Los Angeles Times

'Mrs. Davis' review: Betty Gilpin brilliantly battles artificial intelligence

Betty Gilpin, left, as Simone and Jake McDorman as Wiley in " Mrs. Davis."

In the marvelous "Mrs. Davis" (Peacock, premiering Thursday), Betty Gilpin plays Sister Simone, formerly called Lizzie, a member of an order of nuns based in a repurposed motel outside of Reno, Nevada.

She has a sideline in busting "wayward magicians" who use their knowledge to run scams, and we will learn, after a while, that she is herself the daughter of magicians: Monty (David Arquette), who performed, and Celeste (Elizabeth Marvel), who created his illusions. One might think for a minute we're about to see another secret-identity comic-book heroine at work, but what follows is far less usual. Indeed, what follows is — among many other things — a kind of critique of predictability.

Before we meet Simone, as she comes out of the night on horseback, we have

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