Midnight Mass Finale Recap: "Book VII"

We’re almost to the end of Midnight Mass, a series that’s been a true roller-coaster ride to watch and to write about. Following the events of the last episode, the first thing we see is Mildred waking outside the church, the wound on her neck telling us she’s been turned into a vampire by the creature. She walks inside, where Father Paul sits on the floor, the blood and remnants of the chaos from earlier in the night surrounding him. The full weight of what he’s done is finally seeming to sink in. He asks Mildred if the creature hurt her when it bit her, and she says yes.

The rest of the island is being succumbed to violence, while Erin and her group are hiding out in an abandoned house. They’re determined to keep the vampirism within the island, not allowing any of the “infected” inhabitants to leave. They agree to send Leeza and Warren, the two kids, onto a canoe in hopes of making it to the mainland. In the middle of their conversation, however, Bev lights the house they’re in on fire; and though the others plan to make an escape, Annie has some things she’d like to say to Bev first. In one of the most satisfying moments to ever grace our television screens, she tells Bev what we’ve all been wanting to say to her from the start: that she’s not a good person, and that God doesn’t love her any more than He loves anyone else. Then she slits her own throat, in an effort to buy her group some time to escape, as Bev and Sturge can’t control their urge to start drinking her blood.

We cut back to Father Paul and Mildred, sitting in church together as the violence rages outside. We learn, not surprisingly, that they were an item in their younger days, and that he is Sarah’s biological father. Apparently, due to his being in the priesthood, they couldn’t stay together (not to mention the fact that Mildred was with another man at the time of their romance, assumedly the man Sarah was raised to believe was her father). Father Paul admits that he wishes he could go back and do things over, make it so that he could stay with his family, and that his desire to keep Mildred and Sarah from dying was part of what made him bring the vampire/angel back to the island to begin with. “If you had asked me,” he says, “I would have taken this collar off and I would have gone with you anywhere in the world.”

In their effort to make it to the canoe, Warren and Leeza have a run-in with the creature. It’s busy feeding on someone, so Leeza manages to set the house it’s in on fire, and the creatures flies away engulfed in flames. Meanwhile, Bev and Sturge make it their mission to set fire to the rest of the island, hoping to draw its inhabitants back into the church; Bev says St. Patrick’s will be like Noah’s ark, the only safe haven from the death going on outside of it, and that she and Father Paul will be the ones to decide who gets to come inside. Ed and Annie find each other, and though they’re both vampires now, they’ve both managed not to attack anyone thus far. Bev meets up with Father Paul, who finally has the decency to look alarmed and disgusted by the many mistakes they’ve both made. The two of them are basically enemies now, as Bev refuses to let a lost, sobbing man into St. Patrick’s, and Father Paul takes control and says the man is welcome inside. As Father Paul walks into the church, he sees Sarah pouring gasoline inside, preparing to burn it down. Instead of outing her to the group of ravenous vampires outside, he simply says, “Good.” He encourages her to exit through the back and head for the water, then tells her he’s proud of her. The verbiage he uses makes it clear to her that he’s her father, and right as they’re in the middle of talking, Sturge walks in and shoots Sarah in the stomach. He thinks he’s in the right, considering she was preparing to burn down the church, but Father Paul attacks and nearly kills him, only stopping when Mildred tells him not to. She hurries with the priest into the church, where their daughter lays dying. Father Paul tries to feed Sarah his blood, in order to ensure she returns to life, but she spits it out, not wanting to become a vampire. Mildred says that when Sarah was a child, her favorite spot on the island was on a bridge by a marsh, so Father Paul picks their daughter up and carries her there.

Hassan and Erin take over Sarah’s job of burning down the church, but are stopped when Hassan is shot by Bev and Erin is attacked by the vampire creature, who is still alive and kicking. Though Ali’s a vampire now, he still has a conscience, as he sees his father bleeding on the ground and makes the command decision to burn the church down himself, throwing a lighter into the gasoline-ridden building. Bev shoots Hassan a second time, and we see the monster is feeding on Erin a few feet away. Since it’s distracted by drinking her blood, she’s able to cut into its wings with a knife. By the time it realizes what she’s done, it’s able to fly somewhat, but just barely. As Erin lays dying, she looks up at the stars and imagines she’s back on her living room sofa, discussing with Riley what happens after death. She’s changed her idea now, and her new one is a little confusing, but she seems to be at peace with it. She ends her speech with the following words: “There is no time. There is no death. Life is a dream. It’s a wish.”

Crockett Island is going up in flames now, and the sun is about to rise. Knowing their end is coming, Annie begins singing a hymn, “Nearer My God to Thee”, and Ed and some of the other church members join in. Ali helps Hassan over to the beach, where they kneel in prayer until Hassan falls over dead. Father Paul and Mildred have taken Sarah to her favorite bridge, where she slowly dies in their arms. The Monsignor takes off his collar and throws it into the water. “Forgive me,” he says to Mildred, and she tenderly kisses him as the sun comes up.

Bev is the only person on the island who’s left alone, standing on the beach a few feet away from Ali and the dead Hassan. She collapses to her knees, but it seems more out of exhaustion than praise. She panics in her final moment, desperately trying to dig a hole in the sand to shelter herself from the rising sun, and screams as her flesh starts burning. The hymn abruptly ends as the rest of the island’s inhabitants are quietly evaporated.

The series ends with Leeza and Warren, who have made it to the canoe and are sitting out in the water, watching the island dissolve into fire. “I can’t feel my legs,” Leeza tells him, and the screen fades to black.

Stay tuned for my upcoming review for Midnight Mass, where I delve further into the philosophical and spiritual aspects of the show. I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey through the series!