‘Midnight Mass’ Recap – ‘Book VI: Acts of the Apostles’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Six of ‘Midnight Mass’.
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When we last settled in to discuss the brilliant Netflix series, Midnight Mass, we talked at length about the importance of examining the root cause of every last one of the problems that are currently plaguing organized religion right now. Primarily because, they are concerning for certain and if left unchecked and un-repaired, there is a fair chance that they could lead to all kinds of trouble. The kind that would harm a great deal since religion has great influence and power. But rather than purely leave those potential horrors buried in the backs of our minds… Mike Flanagan decided that for the show’s penultimate episode, the time was right to indulge the darkest recesses of our imagination and ponder upon what would happen if organized religion’s problem weren’t addressed and allowed for the worst-case scenario came to fruition.
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Which made ‘Book VI: Acts of the Apostles’ an utterly horrifying story, one that saw religion’s arrogance and desire to remain relevant to be taken to a terrifying new level on Crockett Island. For once Bev and Pruitt realized that Riley was missing and seemingly rejected his ‘blessing’ from ‘The Lord’, they expected him to talk and sow trouble amongst the people and potentially destroy all the progress made in making religion great again on this godforsaken island. Which in turn, allowed for quite the powerful plan to be set into motion. One where Bev and Pruitt would ensure that faith would prevail on this island and all it would take to make that happen… was complete and utter control of its citizens, and well… it was horrifying to see how easily this plan came to fruition.

For while Erin and Sarah and Mildred pondered upon their next steps and how to bring attention to their situation and the scary reality that Pruitt had been feeding the island’s citizens some kind of horrific miracle cure, the power was gently being cut at every sub-station. Plus, the boats were conveniently put under repair and the ferries were sent away. All because Bev and John needed everyone to stay, to make a particularly unsettling choice, one that would change lives forever and well… what allowed for this to happen so quickly and so succinctly… was Crockett’s Mayor. For Wade didn’t even hesitate to green light this plan and even stepped in and helped it to come to life, making it clear how quickly something like this could happen in America if the circumstances were right and while some might say that’s not possible… history speaks otherwise.

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Since the Catholic Church has an illustrious history of seizing control with minimal fuss, which allowed for incredible butchery to take place in the past and even now… religious zealots are able to seize power often. For ISIL and its belief that the world was corrupt, fueled enough fear and worry to rally holy soldiers to its cause and quickly create an Islamic State. One that thankfully failed, but there are still fears that another one could rise thanks to the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, since they harbor old religious views and could welcome remnant of ISIL into their government as well. But while it was fascinating to explore what a religious revolution might look like in America, there was still the matter of the last part of the plan… one that helped this episode lean hard into its horror roots. 
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As it turns out, the final part of the plan… was to reveal the truth to Crockett and put the ‘Angel’ on display in front of everyone so that the town could see that ‘God’ had blessed them and wanted them to prosper, and that all they needed to do to embrace God’s love and enjoy the restoration that Pruitt enjoyed… was to die. For then the vampire’s blood would resurrect them as Jesus was once resurrected and that… led to complete and utter bedlam. Wherein mass death occurred, and gunfire and bloodshed broke out over the horror of this reality and once the dust and the fountains of blood had settled, a new beginning had indeed come to fruition on Crockett Island. For the undead walked and they craved fresh blood and thanks to Bev Keane’s decision to open the doors… they are going to get their wish.

Which is… a terrifying cliffhanger for certain. One that truly implies that carnage and terror awaits us in the show’s series finale. But while we wait to see how bad things will get on Crockett Island, we can bask in the wonder of a true tale of terror. One where Mike Flanagan let loose and let our worst fears come to fruition before unleashing the vampiric nightmare we knew was coming and well, in the end, this was just another brilliant episode in this series. One that brings together much of the commentary here with its ‘what if?’ scenario and sets the stage for an epic finale. One that will decide the fate of so many, and will undoubtedly this story to a close in the most brilliant way imaginable and truly, it will be quite interesting to see what lessons await us and how this nightmare is going to end when we dive into the series finale. Until next time.

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