I read Franz Kafka’s story about the hero’s transformation into a beetle long before I had any sense that the story was more widely known. I was a young student of the German language, so it was in German that I read it. Interestingly, though published in 1912, the story is available for free, in the original language, at project Gutenberg. (Project Gutenberg is an interesting story in its own right. The first ever publisher of ‘ebooks,’ Project Gutenberg has existed since 1971, and specializes in publishing copies of older works on which US copyright has expired or is no longer binding. It is a library of over 60,000 such works. In the case of Die Verwandlung, the book is available in html5, epub, Kindle and other formats. Here is the link to the PG site for a free copy of Kafka’s story.)
Technically, the German term (Ungeziefer) for the creature into which Gregor Samsa was transformed isn’t precisely translated into beetle, but he clearly had a hard back and great difficulty righting himself when on his back, as a beetle would.
I was thinking of Gregor Samsa because of a story that appeared in my Netflix feed recently. After experiencing a period of appreciation and love for a Brazilian YouTube webseries about a wonderful lesbian couple, I was looking for something new, and I found the Netflix production of Warrior Nun, where the title character experienced nearly as dramatic a transformation (albeit not into a creature). She was dead to begin the show. Then she wasn't.
I was pleased and intrigued to see that Christopher Reeves picked Warrior Nun as one of the best in television picks in his diary on Friday.
Here is his description of the show:
Netflix came back with Warrior Nun, season two. Yes, I know this isn’t going to make a lot of people’s top lists, but for me it is the perfect cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer season five and Angel season four. If you could mash those two seasons together, out would come Warrior Nun season two. Plenty of great action, unique locations, a fun plot, and a potential setup for a season three (please Netflix, give it to us!). Warrior Nun was a blast to watch.
I never saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never saw Angel. But I have seen Warrior Nun, and now the show lives in me, and I approve. I laughed, I cried, I laughed through tears, I cried through laughter. I watched with rapt attention. It makes my top list.
Here is the premise for the show, per wikipedia:
Warrior Nun revolves around the story of a 19-year-old woman who wakes up in a morgue with a new lease of life and a divine artifact embedded in her back. She discovers she is now part of the ancient Order of the Cruciform Sword that has been tasked with fighting demons on Earth, and powerful forces representing both heaven and hell want to find and control her.
Synopses just about always leave out things we would include, and emphasize things that we wouldn’t, but this one isn't bad.
Ava Silva, the young woman, had spent the past 12 years of her life as a quadriplegic in a monastic orphanage. She died, then was transported to a church for burial. Through a fantastic chain of events, a powerful religious artifact – an angel’s halo – was hidden in her back to keep it from demonic forces. The device resuscitated her and gave her as yet undetermined superpowers that set her on a remarkable path.
Her ‘membership’ in the above-mentioned order was anything but seamless, because it wasn’t a course that she initially chose, and she resisted it for a time.
Played by remarkable Portuguese polyglot, Alba Baptista, Ava was drawn into a supernatural world I, at least, could have never imagined. The series was based on a comic book character, Warrior Nun Areala, by Ben Nunn. The adaptation was done by Simon Barry, and diverged, as I understand it, from the comic book series right from the get-go, into a storyline all its own. Areala has a role, told in flashbacks, but her history was a thousand years earlier, so only the order of fighting nuns around her continued into the present day.
Much of the story is shown through Ava’s perspective, narrated in her internal voice, though that convention was abandoned, for the most part, in Season Two of the series.
Season Two only debuted on 11/10 of this year, after what has to have been an excruciating wait for fans of Season One, which opened on July 2 of 2020. I am very happy I did not have to experience that wait, since I only just discovered it. No Season Three has yet been ordered for the series. I hope with all my heart that it will be, because it is that good.
The world of Warrior Nun – a secret Catholic order dedicated to a mysterious fight – is very far from my world and my challenges. But Baptista and her cast-mates are a compelling, winning bunch that I came to love and appreciate, even if plot twists complicated loyalties and commitments. She herself is an amazing linguist. Though English can hardly be her native language, hers is very much American English, fully colloquial and fluent. She sounds like an American girl. But, thanks no doubt in large part to her mother, an accomplished translator, she speaks German (absolutely fluently), French and Spanish, in addition to her native Portuguese.
Her contributions in the show go much beyond language. She can be goofy, funny, playful, dramatic, confused, even clueless. But she is always engaging and a pleasure to watch. There are a number of other main characters who are also exceptional.
Ave grew and evolved in the story. Early, a Sister said that her flight response was superior to her fight response. That changed, and she became a very courageous young woman, indeed, a warrior. She had fears, but she never turned away.
One of the best things about the series, for me, is the role of the women. They are all exceptional actresses, but they have a script that respects, values and explores female relationships. Where the Catholic Church finds few prominent roles for women, in this series, the women are more than just tolerated, or relegated to roles of lesser importance. Even the character who is elected Pope treats them respectfully, not dismissively, as does the show’s other prominent male Church figure.
But it is in the relationships among the women that the series shines most brightly. All of the nuns are powerful, capable and empowered. The leading non-nun character is a female scientist. Their conversations are respectful and confident, often intimate, and they’re a pleasure to witness. Perhaps it is indicative of better trends for women in video and in society. About time.
One of the most watchable story lines involves the friendship between Ava and sister Beatrice (Kristina Tonteri-Young). Tonteri-Young, who trained in ballet, plays one of the most dynamic fighters, but her relationship with the Warrior Nun grows beyond friendship into a deeper romantic love. She and Ava are together more than any other pair in the show, and they are beautiful to watch.
The only caution I would make is that the fight scenes (which are plentiful in both seasons) can be quite violent and bloody, so you may want to confine viewing to those you know can handle that. If you can’t, yourself, I completely understand. I don’t like bloody violence, either. For me, the tradeoff was worth it, and I found myself pulling for them in combat I wish they didn’t have to have. (In fairness, I can’t imagine any way to advance a similar plot without it, even as it pertains to character development.)
There is a character in Season Two (Adriel, played by William Miller) who speaks as if he is duplicating the voice of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, understated, intense, breathless. He plays a supernatural being that had been entombed in a hidden Vatican catacomb for a thousand years. The male characters are not weak, but they understand this is a series for women, and the women do not disappoint.
I’m afraid the duration of Adriel’s imprisonment will seem to me as a short time if we must wait two more years for a Season Three of Warrior Nun. And no Season Three has been announced.
I hope for it, however. And I hope you enjoy the show if you choose to watch it on Netflix. I don’t know what you like to watch, but I can only give it my most heartfelt recommendation.
Thank you for reading. If you know the series, please share your thoughts in the comments! I’d love to read them!