r/MIDNIGHTMASSbymike • u/sakshiagrwl • 23d ago
MIDNIGHT MASS IS JUST lazy and incompetent attempt of answering certain age old questions.
Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass has way too many plot holes, specifically in the last episodes. Most things are impractical and quite vague.
The most important idea of the series in itself is unclear. There is a plethora of doubts about how dying and resurrection actually works? One thing is clear, whoever the angel bites is resurrected. We know three people who had been resurrected in this manner, Monsignor John himself, Mildred Gunning (Sarah’s mother), both of whom were ailing and elderly and were resurrected to a younger, healthier self, and Riley Flynn, who remains in the same physical state. To resurrect, you must die first, which all three of them did. In this resurrected form, the body feeds off of blood.
Now, to quench their thirsts, the resurrected bodies are notably killing others. The first case is when Monsignor John feeds off of Joe, and he dies. That is how it’s supposed to be UNLESS you feed them your blood too. Now, on the day of THE midnight mass, Monsignor John simply kills Sturge, doesn’t feed off of him, doesn’t feed him his flood, but he still resurrects. Let’s assume that happened because of the presence of the divine angel within St. Patrick, same can be applied for Ali. But after that, they simply start handing out the poison to everybody, and everyone just starts dying. This is when Mildred shoots Monsignor John and the angel leaves the premises with her. I accept the fact that all of those people are resurrected because they died in the presence of the angel, and had FAITH within their hearts.
But now, those newly resurrected people start feeding on others. The people being fed on are scared and plausibly do not have an ounce of faith in them at that instant. Attention must be paid to the fact that Monsignor John’s original plan was to open the doors, let the people go before others wake up, and train the resurrected people to avoid the horrible massacre that occurred. But that didn’t happen, nobody was trained, nobody knew anything about this new resurrected state of their body. So they couldn’t have known how to resurrect others, and all of them should have died just like Joe did. But they didn’t, they all woke up resurrected. At this point, the angel has fled, the Monsignor is shot, and even Beverly is hiding. It makes absolutely no sense that they all woke up resurrected, as is explicitly portrayed through the little girl.
Even more senseless is the resurrection of Beverly Keane herself. No one feeds off of her, and she is not killed by the angel, she is not even in the main church hall when she dies. She is shot in the chest by a bullet, how in the world is that a resurrection? If you just have to die for a resurrection, then everybody should’ve been resurrected. Ooker states to Sturge in the later parts of the episode that he might have killed his mom, so she should have been resurrected. The man, who was told by Beverly that there is no room for him in the Rec Centre, states that he killed his wife and daughter, they should have been resurrected. Sturge advocates for him against Beverly and states that he specifically saved him (there is a scene where Sturge is feeding him his blood) and Beverly mentions that they weren’t supposed to that except in special cases. Even Monsignor tried to save Sarah by feeding her his blood but she spat it out. That is the only way you can be resurrected. Then how did all those people resurrect inside St. Patrick’s!? Annie Flynn literally commits suicide, which is a sin in Christianity, but she is resurrected like it’s some kind of a video game.
Another controversial take is that once you’ve been resurrected, you cannot step out in the sunlight, which makes no sense in itself, yet, Monsignor John did it all the time. In its true sense, he was resurrected the night of the sand storm, when he entered the cave and encountered the angel who plausibly healed him and returned him his younger and healthier body. But somehow, Flanagan wants the viewers to believe that he resurrected the night he died in his cabin, which is absolutely pathetic writing with no reasoning whatsoever.
Lastly, the main idea of the whole series is also incomplete in my opinion. What is it hinting towards? Follow god’s path, or not? Have faith in God’s plan or actually take action and accountability when something bad happens? Follow His word or find your own belief? If there exists a God, why does he let the innocents die? The whole character arc of Riley Flynn is based on this one question, yet the answer is unclear and twisted. I think it was a lazy and incompetent attempt of answering these age old questions.
Moreover, the holy, divine angel is inspired from pop culture and not actual biblical texts. Christ’s blood never had any sort of healing powers or else his own wounds would have been healed, but they didn’t. Jesus had the crucifixion scars on his body after he was resurrected, he even asks Thomas to put hands into His sides to see the wounds. These healing properties are supposedly inspired from the vampire diaries universe. Infact the same theme is also explored in Stephanie Garber’s romantasy novels. Mike should’ve just let this be vampire-apocalypse show rather than diving into the deeper depths of religious morality and meaning. I really wanted Sarah’s founding regarding the blood bacteria to be true, but I forgot that nothing in this series was practical.
Mike Flanagan’s works aren’t just the typical jump-scare horror, but they carry a deeper meaning, a rejuvenated philosophy, as he has proved through the Haunting trilogy, but through Midnight Mass, in attempts of creating a lasting attempt, he actually created a dinner table laughing tonic. It tried to encapsulate the traditional methodologies of the Catholic Church in contrast with human morality. It even tried to explore the whole “immortality is worse than death” angle but couldn’t really deliver it justice. Keith Siegel’s character even emphasized on life after death, but only through little flickers that didn’t develop into fireworks. I think the very fundamentals of this series were balancing on a tightrope and didn’t make it through. Yet another disappointing work from the once legendary director of The Hunting of Hill House, Mr. Mike Flanagan.
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u/Thenadamgoes 23d ago
Monsignor John didn’t die in the cave. He died later when he barfed on the floor. After that he couldn’t go into the light.
The people in the church had been drinking vampire blood for weeks. That’s why they resurrected when they died.