Warrior Nun

It’s occasionally delightful, thanks largely to Ms. Baptista, who is spunky, petite and bears a striking resemblance to the actress Ellen Page. But the atmosphere is co-opted wholesale from someone’s hysterical view of Catholicism, and as such it feels not profane exactly, but more than a little obvious.

The script can sometimes lean too much on mythological and religious exposition as the nuns explain their mission to Ava, but the actors have such good chemistry that their various pairings—Mary and Ava, Ava and Beatrice, Mary and Lilith—work, and the smartly choreographed fight scenes are well-placed.

Warrior Nun‘s main issue is that one half of its story is just infinitely more engaging than the other. ... The saving grace of Warrior Nun‘s more tedious aspects is Baptista herself, whose performance as Ava looks effortlessly charming while still doing a ton of heavy lifting.

A lot hangs on Baptista, who must find enough naivety that we can believe in her transition to warrior hero, but not so much that we can’t believe in her as a hedonistic 19-year-old keen to do pills and get laid. On the evidence of the first episode, she strikes a reasonable balance, and despite some flat dialogue and a predictable plot there is an agreeable energy to Warrior Nun.

Inspired by Manga novels, this 10-episode series meanders a lot while offering a "Stranger Things"-type vibe, serving as a weird diversion that, on the road to goodness, doesn't even get halfway there.