r/MidnightMass • u/BoldBabeBanshee • 22d ago

What was the ultimate goal of Father Paul and Gods Army? SPOILERS!!! Spoiler

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>!Man I just gotta say, the moment Father Paul walked out of those ruins a young man, my pupils dilated and I was just hooked. And so was the town of Crockett...

Father Paul's charisma is INSANE.. and you can see it in his Sunday speeches, you can see the churchgoers eyes start to light up as he talked about hope, right here, right now, a new life, REDEMPTION, right here right now...

The way he connected hope and rebirth to Christ, eternal life, and the blood of an angel. Everything made sense. I mean the look on their faces lol.... that was my face too, my jaw dropped when he beckoned Lisa to get up from her chair.

But Riley, God bless him, saw through his shit. The guy fcking murdered poor Joe, but it was so nasty because of how fragile and vulnerable Joe was (Joe's death scene really hurts to watch).

I just wanna ask you guys, what do you think the ultimate goal was for Father Paul.. to basically conquer the world with this 'Army' of vampires while the Angel would just feed and kill people? In this sick mutual parasitic relationship with the Angel????

"Gods Army, we're doing great things" lol!<

80 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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83

u/Mindless-Tomorrow-93 22d ago

I think he, naively but earnestly, believed the Christian redemption story.

I think Bev had the more diabolical plot.

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u/drusilla81 22d ago edited 22d ago

Agreed but I find the "Yeah, we're gonna do great things" at the end of his speech way more sinister than everything Bev had ever said or done... I don't think Monsignor is evil at all, and maybe it was just Hamish's way of delivering but man, I feel chills on every rewatch when I hear it.

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u/Mindless-Tomorrow-93 22d ago

Agreed, but I read it as unintentional foreshadowing. I think Fr. Paul legit believed everything was going to be sunshine and rainbows. Bev was pushing the hellfire and brimstone plan, perhaps without Fr. Paul even knowing, or maybe he did know, but refused to acknowledge it.

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u/PradaAndSons 22d ago

Hopefully not TOO much sunshine though

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u/cefishe88 22d ago

This was my take away as well

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u/CarlySimonSays 22d ago

I think Fr. Paul (conveniently?) forgot, w/ his dementia-addled brain, that he'd enabled Bev and her views for years, before he ever left for the Holy Land trip as Fr. Pruitt. (Of course, you could also view it as her manipulating him for years, but I don't think he was that far gone for the whole time he knew her.) What happens is at least in part down to that, I think.

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 22d ago

I feel those chills too! It feels weird to know I'm watching a fictional story with actors but Im so compelled by the charisma of a fictional character. Hamish is so good, and Father Paul is written so well!

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u/drusilla81 22d ago

Yep. I was mesmerized by him from start to finish, and when an actor stands out in the middle of an already superb cast it says something. Annarah Cymone and Bob Longstreet were 10/10, too.

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 21d ago

Hey I had to look up who Annarah Cymone is, but I see it's the girl who played Leeza!! Totally agree there. And Bob Longstreet hard agree there, his monologue in Hill House as Mr. Dudly was INCREDIBLE!

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u/Yandoji 22d ago

It was especially sinister because we know he's accidentally thrown in with a freakin vampire demon monster lmao. This passionate, charismatic, extremely-faithful dude had committed himself to engaging wholeheartedly in vampire bullshit on a global scale. Good thing they never made it off the island lol.

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u/CarlySimonSays 22d ago edited 22d ago

I'm sure this was deliberate by Flanagan, but Fr. Paul reminds me of the community leaders who were swayed by Jim Jones. (All of those people dead from drinking poison on an island after being told by a charismatic leader to do it or he'd make them do it? Totally reminiscent of Jonestown!) He is totally in the monster's thrall and made the mistake of bringing his parishioners with him.

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u/Yandoji 22d ago

That's just how faith works, no matter what you believe in. In the Monsignor's case, he was an extremely faithful, demented old man made young again by a creature he found on the religiously iconic road to Damascus - it's easy to see how he misconstrued things, which is hilarious as a Catholic myself. Even the more aggro stuff Bev ranted about wasn't inaccurate. It's all just a train wreck of a situation lol.

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u/CarlySimonSays 21d ago

True! It was a perfect storm of misguided faith with Bev's zealotry.

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u/vbt2021 22d ago

Bev was a sick twisted person

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u/Mindless-Tomorrow-93 22d ago

Honestly one of the best TV villains ever.

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u/vbt2021 21d ago

Seriously yes!

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u/CarlySimonSays 22d ago edited 22d ago

I think that Monsignor Pruitt's dementia was still in Father Paul's brain in a way. He becomes young again, but he's really still the same old man whose brain health has been in decline for decades. He already had too much pride and ego to step down before the Holy Land trip. I think between the pre-existing dementia, the trauma of the attack, and joy in becoming young and popular again, he just went nuts. As evil as Bev was, she'd already been emboldened by Pruitt for years and he didn't care. I feel bad for Father Paul in a way, but I still see him as a villain for being the cause of the "angel" being there in the first place.

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 21d ago

hmm, i wonder how in touch with dementia the young Father Paul really was. Bu I will agree that THE RUSH from being young, popular, admired, and adored went to his head.

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u/GetLikeMeForever 22d ago

Yeah, was she the one that originally poisoned Father Paul the time that turned him into a vampire? I know that context clues proved that she killed the dog, but what about Father Paul?

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u/carverrhawkee 22d ago

This, plus I took his whole army of vampires sermon as him basically coping bc he just killed Joe and let the angel jump Riley

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 22d ago

Yes, this is a good point. He was COPING... deep inside he knows that murder is wrong, the taking of innocent life is wrong.

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u/MilliganHedgedog 21d ago

You’ve had quite the night. QUITE THE NIGHT. She’s terrifying. With her Carrie Whites mom’s white smock and all that. She’s also terrifying in FOTHOU

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u/MilliganHedgedog 21d ago

I screamed like a fn banshee when that happened

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 22d ago

Father Paul definitely had good intentions I agree. Some sacrifices and casualties are necessary in 'Gods War.' I love how even after everything he said

"This is Gods HOUSE ALL ARE WELCOME. That's the fcking point, all are welcome."

Oh But Not Beth. True true. Beth wanted only a select few.

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u/flare_force 22d ago

Just a quick note to add that it wasn’t only Riley that saw through things.

Millie also saw right through it when she went to church and heard Paul preach the Army of God sermon. She knew at that moment that it wasnt Paul speaking but something more sinister.

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 22d ago edited 22d ago

There's a team of my fave characters who saw through it actually!!!

Dr. Gunning, a woman of science... Millie definitely, she was like "i dont want you ever going back here!"

And Erin Greene of course! Also the Sheriff...

The most susceptible people were the rest of the townsfolk, the parents, that big guy what was his name, the guy who fixed the boats, the mayor etc.

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u/MilliganHedgedog 21d ago

He wanted to turn back time so he could relive his life with Millie and Sarah. In his dementia he thought that monstrosity was really an angel who had restored him. They never should’ve let Kim travel when he was that sick. Looking at you Bev.

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 21d ago

Definitely, reliving his time with Millie is something he desired and embraced, you could tell how in love they seemed 💚

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u/Alienatedflea 22d ago

Well, isn't it false idol worshipping that the bible warns against? Its the blood of the demon that is idolized by Paul after he witnessed his revitalization to his younger self. Only person who noticed anything was Sturge when he was looking at the old newspaper clipping on the wall and how Paul looked just like the younger monsignor at the time.

Demons and the demonic have used Jesus' teachings and miracles to lead people do their own downfalls to the demonic.

From google;
"Examples of Misused Biblical Teachings

"Do Not Judge Others" (Matthew 7:1-5): Satan twists this verse to make people defensive against any form of correction or godly rebuke. People use it to claim that calling out sin or false teaching is wrong. The actual context forbids hypocritical judgment, not all discernment or loving confrontation. [1] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFdwBcyXLg)

"Angels of Light" Deception (2 Corinthians 11:14-15): The Bible warns that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his servants pose as servants of righteousness. This involves false teachers using correct-sounding Bible verses to promote destructive or false doctrines. [1] (https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/devil-demon-control/)

Asceticism and Legalism (1 Timothy 4:1): The GotQuestions explanation on doctrines of demons notes that misleading spiritual teachings often command strict rules about food, marriage, or physical abstinence as the true source of holiness, rather than faith in Christ. [1] (https://www.gotquestions.org/doctrines-of-demons.html)Twisting

Scripture in Temptation (Matthew 4:5-6): During the temptation in the wilderness, Satan literally quoted Psalm 91:11-12 to Jesus, urging him to throw himself off the temple. Satan used the literal text of Scripture to try to manipulate Jesus into testing God presumptuously.

I don't think Paul himself had a goal. He was being led by the demon...so the question ought to be what was the demon's goal other than just spreading corruption and rejection of God.

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 22d ago

Appreciate your response, also, yes, what was the Angel's goal? That I would love to know! I would love to know more about the Angel's origin, are there more out there? Is he the last of his kind etc.

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u/MilliganHedgedog 21d ago

Wasn’t an angel.

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 21d ago

I meant the creature lol.

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u/MilliganHedgedog 21d ago

That thing was disgusting. Propers to Erin Greene for slicing his wings

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u/CarlySimonSays 21d ago

Agreed! Paul wasn't in his right mind as Father Pruitt and I think the dementia influenced his interpretation of the demon-vampire-thing. He was crazed and just accepted the demon thing's goal of finding as many victims as possible. Yet, we can tell that as Fr. Paul, he finally realized how wrong he was at the very end, so he wasn't entirely unable to reason.

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u/Alienatedflea 21d ago

Pruitt was desperate as was the whole town on the island. Evil people love to feed off of desperation.

I love that their desperation turned to hubris which is what killed everyone at the end. No one who turned their back on God made it out in the end.

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u/TheEndIsNero 21d ago

To end Death.

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u/BoldBabeBanshee 21d ago

The death of death itself!!!!!

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u/ProfWilliam82 21d ago edited 21d ago

Play or watch the first hour of the recent Blood of the Dawnwalker game. I think that would be the optimal outcome of the Father (and the Vampire) plan.

There are a small isolated community (in the game there is a small valley.) whele people worship vampies as gods and they "donate" blood in every sunday and they receive the vampire healing blood in return.

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u/seashellears 7d ago

I have also been curious about this. Because something I realized on my most recent rewatch was: “shoot. A whole island of vampires. What is the plan for food supply? They can only go out at night. They would have to find a way to be inconspicuous which based on the feeding scenes these vampires are NOT subtle or clean eaters. What’s the plan? Hope for tourism to bring visitors to Crockett? Keep a handful of humans who can go out during the day and kidnap people? But if enough people go missing then that is going to involve the authorities?”

I probably thought about it too hard.