Book VI: Acts of the Apostles
Episode 6 of Midnight Mass begins on the boat, as Riley’s remains float across the wood. Erin moves the ash with her bare hands and rows back to the island. As she does, his family awaken, unbeknownst to them that Riley has passed. Still, Erin stumbles over to Sarah’s place and reveals her crazy story about Riley. Although it is physically impossible, Sarah believes her. Given the blood vials, she too confirms her story by moving a petri dish to the sunlight… and showing it go up in flames. This singular act is then met with more surprise when Mildred shows, younger than ever before. Meanwhile, Paul finds himself disappointed by Riley “spitting out his gift”. Bev stirs things up, highlighting the story of the Apostles and how they “poison the faithful.” Midway through talking though, Ed shows up with Riley’s letter. He’s worried about his son but Paul convinces him that he’s gone to the mainland and left. When Ed skips away, Paul reads the letter and simply screws it up. Erin knows the truth about what happened though and encourages Annie to join her that night. Only, given it’s the night of the Easter vigil, they have no plans to leave the island. With no other choice, she spills the truth about Riley’s death but Annie refuses to listen. Later that day, Sarah, Mildred and Erin all head down to the shore, intending to go to the mainland to get those blood samples tested. With no ferry and all the boats docked, the trio leave emptyhanded. However, they are reminded of the Easter vigil that evening. In the Hassan household, Ali convinces his father to join him at the vigil too. As night descends, all the different residents begin walking up the streets and singing hymns. Eventually the entire community gather in the church for Easter service. Paul immediately reveals the truth while there, unveiling that Monsignor Pruitt is actually himself. As the service continues, in front of everyone Sturge collapses and begins convulsing. He eventually passes but this seems to be a ploy to bring the body back. And just like that, the angel waltzes in through the front door for the entire congregation to see. Brandishing its wings before them all, Paul speaks on behalf of it as Sturge is brought back to life. And just like that, all the believers brandish a glass full of liquid. This certainly isn’t orange juice though, it’s poison. Paul encourages them all to have faith and believes they should drink. Hassan has seen enough and brandishes his gun, pointing it at the angel. Unfortunately he’s tackled to the ground before he can fire. Defenceless, he’s forced to watch Ali “choose God” while everyone else does the same and drinks their suicidal cocktail, doubling over and dying. Mildred has seen enough and grabs Hassan’s gun, shooting Paul in the head. Bev is convinced that he’ll be okay though, while the angel snatches up Mildred and tackles her to the ground outside. Those men and women who took the juice are brought back as “apostles”, complete with glittery yellow eyes. Everyone else is far from safe though, as they immediately pounce on the others. A massacre ensues and it’s pure chaos. Everyone scrambles to break out, leaving a rebel group to squeeze into the back passages. There, Erin shoots Bev in the chest despite her confirming that she’ll revive in less than 5 minutes. As the small band of sane survivors take off, Bev returns to life and opens the doors, organizing her apostles to take the town by storm and leaving fire in their wake.
The Episode Review
Midnight Mass returns with another slow episode, one that completely abandons any sort of horror or mystery and instead embraces the ridiculous. Now, don’t get me wrong the angel certainly looks creepy but Midnight Mass showed its hand too soon and paid the price. This is why The Thing and Alien work so well and still hold up to this day. The creepy, atmospheric horror those works of art manage to conjure are unrivaled by comparison to today’s wave of horror. I say horror, Midnight Mass is basically a religious drama at best. Compared to say The Third Day or 30 Coins, this show doesn’t hold a candle to either of those. There’s absolutely no scares here and save for a few creepy moments early on, does little to actually make this long slog worth the journey. With Riley dead and the show struggling to find a focal figure to take his place, the entire chapter takes far too long to get to the good stuff and when it does, fails to turn that into something compelling.
