So if you haven't seen this yet, are planning to do so, and don't want to know the details beforehand, PLEASE STOP READING NOW.
Mdinight Mass comes from Mike Flanagan, who helmed the excellent The Haunting of Hill House and the okay-only The Haunting of Bly Manor.
That alone is a big clue regarding this series' genre and theme.
The first episode started off very slowly, taking its time to introduce characters with nothing much else occurring.
Episode 2 was equally leisurely, with only some excitement in the last 10 minutes, when a "miracle" takes place.
Things start cooking from episode 3 onwards, and considering my high threshold for surprises, Flanagan did not disappoint.
In a nutshell, an elderly priest from a small town takes a trip to the Middle East, gets lost, ends up in a cave and meets - I kid you not - a vampire.
He gets bitten, the vamp feeds him its blood in return, the priest becomes young again, returns to the town and bring the vamp with him.
The priest then uses the vampire blood during communion, resulting in a few "miracles" - e.g. a paralyzed girl gets up and walks, a sickly old lady becomes healthy again.
Problems arise when the priest and a few religious fanatics decide to "bless" the entire town with immortality by feeding everyone a cocktail of poison and vampire blood, calling the creature an angel and carrying out mass murder during Easter to celebrate Christ's resurrection.
Are you still with me? ;)
It sound totally nuts when you read it, but kudos to Flanagan for being able to weave these ideas into something actually coherent and compelling.
Factors contributing to this:
1. Correct pacing
I mentioned how slowly the story moves, which turns out to be advantageous.
It helps to stage the shocking scenes further apart initially, before escalating in the last couple of episodes.
There's a lot of dialogue in between the scary parts, most of which involve theological discussions / debates, which interest me greatly because I've been on both sides of religion ( former Christian turned atheist ).
2. Great writing
Compared to Flanagan's previous The Haunting... series, Midnight Mass definitely has the best script.
And that's considering the very high bar set by Hill House.
My most important advice to viewers is to be patient, and to pay close attention.
The former because the story builds up gradually, the latter because every line of dialogue has significance.
I was particularly drawn to the theological themes, which cover many Bible chapters and verses, with differing opinions from multiple characters.
Some topics are perennial ( i.e. if God exists, why does he allow bad things to happen? Why doesn't he save the innocent? ), others new to me ( e.g. how to interpret Hebrews 9:14 correctly ).
The Hebrews verse is especially interesting:
"How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"
In the show, the characters use this to justify murder, the same way they call the vampire an angel, even though I'm sure they know it's evil and an abomination.
What's also interesting is that the most devout of the Christians is the one who ends up twisting scripture to suit her own agenda.
I found this the most significant element of the series, as it highlights the mentality of quite a large number of pious people ( in all religions, not just Christianity ).
I was a devout Christian for about 15 years before I decided it wasn't for me.
During that time, I encountered many church members whose beliefs and behaviour irritated, disgusted and shocked me.
For example, one woman claimed she resurrected a dead person, even though no one else witnessed the incident and she never brought this person to church to give a testimony.
This same woman also convinced a young couple to refuse surgery for their child who had heart disease, telling them an operation was against God's will, that God would heal their child as long as they prayer fervently.
The child died, and the couple left the church. No formal complaint or police report was ever filed.
At another church, my cell group leader claimed sole credit when one of the members conceived after trying for many years, even though many of us prayed for her over a prolonged period of time.
The CGL's exact comment was, "Oh, I prayed for her, that's why she got pregnant."
So what are the rest of us - completely useless?
There're many other examples of bad Christians but I won't write about them here. I think you get the general idea.
That said, even though I've left the church and don't believe in the existence of any God, I have close friends from different religions, but they're not preachy or self-righteous. We even engage in healthy debates from time to time, so one's religious affiliation ( or lack of ) isn't a factor where friendship is concerned. Rather, it's your character.
I've often been told that Christians are far from perfect, that I shouldn't judge the religion by its followers.
My switch to atheism is multifactorial. Disillusion is a major component, but I think I've just never been fully invested, with a half-in half-out perspective of the Bible, which to this day doesn't really interest me that much.
Apologies for the rant. Moving on...
3. The cast
... is absolutely stellar.
The biggest standout is Hamish Linklater, who plays the aforementioned priest.
He isn't a very prominent actor but this role was made for him.
He appears in many scenes, many of which are physically and emotionally demanding, and he nails every single one.
Whether fervently preaching a sermon, orchestrating a miracle, quietly counselling a recovering alcoholic, or licking a dying man's blood off the floor ( I'm not kidding ) - he gives it everything he's got.
I expect Golden Globe and Emmy nominations in 2022. Don't disappoint me please!
There are of course plot holes here and there.
Why is there only one vampire? Why is the transformation variable? ( You can become a vamp just by drinking its blood, but others turn after being killed by it first. Huh? ) How come the priest-vampire can handle the Bible, holy water, the crucifix and communion wafers? If the paralyzed girl and old lady became healthy after drinking vampire blood, why didn't they turn into full vampires?
Another blemish is the final episode, in which the entire town is burned down, leaving only a church recreation centre for all the vampires to take refuge in after sunrise.
So when one of the non-vamps torches the centre, everyone gets screwed.
This was just plain stupid.
Luckily it's at the end of the show, otherwise I might've stopped watching.
So my final rating is 8/10.
Worth watching, but quite out there so won't be to everyone's liking.
Would be interesting to find out if Flanagan's Catholic / Christian / an atheist. Will find a few online articles to read when I have time.
