Midnight Mass (2021) / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Was Pruitt truly motivated by a desire to save Mildred or the fear of becoming senile again? Or both?
- On the existence of God or a plan, one should naturally find the priest's insinuation that Riley's drunk driving wasn't his own stupid mistake but instead something preordained to get him back on the island to be rather insidious. However, this is turned on its head when you think about how this chain of events does in fact help put the pieces in place to keep the outbreak of vampirism contained to the island.
- Though it's doubtless that Bev first and foremost uses her religious beliefs as a means of abuse and control, it's unclear how her beliefs were influenced by the Angel and the immortality it provides, if at all. Did her belief that all non-Christians should be killed come before or after she learned she may actually have a means of doing so? In spite of how proudly she espouses her faith, she's last seen desperately and pathetically trying to dig shelter from the sun to save herself. Is this because she lost her faith, and no longer believed in God or Heaven? Did she still believe, but realized that after everything she'd done, she was probably going to Hell? Or was this nothing more than a person panicking at their impending death, regardless of what they believe will come after?
Awesome Music: Holy God We Praise Thy Name is equal parts beautiful and unsettling being sung by the townspeople who have fully fallen under the influence of Bev Keane and Father Paul due to the "miracles" he brought to the island. The sound grows and grows as the people go door to door having more people join them until they reach the church and the instrumentals come in.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In the second episode, Bowl is lured to his death when the vampire calls out to him with Bowl's own voice, repeating his exact words back to him. The vampire doesn't speak again throughout the entirety of the show, and certainly never takes on anyone else's voice (even at times when it hypothetically could have been quite useful in maintaining control over his intended victims).
Captain Obvious Reveal:
- The fact that several older characters are played by actors in 'old age' makeup (particularly Mildred Gunning, who's in her 80s and yet is played by 29-year-old Alex Essoe) is a major hint that they're going to be de-aged at some point during the story.
- For those familiar with the jokes about Catholics literally drinking blood and eating flesh when consuming the Eucharist, the reveal that the wine is being spiked with literal blood and the miracles of Fr Paul actually being just people becoming vampires is obvious from the first episode after films like Dracula and Let Me In get a Shout-Out with the mysterious trunk. It's also mentioned in the opening of episode 2 the cats are all drained of their blood, which just seals what sort of danger is roaming around.
- The reveal that Fr Paul is a de-aged Monsignor Pruitt becomes incredibly obvious once other characters start de-aging, considering the comments people made about "seeing Monsignor Pruitt in his iconic outfit" around the island and Sarah's comments about how Fr Paul looks at her exactly like how the monsignor used to.
Catharsis Factor
- Throughout the series, Bev's literal holier-than-though patronism is more or less accepted through pursed lips by the townspeople who don't want to bother arguing with her. So it is very cathartic to hear Annie tell her that she's not a good person, not a victim, and not loved by God more than anyone else. Bev is clearly shaken.
- After all the abhorrent shit she's done, it's extremely satisfying to watch Bev Keane collapse into tears and desperately try to escape the coming sunlight, which she does not.
Complete Monster: Beverly "Bev" Keane, showcasing her vindictive side by poisoning a dog who barked at her, is a bigoted, self-righteous member of the Catholic community on Crockett Island. With the priest Monsignor John Pruitt who believes the vampire he found is a kind Angel, Bev helps to distribute its blood and prepares poisoned wine to cause the devotees to rise as vampires. Going against John's wishes, Bev unleashes the vampires on Crockett to cause a massacre, plotting to get them to the mainland to cause further slaughter and begin an apocalypse while callously dismissing any who do not fit her increasingly narrow view of the world.
Estrogen Brigade:
- Hassan, courtesy of being played by Rahul Kohli. Netflix's Twitter accounts and Rahul Kohli himself are quite aware of it.
- There's also apparently quite a few people smitten by Hamish Linklater as Father Paul, with jokes about how Mildred should've tried harder to have him quit his job.
Funny Moments: There are still a few here and there:
- The church's sign board apparently only has one letter A, so Bev substitutes 4 for subsequent As. The first episode also shows that they seem to have lost their only letter I, so the sign reads "Welcome Back Msgr. Pru1tt; M4ss Resumes Sund4y."
- Father Hill letting Bev talk his ear off to "fill him in" on every single detail of their congregation, even though he already knew everything.
Heartwarming Moments: With death imminent, the townspeople decide to comfort each other with forgiveness for the atrocities committed that night and they die together as the sun rises.
- The entire congregation jumping up to defend Leeza when it looks like Father Paul is bullying her by moving up the steps with the sacrament.
- The school and the church both have relatively new-looking entrance ramps, probably built specifically for Leeza after her injury.
Love to Hate: Bev Keane is a real piece of work and a lot of praise has gone to Samantha Sloyan for making her so wonderfully despicable that she's a joy to watch, even as viewers eagerly await her comeuppance, which is immensely satisfying when it finally comes. It helps that she's as terrible as she is determined - when confronted with the murder of Joe Collie by Father Paul she barely blinks an eye, and she even risks being bitten by Riley when Father Paul wants to test his limits.
Misaimed Fandom: The series is often perceived as being Christian propaganda or anti-Christian propaganda, when as a whole it is actually rather neutral. Though the most morally reprehensible character in the show is a Christian who uses her beliefs as justification for her cruelty, there are several other Christian characters, such as Erin and Leeza, who are genuinely good people. Erin, for example, is a believer who opposes Bev distributing Bibles at school alongside Hassan. Riley is neither condemned nor praised by the narrative for being an atheist, best exemplified when he and Erin discuss what they believe happens after death, with each agreeing that the other's idea is perfectly valid. The overall theme of the series is the potential for faith to be corrupted, either by the individual as a means of justifying their actions, or by leaders as a means of exerting control. Especially noteworthy is how Riley's death (forgiving himself in his last moments) and the deaths of the townspeople (coming together to sing "Nearer My God to Thee") are treated as equally peaceful.
Moral Event Horizon: Bev Keane was always a terrible person, but she crosses the line when she disobeys John's order to keep the newly-converted vampires inside the church and has them slaughter all the non-Christians on the island, and plans to continue the process on the mainland.
Narm Charm:
- Flanagan's fondness for extensive monologues works in his favour for a couple of characters. Father Paul's make sense, considering that sermonising is his life and he is trying to teach other characters. For Bev and vampirised Father Paul, it helps underline their degrading sanity.
- The "Angel" dressed up in a white chasuble could almost be funny in how bizarre it looks. The actual result crosses over as striking and creepy, as the look acts a visual metaphor of the enormous blasphemy of Pruitt's plan.
Padding: Many reviews, both professional (rogerebert.com and The Guardian) and average viewer alike, note that the constant monologuing is even worse than previous Mike Flanagan productions. Hassan's backstory monologue, for example, is a powerful scene on its own... but within context, it's right after Riley has died and the character who he's delivering the monologue to is seeking his help to fight the goddamn vampires, so the scene is noted to lack the impact it could have had if it was delivered earlier in the show.
Signature Scene: The scene in the finale where most of the islanders manage to Face Death with Dignity after being turned into vampires and reconcile with each other while waiting for the sun to rise is a good contender for the most affecting scene in the episode, if not the series.
Special Effect Failure:
- The old age makeup on Alex Essoe is not very convincing, and it was obvious to many viewers right off the bat that the actor is far younger than her character, even without having to look at the cast list.
- The shot of the Angel flying straight for Erin is clearly not-very-good CGI.
Spiritual Adaptation: The show is deeply reminiscent of multiple works of Stephen King. Most notably, 'Salem's Lot, as it is about a small town (apparently in New England) community suffering a vampire infection with a flawed priest as a main character. Appropriately, the book receives a Shout-Out with a copy being in Riley's room. Refreshingly, Flannagan is very up front with his influences, being a massive fan of King. He also has said that Beverly Keene is inspired by Mrs. Carmody from The Mist, and the island setting coming from Storm of the Century. The ending is also reminiscent of 30 Days of Night.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some critics and viewers cite two notable plots as being kind of wasted.
- Despite being Sarah's father, Father Paul only interacts with her a handful of times, when his reaction to her lesbianism and investigation into Erin's miscarriage both had some good story potential.
- Despite being close friends and fellow Unwitting Pawns of Father Paul, Warren and Ooker never interact in the finale after Ooker turns into a vampire, when a final confrontation between the two could have gone any one of several interesting ways.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Without knowing she's played by a much younger actress, Mildred Gunning is initially unsettling, as the makeup used to age her up, and the voice her actress uses to suggest an older person, is just a little...off, lending her a creepy presence in the early episodes of the series.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Father Paul's Heel Realization moment at the end is too little too late since the entire town either turning into vampires and burning to death or being violently killed by their transformed neighbours is entirely his fault, for reasons that are arrogant and petty. Bev Keane may be more openly vile, but she only gets as far as she does under his watch, yet he gets a far more dignified end than her. Even before the ending Paul engages in an escalating series of highly questionable actions, from lying about his true identity to dosing the town - or anyone who comes to Communion - without their knowledge and definitely without their consent, which is the direct cause of Erin losing her child, something for which he's never held responsible. He also murders Joe Collie right as the man was beginning to turn his life around, then covers it up with the help of Bev and lies to everyone about it some more. Much of what he does is not done out of maliciousness but a refusal to question whether his way is the right way, assuming he knows what's best for everyone and refusing to back down until the literal end of everyone involved.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Despite being made by a self-identified atheist, some have accused the series of being Christian propaganda.

YMMV / Midnight Mass (2021)

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