While Sister Shannon Masters might have remained as the central figure of Ben Dunn’s manga-style comic book series, Warrior Nun Areala, audiences watching the Netflix adaptation from Simon Barry are given a new (albeit reluctant) heroine in the form of Ava Silva (Portuguese actress Alba Baptista, who doesn’t look unlike Millie Bobby Brown). Condemned to an orphanage in Spain at the age of seven, Ava lost her mother in a car accident that also left her completely paralyzed at the quadriplegic level. The head nun at the orphanage, Sister Frances (Frances Tomelty), is predictably cruel toward her, constantly telling her she’s worthless and never lifts a finger (something Ava claps back at by learning how to flip the bird with a little bit of concentration and determination–the sort of willfulness she can only conjure when she really wants something). Sister Frances also keeps goading her about how she’ll age out of the orphanage soon and have no one to turn to, a fact that this “holy” woman seems to take a sadistic pleasure in.
Ava’s unexpected death before being summarily ejected from the orphanage leaves her body unattended inside of a church where the Order of the Cruciform Sword, led by a fatally wounded Sister Shannon (Melina Matthews), infiltrates as a port in the storm to extract the halo from their leader’s back. As the group tries to hide from their demonic enemy, an abrupt turn of events after the removal of the halo from Sister Shannon leads one of the nuns to place it inside of Ava’s corpse for “storage” while the fight rages on. Unbeknownst to them, this awakens Ava anew, as she screams the same way a freshly born baby might at the sensation of being alive again, and rightly so. For the burden she must now bear is inescapable–try as she might at the beginning to convince herself otherwise with garden variety reckless behavior that is on-brand for a late-blooming teenager (with Ava just within range of “teendom” at nineteen).
Being in Andalusia doesn’t help her rein in her urges (beauty and temptation being around every corner), least of all when it comes to diving into the nearest pool to give herself a “shock to the senses” to see if it’s all real. Problem is, she realizes once she’s already jumped in that she never learned how to swim. Fortunately, JC (Emilio Sakraya)–yes, her version of “Jesus Christ” in this instance–comes to her rescue, fishing her out of the pool and soon explaining to her that he’s part of a quartet of “opportunists” who hack into rich people’s calendars to ascertain when they won’t be home so that they can take advantage of the deluxe free lodging (richies, after all, never bother with plebeian endeavors like Airbnb’ing a joint). His cohorts, Chanel (May Simón Lifschitz), Zori (Charlotte Vega) and Randall (Dimitri Abold), aren’t as enthusiastic about inviting a stranger into the fold–especially one so patently odd, for Ava’s inexperience manifests in the most “Martian” of ways, as though she’s never really been to Planet Earth… is not quite of this world. And, for the most part, she isn’t, having been locked away for the majority of her life. One supposes that’s why she had the required level of innocence to possess the halo. At the same time, she’s not so virtuous as to avoid the petulance and selfishness inherent in never having to, as Sister Frances previously said, lift a finger or consider anyone else outside the confines of her bed. This doesn’t make it easy for the remaining OCS members, Sister Mary (Toya Turner), Sister Camile (Olivia Delcán), Sister Lilith (Lorena Andrea) and Sister Beatrice (Kristina Tonteri-Young), to get her to come around to the idea of fulfilling her ostensible destiny. Instead, she would rather muck about arbitrarily and enjoy the formerly rare privilege of having full use of her arms and legs.
Yet try as Ava might to disavow her obvious fate, she is very literally marked by the circular halo imprint on her back. What’s more, as Shakespeare once noted, “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” Those devils include not only the persistent wraith demons, but also a Tarask, classified as a higher-up demon in the annals of Hell that hasn’t been seen in the earthly realm for centuries. Its presence doesn’t bode well for Ava’s attempts to ignore that there is a bounty on her head. And it’s not just the Catholic Church and Hell itself after her, but also the world of science–represented by Jillian Salvius (Thekla Reuten), the head of Arq-Tech. In the comics, she took the form of Julius Salvius, who comes across as much more diabolical than Jillian in the show so far. But based on what happens to her in season one, we’ll have to wait and see just how crazed she becomes.
With each episode named after a very specific passage in the Bible that tailors itself to the theme of the narrative, we begin with Psalm 46:5: “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” The break of day turns out to be her sudden rebirth, whether she wanted it or not–and, as Ava points out to Father Vincent (Tristan Ulloa), her Miyagi-type instructor, maybe Areala simply would’ve preferred to die in battle rather than be resurrected by an angel named Adriel (William Miller) in the origin story of how the OCS was formed. But choice or consent have never really been words associated with the teachings of the Church. Episode two, Proverbs 31: 25, reveals the quote, “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” Such is the Simba-esque feeling of Ava laughing in the face of danger, feeling invincible with her newfound strength as she romps around with JC and his crew, crashing a party at Arq-Tech.
Episode three, Ephesians 6:11, changes tack with, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Yet Ava is still not ready just yet to put on that full armor, resisting her fate even after being taken to the “Cat’s Cradle,” the secluded monastery where the OCS trains in how to vanquish demons. Ecclesiasticus 26:9-10 starts to take a more annoyed tone with Ava via the sentiment, “The whoredom of a woman may be known in her haughty looks and eyelids. If thy daughter be shameless, keep her in straitly, lest she abuse herself through overmuch liberty.” For she’s run away from the OCS again and back into the arms of her obvious crush, JC. Only this time, his friends are even less welcoming, for Jillian showed up to the house they were planning to stay at and informed them of her desire to be contacted whenever Ava returns again.
In episode five, Matthew 7:13, we’re offered the wisdom, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Ava definitely seems to prefer the wide one as she runs away with JC on a boat, hoping to deter Mary and Lilith from her scent, though both women have very different reasons for wanting to apprehend her. In Lilith’s case, it is her desire to take the halo back for herself, as it was always rightfully intended, whereas for Mary, it is to ensure that Ava keeps the halo and finally surrenders to doing what she was meant to with it.
In episode six, Isaiah 30:20-21, we’re told, “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” Mary is the one to show Ava that way by inveigling her to a remote village where the OCS recently took out a massive scale of demon possession. Moved by the people there, and the potential she might have in doing the same good, Ava starts gradually to warm to the idea of the halo. But, once again, she’s taking way too goddamn long to idle in her selfishness, in the idea of what she could do with her freedom rather than concern herself with the souls of others.
Still unconvinced of her path in Ephesians 4:22-24, Ava needs to be informed, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Even so, she seeks more scientific answers from Dr. Salvius.
With Proverbs 14:1, Ava finally processes, “The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” Yet as she begins to come around with her own sense of free will, the re-materialization of Lilith after a jaunt in Hell starts to throw the order off even more. By the penultimate episode, 2 Corinthians 10:4, the OCS has made it clear to Ava: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
So it is that by Revelation 2:10, the very packed with revelations finale, Ava is faced with a plight unlike any Warrior Nun before her. Hence the advice contained within this passage of the Bible being: “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”
We’ll see if that ten days element becomes manifest in season two. But in the meantime, after reconciling that, through everything, she has never known anything as close to a family as the Order of the Cruciform Sword, Ava decides to Surrender Dorothy, as it were–even if it means never knowing if she’ll be vindicated “in this life or the next.” To give in to the determinism of her existence the way Jonas and Martha must in Dark. To, at long last, acknowledge that there is something greater, more important than herself. It is, believe it or not, an epiphany that many have yet to fathom, thus the defunct state of humanity.
