Mrs. Davis' Creators Were 'Terrified' Of This Simone & Celeste Scene In The Finale

Contains spoilers for "Mrs. Davis" episode 8, "The Final Intercut: So I'm Your Horse" 

Wiley's (Jake McDorman) story arc in the "Mrs. Davis" finale may be all about rediscovering his sense of self-worth with Mrs. Davis' peculiar rollercoaster method, but ultimately, the episode is all about mothers and their offspring. Not only are we introduced to Mrs. Davis' "mother" Joy (Ashley Romans), but Simone (Betty Gilpin) finally deals with her own mommy issues and unravels the falafel joint purgatory Mary (Shohreh Aghdashloo) has imposed on Jay (Andy McQueen). 

Fittingly, the episode culminates in the final face-off between Simone and Mrs. Davis, as channeled by Simone's stern mother Celeste (Elizabeth Marvel). There's a lot of baggage between all parties, here. Apart from the obvious conflict between the nun and the algorithm, Simone and Celeste have been at odds over the fate of Simone's father (David Arquette) for years, and it's not until his true end (a badly thought-out resurrection trick featuring a piano) and actual accomplice (Mrs. Davis) are revealed that the mother and daughter are able to patch things up. 

Despite the potential for fireworks, the usually bombastic show puts aside its usual madness and delivers a quiet, melancholy conversation scene that leads to Simone turning off Mrs. Davis with little fuss. Because the nuanced, almost gentle scene carries the entire show on its shoulders, the makers were appropriately concerned about its execution. 

"If you talk about landing, we were always heading towards a mother-daughter, collective proxy scene," co-writer and showrunner Tara Hernandez told Syfy. "But, the journey has to earn that and it has to feel that this is absolutely the right way to have Simone's final moments with Mrs. Davis in the show and with her mom. We were incredibly terrified of that scene."

To ensure that everything in the pivotal scene went well and delivered the right message, Tara Hernandez revealed that it was shot twice. 'We had two goes at it because it's just that important as an encapsulation of this moment," she explained. "It really distills down to Simone's decision to continue her initial proclamation and turn the algorithm off. But it had to feel earned and it had to feel difficult. It's looking at Celeste's face and passing that judgment of saying, 'It's okay, I think we're all better off. Thank you for giving us what you gave us. But, we got this now.'" 

As Hernandez went on to say, they managed to pull off what they set out to do with the scene, to the point that the end result is a point of pride for the makers of the show. According to "Mrs. Davis" producer and director of "The Final Intercut: So I'm Your Horse," Owen Harris, a large part of the scene's charm was its relatively simple, everyday nature — which is particularly noticeable considering the many ambitious set-pieces and wild moments in "Mrs. Davis" — and the way it conveys change. 

"It was mundane," he said about the ending of "Mrs. Davis." "It's disarming. You don't necessarily feel like something's been resolved but the pieces have been moved on. That, just in itself, creates a sense of resolution that this stalemate doesn't have to last. You can change. You can adapt."

Mrs. Davis may have been shut down, but the ending makes sure to show that for many people — pretty much everyone in the world, in fact — a new era has just started. It remains to be seen whether we'll ever get a "Mrs. Davis" Season 2, but the show's strange world clearly isn't short of stories even without the titular algorithm.