AirplaneAg09 said:
Just wrapped this up last night and I'm in the same boat as a bunch of you guys. Feels like this was two separate miniseries in the same show. I really didn't feel like any of the characters other than Father Paul and Bev had any type of impact on the show.
Riley, Erin, the Sherriff, Leeza, etc. all just seemed like empty caricatures who filled in the background for what was basically Father Paul's series long monologue. Feel like I'll give Flanagan the benefit of the doubt in that if he wanted to make a show with serious religious commentary, positive or negative, it would have been much more flushed out from that angle. The whole thing just seemed a bit hollow to me but I finished mainly for the performance of Linklater in the first 4-5 episodes.
Man, I had the exact opposite reaction. I thought this was one of the most thematically sound and thematically interesting series I've ever seen. I loved it so, so much. Mostly *because* it wasn't about "the characters' impact on the show," it was about
the show's impact on the characters. It put character before plot, in ways some of the best shows do. It was ALL about the various arcs of the townspeople, using rich religious commentary, all of which I found to be anything but hollow...
- Riley's sacrifice proves to himself and others that he was, in fact, good/pure of heart. Yes, he was an alcoholic, but one who doesn't give into temptation in the end. Instead of the bottle, he resists drinking blood, which I thought was such a brilliant metaphor, given the supernatural bent of the plot. He literally overcomes that demon. We think he's taking Erin out on the boat to drink her blood, but instead he's taking her out to ensure a chain reaction that could save at least a few people, who ultimately end up being his little brother and Leeza. His arc begins with addiction/carelessness, resulting in death. His arc ends with him overcoming addiction, resulting in lives saved. I loved, loved, loved this aspect, and thought it was so clever, and so well done.
- All Father Paul really wanted in life was Mildred, but the life he chose kept him from having her. In his twilight years, however, he makes a literal deal with the devil to get her back, ultimately realizes the error of his ways, but gets to be with Mildred in the end. And the two of them, along with Dr. Gunning, get to be a family, if only for a brief, fleeting, bittersweet moment. I thought that was beautiful.
- Riley's parents, along with a few other church/townsfolk, still manage to hold true to their faith in the end, despite the literal hell they go through. Their final act is singing a hymn in the face of certain death, an act that literally requires them to "see the light." They start out as naive believers, but end as believers who have been truly tested. Their triumph is that nothing - not even the devil himself (or demon or vampire or whatever you want to call it) - can shake their faith. Like their son, they never fell to temptation. (Conversely, it's Beverly Keane who tries to
hide from the light, literally attempting to bury her head in the sand.)
- Similar to Riley's parents, Sheriff Hasan stays true to
his faith, but for different reasons. Throughout the series, Hasan is rarely treated with the same respect he gives his neighbors. Yet, even the town drunk - responsible for paralyzing a young girl - is treated with respect and compassion by Hasan. It's the
Muslim who continually shows true grace; the only one not trying to convert or force his beliefs on others (save for on his son, of course). He's a reserved, vigilant man of the law - a brown-skinned Brody from
Jaws (which I thought was a nice twist) - who chooses to do the right thing simply because it's the right thing to do, not because of the promise of some eternal reward. Hasan is given every reason and opportunity to be like Bev and Father Paul - to use his religion to *stop* showing grace and fall into the same trap as them - yet he never does. And it's through that test that he and his son arrive at their final moments, no longer praying simply because that's what their wife/mother wanted. They're now doing it for
themselves, for each other, and maybe even for their God as well. Either way, they're no longer going through the motions, they're doing it with the proper intent.
Yes, I think it's obvious Flanagan ultimately comes at this story through the eyes of an atheist. That said, I didn't find
Midnight Mass to be anti religion or anti Christian at all. Rather, it's anti
using religion to justify selfishness and atrocities. It's anti
bad faith. It's an allegory about the horrible things people do in the name of religion, and how anyone can find just about any Bible verse (or excerpt from the Quran) to justify basically anything. Throughout the series, Bev, along with Father Paul, bend over backwards and use all kinds of pretzel logic to commit all kinds of atrocities. Yet, Sheriff Hasan, whose religion arguably *does* allow for and perhaps even encourages atrocities in the name of God (at least as translated by certain extremists, or according to certain Christians) DOESN'T use religion to commit atrocities. In that sense, this is a show about how religion is
used. Not about whether it's good or bad on its face, or which religion is "right." It's only concerned with the
right way to practice whatever it is you believe; that the world of God - whichever God you believe in - should be about love, grace, community, recovery, and redemption, even in the face of our worst sins (and an "evil" that will never cease, as personified by the vampire managing to fly away in the end/live another day, if only barely). And I thought this show was utterly brilliant in its exploration of those themes.
