In a TV landscape saturated with grim AI dystopias and tech-bro utopias, Mrs. Davis stands alone as the only show that gets AI's true nature: it's absurdly, hilariously dumb. This Peacock miniseries, created by Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez, is a wild, eight-episode ride that treats artificial intelligence not as a threat or a savior, but as a punchline. And it's the most refreshing sci-fi you'll see all year.
The premise alone is enough to hook you: an all-powerful algorithm that runs the world started as a Buffalo Wild Wings loyalty app. Its nemesis? A nun named Sister Simone, played with ferocious commitment by Betty Gilpin, who's on a mission to destroy it—and maybe have dinner with Jesus in a metaphysical falafel shop. Yes, you read that right.
Betty Gilpin's Career-Defining Performance
Gilpin is a force of nature as Sister Simone. She's a nun who lives in a desert convent, rides a horse to hunt down stage magicians, and teleports to a falafel shop to hang out with her boyfriend, who happens to be Jesus. Gilpin swings between fury and faith, physical comedy and spiritual earnestness, often in the same breath. It's a performance that's both hilarious and heartbreaking, and it's the anchor that keeps this absurd ship from capsizing.
Simone's beef with Mrs. Davis is personal: the AI's proxy, a warm kindergarten-teacher voice, offers her a deal—find and destroy the Holy Grail, and Mrs. Davis will shut itself down. Simone, still grieving her magician father (David Arquette) who died mid-trick, jumps at the chance. She drags along her ex, Wiley (Jake McDorman), a rodeo cowboy with a mantra of "You're a big, strong boy, everybody loves you, you're never gonna die," and the two embark on a globe-trotting quest that takes them from Reno to Scotland to Italy and even inside a whale.
Every Episode Has a "Wait, What?" Moment
The show's set pieces are gloriously bonkers. The pilot opens in 14th-century Paris with a sword fight between nuns who are secretly Knights Templar. It plays straight for four episodes, then pulls a rug-pull so audacious you have to laugh. That's the rhythm of Mrs. Davis: it sets up something sincere, makes you buy in, then flips it into a punchline that somehow makes the whole thing work better. There's a Scottish detour about Wiley's self-esteem, a woman whose head explodes after drinking from the wrong cup, and a whale that Simone must enter. Every episode has at least one moment that makes you pause the TV and question your own eyes.
The supporting cast is equally game. Andy McQueen plays Jesus as unshowy and flawed; Elizabeth Marvel is icy as Simone's mother; Margo Martindale is the no-nonsense mother superior; Shohreh Aghdashloo shows up as the Virgin Mary; and Ben Chaplin is a burnt-out scientist on a desert island. Everyone plays their absurd roles completely straight, which is exactly what makes it work.
The AI stuff is part of the fun, but it's not the whole show. The big reveal of Mrs. Davis's origin—the punchline that made headlines—is just one of many equally bold swings the season takes. Lindelof and Hernandez are smart enough to bury it at the end rather than build the whole series around it. When Mrs. Davis aired in 2023, AI was still a novelty; now that we've all watched the tech promise the world and deliver garbage haikus, the joke is even funnier.
If you're looking for something truly original, Mrs. Davis is a must-watch. It's a show that's unlike anything else on TV, and it's streaming now on Peacock. For more Peacock picks, check out Bob Odenkirk's action thriller or The Day of the Jackal. And if you're in the mood for a true crime twist, FX's Say Nothing is worth a look.
