The Nun and The Machine

landscape. “How close are we now to a viable artificial intelligence saying it’s Jesus?” Lindelof asks, citing the rise of OpenAI bots like ChatGPT. “It could be programmed really well, incorporating all scripture to guide you. What would Jesus do? He’ll tell you, and that’s scary.”

When working on Peacock’s sci-fi series Mrs. Davis, lead Betty Gilpin (GLOW) never quite got used to explaining the plot to guest actors and extras.

“I would try to summarize what the whole show was about every time and be like, ‘They didn’t tell you anything? Okay. It’s about, well, oh God….’”

Gilpin even recalls performing an entire scene opposite an actress, only to discover she had a fundamental misunderstanding about who, or what, her character was. “She was amazing. And then she was like, ‘Wow, that was fun! That was my first time playing a hologram.’ I was like, ‘Oh, you’re not a hologram. You’re a real person.’”

Mrs. Davis is an ambitious and, at times, confusing television endeavor. Thankfully one of its creators, Damon Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen), has a simple enough elevator pitch: “Nun vs. A.I.: Who ya got?”

The nun in question is not Mrs. Davis but rather Sister Simone (Gilpin). Plagued by a (literally) painful childhood, Simone donned the nun’s habit to live a life of quiet contemplation—honoring God and making jam preserves with her convent in the American desert.

While Simone secluded herself from society, humanity found itself a new Alexa-like artificial intelligence to fall in love with. The algorithmic entity, known by the matronly moniker “Mrs. Davis,” claims to have solved all of humanity’s problems. War is over, everyone is fed, and all that’s left is to settle into a life of rest and relaxation —provided you keep your eye out for Mrs. Davis’s next “quest” that could earn you your “wings.”

For as high-concept as that Deus vs. Machina premise already sounds, that’s only scratching the surface of the madness Mrs. Davis has in store for viewers. The series’ first two episodes incorporate enormous twists seemingly every minute, Las Vegas showman-style magic (Teller of Penn & Teller served as a consultant on the show), and even an unexpected Western-meets-slapstick tone.

“It’s ‘No Country for Old Looney Tunes’ in the best way,” Gilpin says.

Through it all, however, is the central theme of science vs. faith. Faith has been a consistent presence through Lindelof’s previous work like Lost, The Leftovers, and Watchmen. But never has it loomed so large as it does here. Part of that is undoubtedly due to the changing techno-sociological

Perhaps there’s another reason for Mrs. Davis’s faithful leanings as well. The show’s creation is a story of divine intervention—three specific divine interventions, in fact.

The first was the meeting of two like-minded writers. Coming off the success of HBO’s Watchmen, Lindelof concluded that he needed a break from the arduous task of showrunning. “I don’t want to run shows anymore,” he says. “Other careers, like athletes, get to retire and move into coaching positions. I felt like it would be really exciting to partner with someone who took the lead position.”

The search for a partner led him to a script from Tara Hernandez. As a longtime scribe for The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon, Hernandez had precisely the nuts-and-bolts television experience Lindelof sought. And she had an excellent spec script to boot.

“[Hernandez’s script] was this out-there, post-apocalyptic concept, but from a much different perspective,” Lindelof says. “It was about nuns who are taking care of these kids who have these dates stamped on the bottom of their feet. It was funny and weird.”

After the two teamed up, the second divine intervention arrived, and it might be the one you’re expecting….

“While this is not a pandemic show, creating TV within that time certainly influenced the process,” Hernandez says. When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down Hollywood writers’ rooms, Lindelof and Hernandez enjoyed long phone conversations about their craft as they walked around their respective neighborhoods. That’s where the idea of an all-powerful A.I. began to seep into their discussions.

“If you can remember that early stage [of the pandemic], we had no clue what to do, “Hernandez says. “So that became ‘what if we had this artificial intelligence?’ What if we had something that could just tell us what to do and guide us through this very confusing time in our lives.”

“It was ‘nun plus A.I.’ That was the veritable chocolate and peanut butter that became Mrs. Davis,” Lindelof adds.

And then, finally: the third intervention. With the show’s titular character not corporeal or tangible in a conventional sense, so much of the plot’s success lies solely on Simone’s shoulders. Finding the nun whose faith would never be shaken in this titanic battle between faith and technology would be key, and the duo knew exactly who they wanted. Having worked with Gilpin previously on The Hunt (a film that became a political lightning rod and then a Covid release

Davis got its Simone. “It’s everything I’ve ever wanted,” Gilpin says of the role. “I’ve been told to tone down my ‘slapstickness’ for 30 goddamn years. It was very interesting to play scenes where the stakes were as high as life or death, and also there were pratfalls.” casualty), Lindelof was certain she was the right fit for the role.

Three acts of divine intervention brought Mrs. Davis to life, but will it require more to find an audience and receive a second season? As for the latter, both Hernandez and Lindelof promise that the eight episodes that make up season one constitute a “closed loop” with a conclusive finale. The concept of a season two will be a mystery to confront at a later date.

“Betty just goes all the way every time. You have to cast someone who believes. And I imagine little Betty watching Peter Pan clapping to save Tinkerbell, screaming at the top of her lungs and standing on her seat. She’s just that person.”

Gilpin was already contracted to Netflix’s wrestling drama GLOW, but after that show was canceled, Mrs.

As for the former question, Gilpin is confident that Mrs. Davis has the goods. “It doesn’t stop until the last episode,” she says. “I can’t believe all the things that happen in this series. I can’t believe it’s only eight episodes. Whatever the good version of PTSD flashbacks are, I’m having them now, and it’s wild.”

Mrs. Davis premieres its first four episodes Thursday, April 20 on Peacock.

Lucky Hank

Few television actors have had more eclectic careers than Bob Odenkirk. First known as a comedic writer and performer for Saturday Night Live and Mr. Show with Bob and David, for years, Odenkirk seemed content to fulfill the role of Comedy Professor Emeritus… but then came a call from Albuquerque. Roughly 10 seasons of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul later, Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman has reached TV icon status. What does the actor have planned for his AMC follow-up, then? A story of a mid-life crisis, naturally. Based on Richard Russo’s 1997 novel Straight Man, Lucky Hank will end Odenkirk’s brief TV hiatus as he plays William Henry Devereaux Jr., the chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college. Armed with a gray beard and a scowl, Odenkirk will look to continue his legacy of portraying difficult TV men alongside co-stars Mireille Enos, Olivia Scott Welch, Diedrich Bader, Suzanne Cryer, Sara Amini, and Cedric Yarbrough.

A Small Light

Holocaust survivor, political activist, and renowned author Elie Wiesel once put forward that “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” It’s hard to think of someone who more embodies the spirit of Wiesel’s quote than Miep Gies. Known to many schoolchildren across the world from The Diary of Anne Frank, Gies was an Austria-born Dutch citizen who helped hide the Frank family and four other Dutch Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Now, Gies’ story of courage and empathy will be told in A Small Light, an eight-part limited series coming to National Geographic and Disney+ this spring. Bel Powley stars as the young, carefree woman who will soon have to harden herself into the Frank family’s protector. Through it all, the series will challenge viewers to imagine what they would do if they faced such dark, difficult times.

I’M A VIRGO

With his 2018 black comedic satire Sorry to Bother You, acclaimed writer/ director Boots Riley opted to save the magical realism for the film’s third act. With his latest series, I’m A Virgo, Riley is putting it all out there. Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us) plays a 13-foot-tall young Black man from Oakland, California in another surreal

Rabbit Hole

It’s been too long since television was blessed with “The Voice”…. You know: the gravelly one that emerges from Kiefer Sutherland’s vocal cords as he grapples with all manner of duplicity and trauma. We got to hear it through nine seasons of spy thriller 24 and three seasons of political thriller Designated Survivor. Now, Sutherland is putting his unnerving growl to use once again with Prime Video’s Rabbit Hole, in which he plays John Weir—a private espionage contractor for the corporate world. But when Weir is framed for murder, he must find and confront the Illuminati-like forces of power and influence that set him up, kickstarting a fight for democracy… and survival.

exploration of late-stage capitalism, race in America, and how they often violently intersect. In addition to the up-and-coming Jerome, the series stars Mike Epps, Carmen Ejogo, and an almost unrecognizable Walton Goggins. Though its ideas are big, I’m a Virgo boasts a lead character with an even bigger heart—metaphorically and literally.