Midnight Mass Recap: "Book VI"

The next-to-last episode of Midnight Mass picks up right where we left off, as Erin rows back to the island after witnessing Riley’s fiery end. Unsure of where else to go, she pays a visit to Sarah, who’s seen enough weird crap at this point to actually believe her story, and who shows Erin how the vials of her blood sizzle in the sunlight. They discuss, along with Mildred (who’s looking younger by the day), what’s going on within Crockett Island. There’s a blood disorder called EPP which causes people to become extremely anemic and sensitive to light, and while she doesn’t think this is what’s causing the current events, Sarah thinks perhaps it belongs to the same family as whatever’s going on here. “Kind of like how the common cold and the bubonic plague are in the same family,” she explains. If something is being ingested by residents of the island – such as the “wine” Father Paul has been using for Communion – perhaps it’s repairing damaged cells, hence the so-called miracles that have occurred. Perhaps its effects are so aggressive that it would see any change in the human body – like a pregnancy, for example – as a negative change, and attempt to get rid of it. (The only explanation we’ll get for the disappearance of Erin’s baby, I guess.)

At his house, Father Paul tells Bev that he knows Riley is gone. He can feel it, the same way he could feel that Leeza could walk. Bev, as per usual, is only concerned with how this new development affects her. “Some people aren’t content to ruin it for themselves,” she bitterly says of Riley’s essential suicide. “They have to poison it for others, as well.” In the middle of their discussion about the upcoming Easter Vigil, they get a visit from Ed Flynn – or, rather, Father Paul does, as Ed requests to talk to the priest alone. He says he woke up that morning to a letter Riley left for him, and the letter holds so many crazy thoughts and ideas that he’s worried for his oldest son’s state of mind. He also has a letter Riley left for Monsignor Pruitt, and though he hasn’t read it, he wants to know if Father Paul could send it to the mainland for the elderly priest to read. Father Paul assures him he will, and after Ed leaves, the priest opens the letter made out to him. It reads, very simply: “Remember we are dust, and to dust we shall return.” Father Paul looks over the letter contemplatively, then crumples it up.

Knowing that something dire is planned for the upcoming Midnight Mass, Erin visits Annie Flynn and asks her to consider leaving the island tonight, a request which Annie denies. In a final attempt to save what’s left of the Flynn family, Erin tells her that Riley is dead. Annie responds aggressively, refusing to believe it’s true, and kicks Erin out.

Meanwhile, Sarah goes to talk to Hassan, who should probably be a bit more concerned than he is over the many panicked visits he’s been receiving from the islanders. He refuses to investigate the goings-on at St. Patrick’s; as a Muslim man who’s distrusted by most around him, he says the last thing he wants on his reputation is an accusation towards the local Catholic Church. He confesses that he doesn’t even carry a gun on the job, because A.) it’s unnecessary, due to Crockett Island’s lack of crime, and B.) he’s intent on making sure everyone knows he can be trusted. Since they’re not getting any help from law enforcement, Sarah, Erin, and Mildred attempt to escape the island, but Sturge the Handyman tells them the ferries have been “sent in for repairs” and won’t be coming for the day. To top it all off, Sturge also turns off the generator that gives the island power. In short, everyone’s stuck on the island with no escape and no way to call for help.

Mildred, who looks to be about 30 years old at this point, recommends they use the smaller rowboats to get off the island, but the mainland is too far away. Erin decides that she’s going to Mass, considering Riley’s sacrifice and her own desire to help, and Sarah and Mildred agree to go as well. Hassan’s son Ali also plans to go, and though Hassan has been begging Ali to return to praying with him and practicing the Muslim faith, he reluctantly agrees to attend Mass alongside his son. Tonight’s Midnight Mass is going to be quite the event!

And an event, it is. Father Paul starts it all off with a surprising declaration: he admits to the congregation that he is Monsignor John Pruitt, and explains that he was restored by an angel of the Lord, an angel that he brought home with him. He goes on illustrate the fear he felt before this restoration, the same fear the congregation will soon experience, but assures them that they’ll come to peace with it the same way he has. He calls for faith and trust for what’s about to happen to all of them, and peace that they will all soon enter into eternal life. While some members of the congregation are nodding along, most look confused, most notably Ed and Annie Flynn. As he speaks to the church, Bev is preparing tonight’s Communion in a back room – but instead of wine, she’s filling cups with rat poison. Sturge, ever the willing victim, is the first to drink from the cup, before the congregants know what’s inside it. His body starts twitching, blood spews from his mouth, and he falls to the ground and dies. Understandably, most of the churchgoers (excluding Dolly, Wade, and Bev, who were clearly prepared for all this) start to panic. While Father Paul’s attempting to talk everyone down, Hassan grabs Ali and makes a break for the exit, but finds it blocked by the vampiric creature. Everyone’s decidedly more freaked out when they see the monster, and as Father Paul tries to explain to them that it’s an angel, Sturge splutters back to life. Then Bev, Dolly and Wade start handing out the cups filled with poison to the congregation, and Father Paul coaches them all to drink it, encouraging them that all it will take is a short moment of agony for them to be resurrected forever. Hassan has really had enough now and heads straight for the door again, brandishing a gun for what must be the first time since his arrival on Crockett Island. He fires a warning shot into the ceiling, and a few members of the congregation attack him and hold him down, while the gun drops to the floor and slides out of his reach. Despite his father’s pleas, Ali decides to drink the poison, along with quite a few other people.

What follows is pure chaos: a conglomeration of people vomiting blood, seizing, dying, and ultimately coming back to life. The ones who drank the poison attack the ones who didn’t, biting them and turning them into vampires as well. Finally, Mildred picks up a gun and shoots Father Paul through the head, which causes the vampire creature to screech in anger and pick Mildred up with its claw-like hands, flying her out of the building. Ed Flynn gets swarmed and bitten by a mob of vampires. A small group – made up of Sarah, Hassan, Erin, Annie, Warren, and Leeza – manage to escape to a back room, where they find Bev hiding from all the commotion like the coward she is. Erin shoots her without much fanfare, and the group escapes the building.

Of course, Father Paul’s headshot wound didn’t kill him – I guess only a stake through the heart could do that – and he wakes up as Bev and Sturge are discussing the evening’s happenings. Sturge is a little saddened as he looks around at all the dead bodies, but Bev assures him that those who have been partaking in Communion will be just fine. Sure enough, the bodies of those bitten start to rise, and Bev orders for the church doors to be opened, unleashing the vampires on the rest of the town.