‘Mrs. Davis’ Review: A Nun’s Anti-AI Crusade

Magic of the presto-chango variety always depends on distraction, but the distractions are the magic of “Mrs. Davis,” which throughout its exhilarating mix of comedy, action, obscure movie references and gothic-Catholic sleight-of-hand mounts a very plausible and therefore disturbing premise: God isn’t dead. He is just less influential than an algorithm.

The algorithm is known as Mrs. Davis—or “Ma’am” in the U.K., or “Madonna” in Rome—and is the all-seeing, all-knowing, not-quite-all-merciful manifestation of artificial intelligence to whom humanity has plighted its troth in this eight-part manifestation of real intelligence from creators Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof. Mrs. Davis is, was and ever shall be—unless a heretical nun named Simone, aka Lizzie (Betty Gilpin), can win the bet she has made with the omniscient formulation that she calls “it” and find the Holy Grail, on which occasion Mrs. Davis has agreed to self-destruct.