Midnight Mass

I've sat on this one for a few days, because it's a tricky one to review. I've read so many absolutely glowing reviews on here but it didn't quite hit me as hard as it hit other folks. It felt like the first half was very different than the second, and it was writing cheques that it just didn't cash. Once the central conceit is revealed in episode 4 or so, it felt like the impact of the show dipped a little (despite having one the most effective jump scares ever - my wife spilled coffee all over herself!) as it trod more familiar ground. I loved the setting and the world building going on in those early episodes, it drew me in and definitely helped carry me through the rest of the show. While I get the purpose of Bev Keane and the role she eventually played in the mythos of the genre Midnight Mass adopted, and Samantha Sloyan was amazingly effective, I'm a little over the religious zealot trope. It plays into the motifs of the series and all, and I'm not religious, but it felt a bit tired and lazy, and she didn't feel as real as the rest of the characters in contrast. I see a lot of people talking about the Flanagan monologues, and they definitely feel overused here, but they never took me out of the show. The characters were interesting enough that I appreciated listening to them. It wears its influences on its sleeve, most notably Stephen King's Salem's Lot, and while it feels like I'm being down on it, I think maybe if I'd known that this was going to turn into a vampire show I might have set my expectations accordingly, so maybe it's just me? Usually though things are better if you go in knowing as little as possible, but I also think that if I knew where it was going I'd have been more prepared for just how bonkers it gets in the last episode. What I did like about the ending is how it bold it was in it's relentless body count. No one is safe.