“After being ousted from her convent, Sister Simone vows to destroy the one responsible: a powerful artificial intelligence known as Mrs. Davis. To exact her revenge, Simone makes a deal with the algorithm and is thrust into a dangerous world of secret societies, religious conspiracies and age-old legends as she searches for the whereabouts of the most clichéd and overused MacGuffin — the Holy Grail. To complete the ridiculous and farfetched task, Simone teams up with her rebellious ex-boyfriend, Wiley, who is now the leader of an underground resistance movement dedicated to stopping Mrs. Davis. Together they face a variety of mysterious and powerful forces as they search for the Grail, the one thing capable of destroying the algorithm once and for all. As they grow closer to completing their quest, Simone must confront her past, prove the strength of her faith and uncover long-hidden secrets as she fights to liberate a society that may not want to be freed.”

Look, if you can keep me awake past 9pm on any given day of the week, you deserve an award of some kind. It’s been tough post-Covid. Add to that perimenopause, a damn cold Joburg winter, my rabbits waking me up at 6am by throwing their plates and watching (and writing about) endless shows and films. Yet, last night I found myself glued to the screen up until midnight, stress-eating peculiar biscuits I picked up at a Jewish deli and washing it all down with a 12-year-old single malt. Why? The last four episodes of Mrs Davis.

First off, it’s a shit ton of fun. You’ve got a quest to find and destroy the Holy Grail, an ass-kicking nun, a dodgy yet weirdly sexy love triangle, a pissed off whale, a King Arthur cosplay competition, swashbuckling fights, and all-knowing AI, the titular Mrs Davis.

It also has depth. It pits religion and AI against each other, but asks whether it is not the same thing? A fairytale we believe in to escape life and all the responsibility that comes with it. What are the tales, the stories we need to tell ourselves to sleep at night? Where does our autonomy lie? How far will we go to not be lonely? It also looks at mother-daughter relationships. Who is a better mother to Simone? Her real mother? Her Mother Superior? Or even Mrs Davis? Who will give her the approval she needs?

The tonal shifts, the slew of crazy characters, the countless twists and turns, are all extremely complicated, but luckily for us, completely coherent. A lot of the responsibility to pull us in and keep things clear, rests on the shoulders of lead actress, Betty Gilpin. She kills it. She’s a wonder to behold, a phenomenally gifted actress. Then it was totally obvious from the beginning of her career. Have a look at Nurse Jackie, Glow and Gaslit where she stole every scene she was in. Good thing the rest of the cast is as solid as they come. Especially Margo Martindale. Oeg, loved her in Cocaine Bear, Sneaky Pete, and The Americans.

Mrs Davis questions what AI will hold for us in years to come. Will it replace human creativity? Will essays, novels, and scripts be written by ChatCPT, by the ‘dumb’ algorithms? The mere existence of Mrs Davis, something so peculiar, crazy, rich, original, magical, and uniquely human, answers that question.