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There's an eight-episode miniseries on Peacock that is so good, you're going to want to watch it at least twice. Peacock isn't usually the go-to streamer for great original TV shows. It's not that it had bad offerings. Twisted Metal, Long Bright River, and Poker Face are all excellent series. It's just that there aren't many of them.
Peacock does not have a large library of NBC original shows, which may be why they haven't felt the need to invest heavily in original programming; they have the titles to attract viewers just from the network's classics. Still, that doesn't mean the streamer phones it in when it does make an original series.
Take Mrs. Davis, a sci-fi miniseries from Damon Lindelof. The latest in Lindelof's run of TV shows (at least before Lanterns premieres on August 16), Mrs. Davis is an expertly crafted, beautiful, hilarious, weird, meditative exploration of artificial intelligence, religion, science, and love.
It's perfectly Lindelof who has explored similar big questions in Lost, The Leftovers, and Watchmen. The series is set in an alternate version of the modern day. In this world, an A.I. known as Mrs. Davis has solved most of mankind's problems, leaving them safe and secure, but bored and without purpose.
Peacock's Mrs. Davis Is A Sci-Fi Show That Deserves To Be Rewatched
In that perpetual boredom, some people, like a recently converted nun named Sister Simone (Betty Gilpin), decide that maybe Mrs. Davis' influence on the world is not for the best, and so set out to bring an end to it. What Simone doesn't count on is Mrs. Davis being equally intrigued by "her" own demise.
That's the surprise that puts an exclamation point on the end of the pilot episode, but before that point, and for the seven episodes after it, you will be amazed by how many mysteries are presented, answers are given, and coincidences and storylines are tied up. There is so much stuffed into Mrs. Davis that a rewatch is almost required.
Nearly every moment in the series has a payoff. A one-off joke, a character quirk, a bit of lore that's off-handily told, will almost always come back in one way or another. If you map out the story of Mrs. Davis, you will find a perfectly symmetrical web with each thread conveniently and satisfyingly winding into the larger tapestry, but it may take two watches to fully appreciate that beauty.
Mrs. Davis Might Just Be The Most Overlooked Show On TV
Just because Mrs. Davis is a show that demands a rewatch does not mean that you won't be rewarded for watching it once. It is certainly packed with story, character development, and riddles to explore, but all these colorful (often literally so) scenes and plots are beautifully laced together.
Even if you're unsure of why something strange is happening in the first moments of episode 1, it won't at all detract from your experience. The fun of the story, the liveliness of the characters, and the humor and wit of the writing will keep you engrossed even as Mrs. Davis takes its time to unveil its secrets.
Mrs. Davis is a dramatically overlooked TV show, maybe because it's a miniseries, or because it's on Peacock. For whatever reason, it doesn't get brought up along with other great shows. You will not regret watching it for an instant, and if you do, you'll be hard-pressed to name a more satisfying, complete sci-fi story of the last ten years.
