[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Mrs. Davis, Season 1 Episode 2, “Zwei Sie Piel mit Seitung Sie Wirtschaftung.”]
To list out the number of twists packed into the new Peacock series Mrs. Davis would take longer than watching the entire first season of Mrs. Davis. But one of the biggest surprises delivered by the series is the reveal of what’s going on whenever vengeful nun Simone (Betty Gilpin) finds herself in a mysterious restaurant occupied by Jay (Andy McQueen), with whom Simone clearly has a close relationship.
In these scenes, Simone and Jay clearly have romantic sparks, and then a few key lines of dialogue in Episode 2, “Zwei Sie Piel mit Seitung Sie Wirtschaftung,” expose the truth: Jay is Jesus, and “Falafel” (the creative team’s term for the restaurant where Jay resides) is a metaphorical space representing Simone in prayer.
Showrunner Tara Hernandez, who co-created the series with Damon Lindelof, tells Consequence that “when we knew that we wanted to center the series around a nun, I think both of us really wanted to make sure that this just wasn’t a character in a costume — that really to her core, and to her heart and soul, she embodied the vows that she had taken. And of course, many nuns are referred to as Brides of Christ. So for us it felt like, ‘What if we took that to its most literal extent? And we saw that relationship portrayed quite literally within the show?'”
Adds Hernandez, “Of course, it’s a very subversive idea, and it was terrifying.”
The idea came to Hernandez as she and Lindelof developed the show together in the early days of the pandemic — specifically during long phone conversations while walking their dogs in their respective neighborhoods. “I remember pitching the idea and Damon said, ‘I gotta call you back.’ And he hung up.”
Lindelof laughs as he recalls that moment. “Sometimes I just get so overwhelmed by something that I need to be in my own head with it. I remember exactly where I was standing when she first pitched this idea… And I just short-circuited. I was like, ‘I’m gonna call you back.'”
“To his credit,” Hernandez says, “He got back on the phone and said, ‘You know, let’s do it. What does this look like?'”
