Midnight Mass Recap: "Book V"

The mystery of what exactly happened to Riley Flynn is hanging over all our heads in episode 4 of Midnight Mass, which begins with his family wondering about his whereabouts. Sherriff Hassan is getting multiple missing person reports – one from the mother of the local drug dealer killed back in episode 2, and another from Erin, who’s convinced something bad has happened to Riley after he neglected to show up to her house. Ed, on the other hand, assumes he’s back to his old ways and up to no good, and that deeply harbored resentment seems to be making its way back up to the surface again.

The congregants gather for Mass on Good Friday, where Father Paul delivers a homily that starts out as powerful, but devolves into what seems to be an odd monologue about the horrible things that God often requires of His people. He alludes to the big things that will be happening on Easter Sunday, but doesn’t go into detail on what they are. The only one who seems disturbed by his speech is Mildred Gunning, who tells Sarah, “That is not my church. That is not the man I knew.”

Out of the blue, Riley shows up at Erin’s house that night, and instead of answering her questions straightaway, he asks her to row out into the bay with him. Once they’re out in the water, he tells her the story of what happened to him, and asks her to try and believe him, no matter how unbelievable it all may seem.

We flash back to when Riley first woke up in the rec center after being attacked. His neck is bleeding and Father Paul is sitting a few feet away, flipping through his Bible and looking as chill as though they’re about to have another of their AA meetings. Riley tries to make a break for it out the front door, but his flesh starts to burn in the sunlight. Father Paul pulls him back inside and sits him down, promising him that he can ask whatever he wants and receive a completely truthful answer. He reveals his true identity, guiding him to the realization that he and Monsignor Pruitt are one and the same. They’re soon interrupted by Bev, who Father Paul ushers in to stand close to Riley, assuring her that he’ll “stop him” should things get intense. Riley can hear her heart beating, see the blood coursing through her veins, and he briefly loses control, going to attack her. Father Paul, true to his word, restrains him and sends Bev out. Riley is on the floor now, doubled over in pain, and Father Paul rubs his back, reciting the Serenity Prayer. “I’m sorry it hurts,” he tells him, and for all his obvious faults, it’s not hard to believe he really is. “But it will pass.”

They discuss Joe’s death, which the priest claims he feels no guilt over – a sign, he says, that he was simply doing God’s will by killing him. He actually refuses to say Joe has been murdered, choosing instead to say that he was “sent home”. He asks Riley how it makes him feel – considering the guilt he’s experienced over the drunk driving incident – to hear the priest’s confessed lack of remorse over Joe’s death. Riley cycles through the obvious responses at first, things like anger and disgust, before he finally lands on the truest one at all: jealousy. He’s envious of the priest’s ability to let go of the guilt and move forward.

After a little more exposition, in which Father Paul reluctantly admits to drinking a bit of Riley’s blood while the creature fed on him, Bev and Sturge the Handyman show up. Sturge is apparently their designated blood donator, as he cuts open his arm, which is already wrapped in bandages, and spills his blood into a goblet. Though Riley’s disgusted at first, his new instincts soon take over, and he thirstily gulps it all down. As the sun starts to go down, Father Paul gives Riley to the OK to leave the rec center and go do his own thing, though Bev, Dolly, Wade, and Sturge – and even Riley himself – are a little less certain of his ability to control his thirst. The only instruction the priest gives him is not to refrain from feeding, but rather to be careful who he chooses to feed from – and to remember, first and foremost, that it is a gift.

Riley goes back home and watches his parents and brother sleeping, fighting the urge to attack them as he listens to their heartbeats. Then he goes to Erin’s house, and we’re back in the present, with the two of them sitting on a boat in the middle of the water. Erin doesn’t believe his story, unsurprisingly, but she does question why he’s brought her here – out in the middle of nowhere, with no way for her to escape. He corrects her and says that he hasn't brought her here so that she’d have nowhere to go; he’s done it so he has nowhere to go. He knows something bad is about to happen on Crockett Island, and he wants her to get away before that happens. But he also knows that she won’t leave unless she truly sees and believes – so, after declaring his love for her and apologizing for what she’s about to see, he closes his eyes and waits for the sun to come up. “I did my best,” he says, and when he opens his eyes, it’s not Erin who sits before him, but the young woman he killed in the car accident. For the first time, she looks whole; there’s no glass sticking out of her, no police lights, no blood, no pain. She reaches her hand out, and he takes it. And then she’s replaced by Erin, who’s screaming as Riley catches on fire and dissolves into flames before her eyes. The screen goes black, but her cries echo into the end credits.