Okay, We Need To Talk About The Sisters Of The Coin And The Shoe Commercial On Mrs. Davis
This post contains spoilers through the fifth episode of "Mrs. Davis."
Remember how the first scene in the first episode of "Mrs. Davis" appeared to take place in 1307 where nuns fight off some medieval dudes who are seeking the holy grail? It was an unexpected opening for a show that takes place in the present day and is named after a pervasive algorithm that billions of people follow, but at the end of the show's fourth episode, we find out that the opening sequence of the series is, in the world of "Mrs. Davis," a television commercial for a British Knights sneaker. It's enough to make you think, "What the f*** is going on with this show?"
The show's fifth episode — "A Great Place to Drink to Gain Control of Your Drink" — brings context (bizarre context, but context nonetheless) as to why this shoe commercial exists, and why it's locked up in the Vatican. The answer has a lot to do with the Sisters of the Coin, the holy grail, and the red-headed Clara (Mathilde Ollivier, aka the last person known to be in possession of the aforementioned grail).
Confused? Don't worry, Dr. Schrodinger (Ben Chaplin) is here to tell us (and characters Simone and Wiley) what the hell is going on.
It's all about exposure, baby
When Simone (Betty Gilpin) and Wiley (Jake McDorman) track down Schrodinger, who is back on his remote island even though we saw him rescued in the first episode, the doctor sets the two straight about the deal with the commercial. It all started back in the early '80s with a young Clara, the daughter of Mathilde (Katja Herbers) who goes with her mom to a Sisters of the Coin meeting. Clara gets inducted into the organization when she sneaks away from her mother and sees the grail, and we flash forward to when Clara is grown and a reluctant part of the organization.
The Sisters are responsible for protecting the holy grail and keeping it happy, and keeping the sacred relic in a good mood is no small task. Each year, the grail must be seen by a certain percentage of humanity, and as the population grows, that task has become harder and harder for the Sisters. Mathilde has an idea, however — what if the grail is part of a commercial for a famous shoe brand, in this case, British Knight? Millions would then see the grail, making the Sisters' efforts much easier in the long run. Mathilde clearly has cinematic ambitions and spends millions on getting the commercial made, with Clara in the lead role.
If no one sees a commercial, does it truly exist?
We get to see the ending of the commercial in this episode, which entails Clara donning the sneakers and, wait for it, running on water away from the men chasing her for the grail. They shoot the scene, the grail in Clara's hands, and she falls off the glass walkway just under the lake giving her the illusion of walking on water. It's while she's under that she manages to switch out the grail with a replica (with the help of a bitter Father Ziegler played by Tom Wlaschiha), and the Sisters of the Coin are none the wiser.
After months of effort, Mathilde's artistic vision is complete and she presents her oeuvre to the executives of the British Knights brand. The executives are ... less than thrilled with the work. Mathilde, it seems, had only talked to an intern at the company and never gotten their blessing (pun intended, sorry) for the project. They pass, the commercial can never be aired, and the holy grail is deprived of all those people gazing upon its glory.
New episodes of "Mrs. Davis" become available on Peacock on Thursdays.