I wonder if either Flanagan’s shows truly thrive with the year or two between them to hide his flaws and tropes, or if Midnight Mass is just weaker on the whole. Self indulgent monologues are a trademark of his, but never have I felt more ‘these people wouldn’t talk like this’. Paul and Bev, sure, they’re Bible freaks who’ve memorized scripture, and so they and their actors are two characters that really thrive. But Mike writes like everyone has this fountain of purple prose to pull from. Maybe it’s more digestible and appropriate when the setting is a mansion or manor. But this is a small town island, and Erin didn’t talk like she does in her final monologue. Hell, half the time I didn’t buy that Riley did. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that as a guy who searched for multiple religions for an answer and atheism was the one he found, that he would feel that way, that he could express those themes. But not like that. It’s like a switch is turned on for his talk about death and he’s busting out electrons and psychedelics and then after the scene it’s turned off. It’s clearly Mike talking and not the characters, and it’s like, yeah, Mike, I read Carl Sagan too.
There’s a lot of heady ideas here, and some strong performances. The worst tendencies of Christianity and Catholicism are on display, emphasizing how the focus of paradise in the next world can lead to horror on this one as God will sort it out, it’s all God’s plan. Tying that to vampirism is a natural but clever throughline. Paul being found after eating Joe is a very striking image, both from the stage design and the cinematography, highlighting the gruesome gore disrupting a holy place and Paul in the corner, shrouded by darkness. Everyone but two characters dying is a nice change of pace for Mike. Paul and Bev shine as the antagonists tying it together: Paul as the tragic messiah letting his pain and Bev’s zealotry edge him further from good intentions into atrocities, and Bev as the selfish fanatic who sees God’s love as her due and his love for anyone else an insult. I’m glad he resisted the urge to give Bev a redemptive end and had her screaming and clawing for a way out, selfish and graceless when faced with her final test. And the third act is kind of fun self serious camp in a Resident Evil way.
I wanna say Mike’s done better with his brown folk and he’s definitely. Trying to. But the Muslim stuff is so much more surface level than all the Christianity. And Hasan’s backstory is very ‘white lib emphasizing with the poor model minority’. His anger’s very downplayed. And it’s once again a cop thing. Trying to be one of the good ones fixing things from the inside, the most noble thing a minority can be, like it’s even worse and extra unfair that all that happened to a cop.
I saw Bly Manor and Hill House years apart. Maybe Midnight Mass would feel fresher if I saw it a while after Hill House. Or maybe it’s just a rougher work and I know Flanagan’s tricks more. Either way, it has a fair share of moments, themes to chew on, a good cast, and a nice atmosphere. It’s far from boring. But it just doesn’t come together the way Bly or Hill did.
Review by JCVIP 4BlockedParent2024-01-20T12:32:18Z
I wonder if either Flanagan’s shows truly thrive with the year or two between them to hide his flaws and tropes, or if Midnight Mass is just weaker on the whole. Self indulgent monologues are a trademark of his, but never have I felt more ‘these people wouldn’t talk like this’. Paul and Bev, sure, they’re Bible freaks who’ve memorized scripture, and so they and their actors are two characters that really thrive. But Mike writes like everyone has this fountain of purple prose to pull from. Maybe it’s more digestible and appropriate when the setting is a mansion or manor. But this is a small town island, and Erin didn’t talk like she does in her final monologue. Hell, half the time I didn’t buy that Riley did. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that as a guy who searched for multiple religions for an answer and atheism was the one he found, that he would feel that way, that he could express those themes. But not like that. It’s like a switch is turned on for his talk about death and he’s busting out electrons and psychedelics and then after the scene it’s turned off. It’s clearly Mike talking and not the characters, and it’s like, yeah, Mike, I read Carl Sagan too.
There’s a lot of heady ideas here, and some strong performances. The worst tendencies of Christianity and Catholicism are on display, emphasizing how the focus of paradise in the next world can lead to horror on this one as God will sort it out, it’s all God’s plan. Tying that to vampirism is a natural but clever throughline. Paul being found after eating Joe is a very striking image, both from the stage design and the cinematography, highlighting the gruesome gore disrupting a holy place and Paul in the corner, shrouded by darkness. Everyone but two characters dying is a nice change of pace for Mike. Paul and Bev shine as the antagonists tying it together: Paul as the tragic messiah letting his pain and Bev’s zealotry edge him further from good intentions into atrocities, and Bev as the selfish fanatic who sees God’s love as her due and his love for anyone else an insult. I’m glad he resisted the urge to give Bev a redemptive end and had her screaming and clawing for a way out, selfish and graceless when faced with her final test. And the third act is kind of fun self serious camp in a Resident Evil way.
I wanna say Mike’s done better with his brown folk and he’s definitely. Trying to. But the Muslim stuff is so much more surface level than all the Christianity. And Hasan’s backstory is very ‘white lib emphasizing with the poor model minority’. His anger’s very downplayed. And it’s once again a cop thing. Trying to be one of the good ones fixing things from the inside, the most noble thing a minority can be, like it’s even worse and extra unfair that all that happened to a cop.
I saw Bly Manor and Hill House years apart. Maybe Midnight Mass would feel fresher if I saw it a while after Hill House. Or maybe it’s just a rougher work and I know Flanagan’s tricks more. Either way, it has a fair share of moments, themes to chew on, a good cast, and a nice atmosphere. It’s far from boring. But it just doesn’t come together the way Bly or Hill did.