‘Midnight Mass’ Recap – ‘Book V: Gospel’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Midnight Mass’.
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One would think that a television show that is critical of modern religion, would be eager to tear through every single flaw that it harbors in a quick and precise manner. To truly expose modern religion for what it is and raise awareness at a vulnerable time in its history. But to properly understand religions faults and the impact of those faults, just offering up a hit job on the small screen, really isn’t conducive to that. We need to properly understand what causes these issues so they can be addressed on a fundamental level and changed so they don't transform into a sweeping problem, and that’s why the Netflix series, Midnight Mass deserves our attention.
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For this is a series that does exactly that. Since every single episode dives deep into the root causes of religion’s greatest problems and how to fix them, and that’s allowed for some fascinating and powerful examinations and commentary to take place and it just so happens, that the next episode in this intriguing franchise offers up perhaps its most poignant perspective yet. For ‘Book V: Gospel’ truly takes the time to explore a grave and critical issue that is currently plaguing religion. In that, it is so desperate to retain followers and attract new ones that it is starting to latch onto dangerous and horrible concepts and make them ‘holy’ and attractive and justifiable to worship and it examined how this is happening… by following up on what happened to Riley Flynn.

For if you recall, in the last episode, he was being feasted upon by the ‘Angel’ that roams Crockett Island and when we catch up with Riley here… he’s in a bad place. For not only is his neck broken, but after it is reset by Monsignor Pruitt, Riley is forced to face some horrible truths. In that… he’s a vampire now, and so is the Monsignor and this is simply the way of things now. He will forever crave blood and likely need to kill to quench that thirst and what’s worse, is that Pruitt and Bev Keane… see this as a blessing. As a transformation that ties into the Book of Revelation itself. Making it seem as though Riley and Pruitt are God’s chosen flock to lead the island and its inhabitants to a brave new future and well… that’s really where the exploration in question gets underway.

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Since every single word that Pruitt and Keane spew at Riley and themselves, works hard to justify the stupidity and madness of this whole situation. But they are in fact… doing whatever they can to justify it and believe it at their core when they know it’s wrong… because they’re so desperate to see faith be restored to this island. For what they truly believe is that godlessness is sinking its teeth into Crockett and the ‘flock’ is going astray. But if they can sell this incredible lie, this one stunning lie… they can finally have the picturesque, religious Americana that has long since faded and live in some wild utopia where prayer and faith somehow sustain them. Which is what religion does now. For pastors now feel the same fear and latch onto stupid conspiracy theories or morons like Donald Trump, that don’t represent Christianity in the slightest, because they believe following the herd (ironically) or appealing to baseless fears in a manner where the church can save them… will bring followers back into the pews.

When in fact, all it does is propagate danger and radicalize some into becoming the hypocritical zealots we despise now and while all of that hasn’t led to a critically terrifying moment in American history, where demand for a Christian nation explodes into a fight for such, it might. But speculation aside, what matters more here is that Riley recognized that threat and the pure dangers that comes with embracing dangerous ideals and concepts and how they could leave Crockett in ruin and that motivated him to do something quite bold. Wherein he took Erin out onto the water in the dead of night, to tell his tale of vampiric conversion and to ask to her runaway from the danger, despite knowing she would turn back to try and save her friends on the island. But since he knew there would be skepticism to such an incredible tale, Riley also made sure to keep her out there until dawn, to unequivocally prove to her… that he told her the truth and that the threat was real.

Which brought about one heartbreaking ending, where Riley finally paid it forward for his actions and where Erin said goodbye to someone she truly loved and well… where we go from here is anyone’s guess. For the threat on the island is now revealed to someone with some common sense, and Erin will undoubtedly reveal what she’s learned and that will either bring about chaos or unity, depending on who she talks to. But while we wait to see the fallout of this revelation… we can bask in the majesty of one powerful tale. One that really made it clear how desperate religion is right now, and how far it might go to stay relevant if the current exodus reached a critical mass. Making this tale both observational and cautionary in nature and it also speaks to the brilliance and the bravery of this show. Since it takes guts to be that frank about the church and well… now that this unsettling chapter has come to a close, the time has come to turn our attention to the next one… one that will undoubtedly up the ante as the island learns about Pruitt’s dark secret. Until next time.

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