Mrs. Davis Ep. 107 Recap “Great Gatsby 2001: A Space Odyssey”
Moby-Dick, the Holy Grail, and the Selfless Nature of True Love
After retrieving the Lazarus Shroud, Simone, Celeste, and Schrödinger set sail to retrieve the Holy Grail from a Sperm Whale (very Moby-Dick). Wiley, facing his imminent expiration date, makes a deal with Mrs. Davis that will have a profound effect on the Resistance. We finally discover what the Holy Grail really is.
“All My Means are Sane, My Motive and my Object Mad” (Moby-Dick)
The episode begins with Simone, Wiley, Celeste, and Schödinger getting ready to set sail to retrieve the Holy Grail from a sperm whale. The episode is clearly inspired by Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, a novel that serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of human obsession. In the novel, Captain Ahab’s single-minded pursuit of Moby-Dick becomes an all-consuming obsession that ultimately leads to his own destruction and the deaths of most of the crew. Simone’s obsession with the Holy Grail mirrors Captain Ahab’s obsession with Moby-Dick. But will her quest end the same way?Before leaving, Simone cuffs Wiley to a bench on the harbor. This is her quest, not his. She is the hero, he is the love interest of this story.
Note: By the way, this scene was probably shot in Bermeo, in the Basque Country, since the bench where Wiley is cuffed mentions the 1912 storm that cause the death of 127 sailors of the coast of the town.
A Symbol Within a Symbol (or a Grail Within a Whale)
Not to get too deep here into the waters of literary criticism, but it is remarkable how the creators of the show have managed in this episode to hide a symbol within a symbol (the Holy Grail within Moby-Dick). Moby-Dick is a novel filled with symbolism, and many scholars have debated the meaning of the book and, in particular the meaning of the whale over the years. In his book "Why Read Moby-Dick?", Nathaniel Philbrick argues that the novel is a meditation on the American experience and the country's relationship with the sea. He suggests that the characters and events in the book are symbolic of larger American themes, such as Manifest Destiny and the struggle between individualism and community.
The great critic Harold Bloom suggests that the novel is a meditation on the nature of language, literature, and storytelling, and that it ultimately asks readers to confront the limits of human knowledge and understanding. And Tony Tanner argues that the novel is an exploration of the limits of human power and the destructive consequences of pride and ambition. He suggests that the characters and events in the book are symbolic of larger human themes, such as the struggle between good and evil and the dangers of hubris.
So the whale is not really a whale, just like the Holy Grail is not just the Holy Grail, they are symbols… And what is a symbol, you might ask? (I am a professor of religion after all) A symbol is an object, image, or idea that represents something else, often something abstract or intangible. C.G. Jung, viewed symbols as expressions of the collective unconscious, a shared realm of psychological experience that is common to all humans. The power of symbols lies on the fact that they have a transcendent quality, and can reveal deep truths about the psyche and the human experience. Mircea Eliade, a Romanian historian of religion (and one of fathers of modern religious studies), argued that symbols have the power to transform the individual or the community, connecting them with a larger, transcendent reality.
Moby-Dick or the Holy Grail are powerful not because of what they are, but for what they represent. Symbols can be seen as a way to connect with the unconscious and to access its hidden depths. Symbols can reveal important aspects of the self that may be unconscious or repressed, helping us to gain insight into our own psychological makeup and to work through emotional or psychological issues. Symbols can also help us transcend the limitations of the ego and to connect with something larger than the self. By tapping into the power of symbols, individuals could experience a sense of unity, meaning, and purpose that could help them to navigate the challenges of life. Symbols, and our quest for them, can give us purpose...
There is no Folly of the Beast of the Earth which is not Infinitely Outdone by the Madness of Man (Moby-Dick)
Back on the boat, Simone and Schödinger explain Celeste and the rest of the crew their plan to retrieve the Holy Grail from the stomach of the whale. It is all so silly, crazy, and preposterous that it is also quite funny. Another example of the “high-low” Lindelof has discussed in several interviews: something so pretentious (a take on Melville’s Moby-Dick) that is stupid (retrieving the Holy Grail from the whale’s stomach).
Simone pays a quick visit to Jay/Jesus at the metaphysical café and things are not great. The café is flooding, and Jay/Jesus tells her that it is because of her quest. Jay/Jesus asks her (commands her) to stop the quest but Simone refuses (she is a strong-willed woman who does not believe that love equals submission). She is going to finish her quest…
When the whale finally shows up, so do Mathilde and Father Ziegler on another boat, who are also looking to recover the Grail (and Clara in the case of Mathilde, who she doesn’t know is dead). The whale destroys their boat and they have to be rescued by Simone and the others.
Simone gets in the suit (which involves getting laced with a tranquilizer goop) and is swallowed by the whale (I can’t believe how silly it sounds when I type this). Once inside the whale, Simone visits the Café, but Jay/Jesus is nowhere to be seen. The door that leads to “the boss/God” is open, so Simone goes in there and finds Jay/Jesus dead in a shroud. We also discover that who is hiding behind the door, the boss, is not God but the Virgin Mary (“Hello Simone, I am your Mother-in-Law” she says). She was the one who wanted Simone to destroy the Holy Grail. Mary chose Simone not because of her liver (transplanted from Clara), but because of her love for Jesus. Love is the antidote… very Christian.
We Finally Learn what the Grail is…
Here we also discover the truth of the Grail. The Grail is not the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper and that Joseph of Arimathea used to collect Jesus's blood at the cross, but the skull of Christ! I know, this is shocking, but not totally out of the realm of possibility in the context ore religious practice. In the Indian and Tibetan traditions, we have ritual objects made of human parts, including thigh bones as trumpets and, you guessed it, human skulls used for rituals, known as kapala. I know, I know, how can they, etc. (the Virgin Mary herself says “You must think this is sick, how could you not?”). But may I remind you that the actual ritual of the Eucharist is the consumption of the body and the blood of Christ? (If you are Catholic this is not a symbolic ingestion but a real one due to transubstantiation). And Christians have also used human remains as objects of adoration for centuries (relics), so let’s withhold judgement here.
We also learn that the café is a metaphysical in-between space where Jesus gets to serve those who believe in him (those who love him), but he is also trapped there. As the Virgin Mary puts it “my son loves to serve, but he never gets to eat… I can see it in his eyes, he is in pain.” By destroying the Grail, Jesus will be liberated from the café, he will be free too. But there are consequences to that too, Simone will not be able to see him again). To drink from the Grail is a test of selflessness and love. In many ways, the scene is a take of the “Jesus is Love” with a sprinkle of the notion of sacrifice: if Simone loves Jesus, she needs to let him go. The reveal is quite moving. The show’s conceit is pretty insane, as it is the plot of the episode, but it is also a moving reflection on love and faith. The love of a mother for her child, and the faith of humans in the divine.
I have to say, I found the reveal quite moving, and it makes me wonder if whoever advised the creators of the show had a Buddhist/Hindu scholarly background (this is me pitching myself as a future advisor to Lindelof’s shows).
Viva la Resistance!
While Simone is on her quest for the Grail, Wiley is rescued from that bench to which Simone cuffed him by the Prime Minister of Spain! (we actually have Presidents and not Prime Ministers… so I guess Mrs. Davis does not know everything after all) who proxies for Mrs. Davis and tells Wiley that his off the grid computer server has been actually hacked by the algorithm. Mrs. Davis also pushes Wiley to do her bidding by calling him a coward, the only thing that seems to activate Wiley to do anything (very Back to the Future… “I am not a chicken” bit). Poor Wiley, he is the victim of his own fragile masculinity. Wiley knows it is all a ruse, but he goes along nonetheless. He convinces JQ that they need to destroy their HQ nonetheless. Wiley has also decided to honor his expiration date with Mrs. Davis, and this final meeting with the Resistance is his way to express the love he has for this uniquely silly and ridiculous group of men. Another high-low of the show. A very preposterous scene that manages to be moving quite moving. Men should also be able to express the love they have for other men. Vive la Resistance Motherfuckers!
The episode ends with Simone washed out on the shore having secure the Grail. She is quickly surrounded by a threatening group go beach goers who start creepily singing to her “Electric Avenue” by To Kool Chris, because why not?
And we only have one episode left! Will Simone destroy the Grail? Will Wiley go through his expiration date? Who will win in the Mrs. Davis vs. Simone battle? We’ll get our answers next week.