• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 19, 2023

A nun on a white horse who has an uncanny ability to ferret out magician-con men is asked by an all-knowing AI super-entity to go on humankind’s most legendary quest for a sacred object whose existence has been rumored for centuries, but never proven.

That over-long sentence sums up the scenario of the new Peacock thriller “Mrs. Davis,” which starts streaming with its first four episodes on Thursday.

Sound complicated? It really isn’t. Sound implausible? Not particularly.

Credit for turning this story -- which may have been a complicated, implausible mess -- into a series that is entertaining from start to finish goes to executive producers Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez.

He is best known for “The Watchmen” and “The Leftovers” on HBO. Her best-known credits are “Young Sheldon” and “The Big Bang Theory.”

The NBCU streaming service already has the TV Blog’s best-reviewed new series of 2023, “Poker Face.” “Mrs. Davis” is another feather in its plumage.

In “Poker Face,” Natasha Lyonne stars as a young, rootless woman who stumbles into situations where murders have been committed and then solves them with the help of a unique skill -- her uncanny ability to always tell when someone is lying.

In a way, the nun of “Mrs. Davis” -- Sister Simone (played by Betty Gilpin, above photo center) -- is similarly endowed.

Her talent is an ability to peel off the veneer of elaborate cons and expose them as mere magic tricks.

This skill is revealed early in the first episode of “Mrs. Davis.” And it informs some of the decisions she makes and the ruses she uncovers as her story unfolds.

By the time Episode One is over, we are still left with a great many gaps in Sister Simone’s backstory.

But watching the show is too much fun to think too deeply about that, especially when there are motorcycle chases and sword fights to watch.

The show begins with a bloody scene in a French convent in 1307 and then fast-forwards to 2023, and the rescue of a man marooned on a tiny island for 10 years.

Here in the real world, artificial intelligence has not yet taken over our lives, but in “Mrs. Davis,” an AI entity referred to mainly as She has a presence in the lives of everyone.

She can be benevolent or malevolent depending on the situation, but either way, Sister Simone has no patience with She, and has no desire to make her acquaintance. 

So, the question lingers in the air: Is She a real algorithmic force that knows the life histories and motivations of everyone -- or is she just an elaborate con based on magic tricks?

Sister Simone seems determined to find out.

“Mrs. Davis” starts streaming with the first four episodes on Thursday, April 20, on Peacock.