Diksha Sundriyal
Peacock’s ‘Mrs. Davis’ is a sci-fi drama that bends and breaks the rules of the genre to tell a fun story that keeps the audience engaged till the very end. It is set in a world where an algorithm called Mrs. Davis has taken over the world. Instead of world dominance, the algorithm has focused on making the world a better place. It has given purpose to everyone, giving a direction to the life of people, steering them towards better things. This has led to the end of war and poverty in the world. Who wouldn’t want that?
While it’s clear that Mrs. Davis is an artificial intelligence that has become self-aware and is constantly evolving, the question about its origins isn’t touched upon in the show. In the last episode, we find out the true purpose of the algorithm. If you want to know more about who created Mrs. Davis and why, we’ve got you covered. SPOILERS AHEAD
The Genesis of Mrs. Davis
Mrs. Davis was made by a programmer named Joy in 2013. It started as an app that was aimed at 100 percent customer satisfaction. Joy had been working on the algorithm for a while before she presented it to the potential investors. She tailored it according to Buffalo Chicken Wings, where she pitched the idea for the app. The company wanted a simple and effective app to cater to its customer base. What Joy brought them was a complex algorithm way out of their league.
Joy had created a program that would gather data from its users and, through it, find out what they want. This would personalize the algorithm for every user, making it a more intimate experience for them. As the algorithm understood more about people and humanity, it could be used to tailor quests and purposes for them, giving them a direction to focus their energies. This is exactly how Mrs. Davis eventually evolves, but the Buffalo Chicken Wings company rejects it because it is too advanced for what they want.
Realizing that no company like that would want her algorithm, Joy puts it in the public domain. Once it catches on, Mrs. Davis quickly takes over everything, going beyond what Joy had expected. However, it does remain true to its roots. It aims for 100 percent customer satisfaction because that was the baseline for the app. The wings it bestows on its followers were initially intended as chicken wings that the app user would order. Along the same line, the expiration date corresponds to the coupons one can redeem until a given date.
The Mysterious Code: 1042 Sandy Springs
While talking to Mrs. Davis, Simone notices something on several occasions. Whenever the algorithm uses the word “mother,” it glitches and plays “1042 Sandy Springs” on a loop. Then, when Simone finds the Holy Grail, the algorithm has its followers sing Electric Avenue to her. This is when Simone puts it all together and realizes that it is an address. Because the glitch always came when the algorithm talked about “mother,” she deduces that it must be the address of Mrs. Davis’ mother, i.e., the person who made the algorithm.
When Simone finds the address, she is proven right. It is Joy’s address. After a conversation with her, Simone discovers the true purpose and origins of the algorithm, which convinces her further that Mrs. Davis isn’t as wise and all-knowing as everybody believes it to be. The Holy Grail the algorithm sent Simone after wasn’t exactly what it was looking for.
Joy reveals that while writing the code, she made one thing the app’s cornerstone. It was aimed at “100 percent customer satisfaction”, and Joy called that part of the code “the holy grail” because that’s what the app was essentially about. Being a program, Mrs. Davis didn’t understand that “the holy grail” was just a phrase us describe the code. When it realized that it could never reach 100 percent customer satisfaction because there’d always be people like Simone and Wiley who didn’t like it.
Mrs. Davis wanted to be free of this part of its code, but it misinterpreted “the holy grail” with the actual Holy Grail. It believed that if the Grail was destroyed, it would be free of the “customer satisfaction” thing. When Simone discovers this, she feels like a fool for having chased after the Grail. But she also realizes just how stupid Mrs. Davis can be and how this sort of misinterpretation can cause trouble. So, she decided to end the algorithm.
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