Diksha Sundriyal
Peacock’s ‘Mrs. Davis’ begins as the story of a nun who wants to kill the eponymous AI, which has taken over the world. Her ex-boyfriend, Wiley, shares her sentiments and decides to follow her on a quest to find and destroy the Holy Grail. Should Simone succeed, the AI has promised to shut itself down. This is motivation enough for Simone, who blames the algorithm for her father’s death.
The search takes her to London, the Vatican, and then an island in the middle of the ocean, where a man, who has been stranded for over a decade, tells her where to find the grail and how to, theoretically, destroy it. While this is a significant development, it comes with severe consequences. What will the destruction of the Holy Grail mean for Simone and Wiley? Let’s find out.
Clara’s Tragic Experiment with the Holy Grail
When Simone sets out to find the grail, she discovers that the last person to possess it is a woman named Clara. The fifth episode gives a complete history of the mysterious red-headed woman, including her surprising connection with Simone and Wiley. Clara had been a part of the Sisters of the Coin, tasked with maintaining and safekeeping the Holy Grail. For years, Clara did as she was asked, trying to earn her mother’s affection, who loved the grail more than her own daughter.
Eventually, Clara, with the commercial as the cover, steals the grail and teams up with her father, Dr. Schrodinger, to figure out a way to destroy her. Nothing works. Eventually, there is only one thing left to do. Clara wonders if the most important rule of not sipping from the grail was made to keep the grail safe. What if this is the only way to destroy the thing? With no other option in sight, she drinks from the grail, and her head explodes.
Schrodinger tells Simone and Wiley about the mouse who once drank from the grail and died and was then eaten by Apollo, his cat. This happened over a decade ago, and the cat is still alive and well, when it should have died years ago. The scientist has a theory. Whoever drinks from the grail will die. Whoever consumes the dead person will get immunity against whatever the grail does to make people’s heads explode. The mouse died, but the cat got a longer life, possibly immortality. The same could happen for people too.
When Clara died, Schrodinger donated her liver, which was transplanted to Simone and Wiley. She was the mouse, and they are the cat. Theoretically, they must be immune to the grail’s lethal effects. This means that they can drink from the grail, and this time, the grail will be destroyed instead of them. However, the theory hasn’t been tested, so there’s no way to know for sure if it’ll work. Still, they have to try, which means that Simone or Wiley will have to risk getting their head exploded. One of them will have to entertain the idea of death.
When they both realize what needs to be done, Wiley is skeptical, but Simone is sure. This means that when the time comes, she will not hesitate to drink from the grail. However, there is a good chance that Wiley will not let her go forward with it. Even though he has his suspicions about the plan, he will insist on being the one who takes the risk. We already know that Wiley has an expiration date. He got it tattooed on his chest in exchange for getting the wings from Mrs. Davis. He is already living on borrowed time. He is also in love with Simone, which means he wouldn’t want to watch her head explode.
While they haven’t discussed it yet, the debate will happen somewhere down the line, with both of them wanting to do it and spare the other one. How it turns out remains to be seen, but until the final episode, the odds of either of them dying remains 50-50. Considering what happened with Clara and how indestructible the Holy Grail has proven to be, the scales are tipped against Simone and Wiley.
Read More: Mrs. Davis Episode Episode 5 Recap and Ending, Explained
