Mrs. Davis’ holy love triangle opens up about romancing Jesus

polygon.com:

[Ed. note: This post contains some light spoilers for events in episode 6 of Mrs. Davis.]

It’s not often you’re having sex and are then magically transported to the diner where your husband is working. But then again, it’s not often that you’re a nun on a quest for the Holy Grail, having sex with your ex-boyfriend, only to find yourself magically transported to the spiritual diner where you meet your husband, Jesus Christ. That’s what makes the love triangle at the center of Mrs. Davis so tricky.

In episode 6, Simone (Betty Gilpin), neé Lizzie, is at her wit’s end after running into an obstacle on her quest, and winds up having sex with Wiley (Jake McDorman), her ex-boyfriend. During the act, she’s transported to the diner where she usually meets up with Jay (Andy McQueen), also known as Jesus Christ. Although she regularly goes to the diner, it’s the first time she’s there mid-coitous. The result is classic Mrs. Davis: zany, heartfelt, unexpected, and possibly vaguely sacrilegious. For Gilpin, it’s exactly what she wanted for Simone.

“I think that sometimes a modern writing overcorrect is: for a woman to be badass, she has to always have the answers, and always have status in the scene, and be super sarcastic and dry all the time. Nothing vulnerable about her — to kind of make up for all the years of us sobbing and cardigans with no answers and only vulnerability,” Gilpin says. She sees Simone’s backstory as being very much in line with that. “But her faith really dissolved one of those walls at least, and against the fiber of her being made her love the world and love Jesus and have this attachment and connection to the things that she had maybe spurned.”

Still: How do you sell a love story with Jesus Christ? By