Midnight Mass

The best Stephen King novel he never wrote.  This is perfection in my opinion. I’ve never watched a piece of media that has a script as tight and perfect as this limited series, the performances are all stellar there is not a single bad performance in this series and there is not a single bad moment in this series. I love this series so much it resonates with me on several different levels and every time I watch it I feel the exact same emotions I felt the first time I watched it.  Let’s start with the story and script. The story at base level is pretty simple: a priest comes into town with a vampire and uses the vampire to perform miracles on this town. Flanagan took that and added so many complexities and made the mystery so well done and interesting that when it’s revealed to be a vampire story it’s one of the biggest twists in the show. The way Flanagan takes bible verses and compares them with vampire mythology is brilliant and beautifully executes the ideas of religious extremism and group think. Around the time this show came out there were a few other shows or movies looking to try to adapt the idea of group think or mob mentality and they failed. Such as Halloween Kills. This show though executes it masterfully. Some people think this show is anti religion where I believe it is clearly not. It is simply showing how people cherry pick the bible and other religious texts to justify themselves for their actions. The ending is also beautiful a whole town of people watching the sunrise one last time hoping to be forgiven for their mistakes. Even as the ending was going on everything I had hoped to happen did happen. Bev died without a shred of dignity, Sheriff Hassan didn’t have to watch his son die and Leeza and Warren survived. It also has characters that symbolize popular religions: the overly devout self righteous “christian”: Bev Keane, the atheist: Riley Flynn, the more popular religious person: Erin Greene, Muslim: Sheriff Hassan.  That moves right into the next thing I love about this series: The Characters. Riley Flynn is a great character not unfamiliar to Stephen King novels and even Mike Flanagan’s own works with both having backgrounds in alcoholism and put their experiences into their works. Flanagan said that Riley was based on the biggest fear that he had when he was drinking. Joe Collie is another character who is great and well written, his redemption arc is so sympathetic and compelling and he shares one of the best scenes of the show with Leeza, his death is tragic and hit me hard when I first watched. Bev Keane is easily one of the most despicable but realistic characters created, I loathe that character so much and her end is so satisfying to me. Sheriff Hassan is another great character in the show who’s given his moment to shine in a stellar monologue performed by Rahul Kohli. But the real standout is Monsignor John Pruitt, he honestly might be one of the most interesting characters I have watched in a series or movie. On the surface I should dislike him, he’s lying to his own town, he kills Joe Collie and feels nothing for it he causes the death of the entire town yet in the end I see him as a tragic figure and a symbol for something we all can relate to: wanting a second chance to do things over. I could honestly watch all these characters without the horror setting they are in and still think this show is great. Also the “angel” is one of the coolest depictions of a vampire put to screen, it clearly is smarter than just some creature without a goal or plan. There also is just so much mystery around it, like is that what they would become if they lived as long as the angel did? How old is it? Did it die? I have my own theory on if it died: I think the final line that Leeza says gives you your answer, I think it’s similar to some vampire tales where once the head vampire dies the others go back, except maybe the people who are just drinking the blood now the effects don’t work anymore on them after the angel died so her line of: ”I can’t feel my legs” proves this and also the fact that she feels it immediately after the sun comes up.  Onto performances, (I swear this is the last paragraph this is already too fucking long) Zac Gilford plays Riley Flynn masterfully, showing his regret, guilt, and depression. His monologues are delivered beautifully and his death made me sob “I did my best”. Samantha Sloyan is just perfect as Bev Keane, she makes you hate her so much and any actor who can make you hate them that much is a damn fine actor in my opinion. She feels like that annoying Karen you see at your local coffee shops and Targets. “God loves him just as much as he loves you, Bev. Why does that upset you so much?” Rahul Kohli gives a great performance as Hassan Shabazz, giving just great representation for Muslims to have. The part that would usually be your typical Hopper from Stranger Things or Roy Scheider from Jaws now has a unique story that ties in great with the rest of the series. You can feel the hopelessness he has with his little battles with Bev in the PTA and you see how the whole island looks at him as an outsider. In the end he is one of the heroes of the story. “He makes the sun rise on the evil and the good”. Kate Siegel is always giving great performances in Flanagan’s series or movies. While her role as Theo Crain will always be my favorite this one is very close to the top. Erin’s story is almost the opposite of Riley’s. She tries her hardest to help him and Kate Siegel plays it perfectly the chemistry between her and Zach Gilford feel like they really used to be together or friends. Of course the ending to episode 5 with her screaming being the only sounds heard was chilling and haunting and she acted it amazingly. “I remember there is no point where any of that ends and I begin”. Now onto the greatest performance in the series: Monsignor John Pruitt. Hamish Linklater just does amazing with this performance, the fact that he wasn’t nominated for an Emmy for this is insane. Every scene he is in he is chewing up the scenery and delivering this long and powerful monologues with such intensity. The scene when he finally reveals why he did it all to Mildred and he breaks down is one of the most realistic crying scenes I’ve ever seen and it brings me to tears every time. “That’s what it means to have faith. That in the darkness, in the worst of it, in the absence of light and hope, we sing”. This show makes me feel every emotion when watching it, I laughed, I cried and I cried tears of joy at the beauty of this show.