo by Greek and The Right Stuff’s Jake McDornan, who is essentially the under-achieving second cousin of Indiana Jones, with a mustache upping his cool points total by a handful.
And while the nun vs. AI hook does indeed play into the opposing sides of religion and technology, Mrs. Davis is way too complex for such a reductive framing, and is more thoughtful than agenda-based regarding that subject matter. Because it’s also about finding togetherness with other humans both within and outside the bounds of faith and tech, while also being ridiculous, exciting, confounding, magnificent and loads of other 3-5 syllable words. Here’s one more: incomparable, even though I’m about to make even more comparisons.
Why Mrs. Davis Is A Huge Thrill Ride From The Very Start
It doesn’t seem inherently natural for The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon writer/producer Tara Hernandez and Lost and Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof to have created a series that so perfectly utilizes many of the elements that made their prior projects pop. And yet Mrs. Davis does just that, kicking off with an opening sequence that superbly bounces from semi-serious historical drama to Monty Python and the Holy Grail hyper-violence, with threads of vigilante bravado and almost surprisingly broad comedy strokes. (There’s an outstanding fight stunt involving a double-impaling that may go down as one of my favorite on-screen kills in all of 2023 TV.)
From there, viewers meet all the other characters that populate this wonderfully heightened world, with Gilpin's Simone and McDornan's Wiley delivering truly excellent intro moments. Which can mostly be said for everyone else in the show, as the creative team made sure to give the noteworthy characters noteworthy arrivals. And then continued to give them noteworthy moments throughout the entire season.
Again, without dipping into anything directly spoilery, I'll say that Mrs. Davis brings the entire gamut of small-screen entertainment to the (round) table. If you're looking for intricately choreographed motorcycle chases, you'll be pleased. If you like non-traditional "Will They? Won't They?" romantic storylines, it's here. If you like high-stakes conspiracies, dense mysteries, killer twists, wordplay, explosions, philosophical debates, creepy twins, and self-aware references to Lindelof's Lost, you have found your entertainment mecca. And I don't even have to say "If you like Silicon Valley's Chris Diamantopoulos shirtless and hollering with a masterful Australian accent," but it's obviously impossible not to like that, so no point in saying it.
There's also no point in denying the perfectly natural urge to watch the new show soon, and repeatedly. Mrs. Davis will be available to stream with a Peacock subscription starting on Thursday, April 20, with the first four episodes going live immediately. Don’t let me or the algorithm tell you what to do, but you should probably definitely watch it as soon as possible, even if it means putting aside everything else in your life that isn’t Mrs. Davis. There now. Isn’t everything better?
