He carries a torch for Erin but can’t seem to outrun his lack of self-respect. He’s returned to the island where he grew up after years of mainland dissolution ended in prison time for manslaughter. A local physician (Annabeth Gish) seeks to investigate the source of the father’s works - but as the town enters his thrall, she may be too late.Īn abiding irony of “Midnight Mass” is that Riley, a skeptic about the church his family attends, could badly use a miracle of his own. His is a muscular belief, expressing itself in exhortations from the pulpit and, soon enough, in miracles restoring the health of various townspeople. When that leader disappears, a new priest, Father Paul (Hamish Linklater, a standout in a strong cast) shows up and wins the community’s love. Riley and Erin are among the few residents of Crockett Island, a place known for its fishing industry, a recent catastrophe that wiped much of that industry out, and a deep and abiding faith, nourished by the parish’s beloved monsignor. It’s a very talky show that struggles, in dialogue, to answer the questions it poses. And though it engages with potent ideas, the ultimate impact of “Midnight Mass” is softened by a lack of follow-through. Flanagan’s third limited series for Netflix, taking Catholicism as its subject, lacks the crispness and rigor that has often distinguished his work. ![]() The character is reaching beyond his grasp in order to deliver emotional catharsis and meandering into well-meant cliché. But Riley tries, delivering a monologue about the body’s atoms “scattered across the goddamn cosmos” and becoming one with everything, his speech underscored by plaintive piano. Humanity’s been grappling with with that big question for millennia, and a single conversation likely won’t crack it. Around the midpoint of Mike Flanagan’s new Netflix horror serial “ Midnight Mass,” in the middle of a conversation about loss, Kate Siegel’s character Erin asks Zach Gilford’s Riley: “What happens when you die?”
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