Mrs. Davis: A Great Place to Drink to Gain Control of Your Drink

April 27, 2023 10:48 AM - Season 1, Episode 5

Simone and Wiley learn the truth about Clara, the red-haired woman, from an enigmatic new source.
posted by ellieBOA (10 comments total)

This episode felt like a giant expository dump for a baroque puzzle box story, but it managed to be fun to watch because of the quirky performances.

Wiley's "I KNEW it!" gag got funnier every time.
posted by peeedro at 6:17 PM on April 28, 2023 [7 favorites]

The, uh, moment at the rocket restaurant genuinely surprised me.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:51 AM on April 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

"Whatever it takes."
posted by jazon at 12:53 PM on April 29, 2023

It did answer a lot of questions, but I don't see how drinking from the chalice would let you destroy it. On the other hand, Dad mentioned that the Vatican knows how to do the deed. Maybe they should try asking someone there?
posted by Spike Glee at 8:03 AM on May 1, 2023

This episode felt like a giant expository dump for a baroque puzzle box story

I think that's maybe a...good sign? I do love Lost and The Leftovers, but I think it's interesting to open the mystery box at the halfway mark and keep going even with all the cards on the table.
posted by Maecenas at 4:01 PM on May 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

Ok but… where did the shoes come from?? I can’t believe this is the thing I’m hung up on but, why are there thousands of pairs of shoes in the basement if the shoe company had no knowledge of this whole plan? Who manufactured them?
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:27 PM on May 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

The Grail turning out to be a third-rate SCP object is incredible
posted by BungaDunga at 6:55 PM on May 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

I really feel like this episode had to lot to say about stories and how they are processed in our modern culture. The impatience and speculation of the audience for the story being told says a lot about, well, forums like this discussing televisions shows episode by episode. And the shifting of the commercial into mythos, and the mythos into horror, and then back to a quest... there are things trying to be said here about narrative and audiences and participation and a bunch of other things. This episode to me felt very "literary" for whatever that might mean.
posted by hippybear at 6:14 PM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Holy shit.

I was telling my wife (who hasn't watched this show yet) about how the first, say, 15 minutes of the first episode are weirdly gory, and then the show doesn't seem to be going down that route after that (it's very much not her thing) and had been updating her as I got through it as to how Mrs.-Gazer-Friendly it is. That moment in this episode might have tipped the scales. But holy shit.

This was masterful. Yes, it was "an exposition dump" in some ways but no, it really wasn't. It was an episode devoted to telling the full story of a tertiary character in compelling, surprising ways that start to make some of the chaos that is the rest of this show come into some sort of order.

"Whatever it takes." Holy shit.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:05 PM on June 8, 2023

It started off with two incidents of silly gore in the first episode--what we now know is the commercial, and the magician who pretended to be decapitated. Both later were revealed as fake. Hmm...
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:24 AM on June 22, 2023