Warrior Nun

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I knew that whatever I watched after Dark would hit me the wrong way.  It’s like having a 7 course meal then following it up with anything else… it just doesn’t work.

Warrior Nun is a Netflix series based on a Canadian comic book.  Maybe inspired is the better term.  Concept is interesting, there’s a single nun who’s given a halo which provide immortality, quick, healing, added strength, and some extra host-specific abilities.  The lead character here can levitate.  The kick here is that the person chosen for this is more happenstance, and they are reluctant to take on the mantle.  Fish out of water I guess.

The challenges I have with this is that every trope you can think of is used here.  And the first 6 episodes don’t actually do anything.  Sorry, they do, but it’s the same story beats – girl avoids her role and runs away.  At 45m per episode, it’s a massive waste of time.

Episode 7 actually has progress, and feels more like the Flash series by then, at least in terms of team/story building.  Episode 8 somehow has an epiphany moment – a moment which seems like the only reasonable approach.  It isn’t egregious here.  Game of Thrones is a recent example of just mind blowingly poor character decisions.  That’s refreshing.

The lore/world building has a tad too much Dan Brown for me.  Where there’s exposition for the sake of exposition.  It doesn’t appear to serve a purpose.  There are exceptions – in particular one see that advances the persecution of individuals deemed different.   It also, very briefly, touches on the curse of immortality.

There’s no reading between the lines, every card is on the table and you can see the chain of events well before they occur.  You may be impatient waiting for it to occur, but it will.

In that sense, Warrior Nun’s major challenge is managing pace of story.  Once things get moving, it’s good.  One of those shows you can put on while you’re doing something else.

10 thoughts on “Warrior Nun”

      • I’ve watched the last one, and yeah, there’s a plot twist. I’m kind of the mind that this plot twist should have been a mid-season item and they could have ignored that whole “teenage grifters” plotline that lead nowhere.

        Maybe there’s an explanation somewhere else in the future to explain the plot holes that allow this twist to exist. I’m certainly curious to see where the world-building goes, but given Netflix’ penchant to end series after 2-3 seasons, the pace here has to change dramatically.

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      • Agreed. It seemed they tried to put a little too much emphasis on teenage girl finally gets to see the world, acts very selfish, sees what really happening then changes her attitude. Only thing I can think is they are part of season 2

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      • I have gotten spoiled with finding a new show and getting to watch several seasons. Warrior Nun might have been one to hold off until season 2 had dropped. That said, I’m hoping Old Guard gets turned into more of a Highlander type series.

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  2. I was reading about this one the other day. It was described as the spiritual successor to Buffy, which is one of those tags like “the new Dylan” or “today’s Catcher in the Rye” that’s far more of a curse than a compliment. It’s on Netflix so i can’t watch it, not having a sub, but I probably would if could. The whole nun thing is kind of offputting, though.

    As for slow build-ups, the most astonishing example of that I’ve seen is Colak and Dagger, which is quite literally two full seasons of origin story. I really liked that show because of the characters but in terms of plotting it literally never gets past what would in most shows be the first couple of episodes. The ending is breathtakingly ironic, with the closing scene of the very last episode finally settling the two leads into the roles the characters were so clearly created to fill – a superhero duo with names, costumes and a mission…. And then they cancelled the show!

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