Damon Lindelof is unleashed. Perhaps after the fiasco that ended up being Lost (2005-2010) he decided that he would never fall into the same mistakes: enormous expectation, scripts that in the end seemed like headless chickens, tremendous pressure and frustrate so much the expectations of a massive fan base that for years they ask you for explanations. But this is pure speculation. Or maybe not so much. Let's forget his work in film. Since the ambiguous end of Lost, the career of the American writer and director in television meets common standards: no series exceeds three seasons and in all of them it seems to think about the end before developing the idea. And all, The Leftovers (2014-2017), Watchmen (2019) and Mrs. Davis, move in a universe that more than fantastic realism is realistic fantasy.
The sublime The Leftovers was the reflection of Lost: one was about those who disappear, the other about those who are waiting for the return of the disappeared. In Watchmen he dared to shake the mythology of one of the most revered comics of the last 30 years. He moved the action to Oklahoma, apparently to be able to begin by crudely recreating one of the darkest and most hidden episodes in the history of the United States in the twentieth century: the Tulsa Massacre. In two days in 1921, between 36 and 300 black citizens (the figures are still disputed) were murdered over two days and their neighborhood wiped off the map. Shortly after that reality bath it made squid rain, literally.
The character of Masked Justice, in the HBO series 'Watchmen'. HBO
Mrs. Davis, a single season of eight chapters on HBO Max, already borders on the most absolute delirium. And it does so with such grace and so few complexes, that once you realize that everything is possible it is difficult to stop seeing it. The argument is as rare as it is easy to explain. In the near future, a nun, Simone (Betty Gilpin), aims to take down an artificial intelligence that dominates the world. That artificial intelligence, Mrs. Davis, seems to be pure kindness. Through an app it makes everyone's life easier and has ended hunger and wars. But its omnipresence has stripped humans of all decision-making capacity, has turned them into puppets. Some, the least, resist its influence. But Simone's motive is more personal: guilt over her father's death.
Trying to narrate the adventures of the nun to achieve her goal is impossible. Insane excursions in Scotland, Rome or Spain. Secret societies, the Holy Grail, many bloody deaths, killer whales, mad scientists and even kittens.
But, the interesting thing about Lindelof, this time working halfway with Tara Hernández (The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon), is that he takes the opportunity to leave depth charges in the meantime. That almost always revolve around the same thing: love and its nature. The things we do out of love, why we love who we do. The love of a couple or the complicated relationships between parents and children. It's all in Mrs. Davis. And in this case, moreover, faith as a form of love. Even if it is with a tone of comedy, rarely has something so difficult to explain as the love of a nun for Jesus Christ been so understandable. And the weaknesses of the son of God, who, let us not forget, was human. Here he is a very nice guy, whom his wife, the nun Simone, calls J, and who has a restaurant where he cooks some delicious falafels. It sounds delusional, already. That's its charm.
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