Why do they have midnight mass

When death finally comes for her, she is the only one we really see running from it. From my interpretation, Bev doesn't show herself to be a true believer. Because if she was, I think she would have embraced her death knowing that everything she did was good and holy.

Unlike Bev, the townsfolk of Crockett Island show themselves to be true believers because instead of crying and mourning the lives that were stolen from many of them, they choose to embrace death together and whatever that means. A lot about Father Paul is also revealed with his death. Mainly, I think he reveals that religion and God were never his main priority.

First by not being a priest who put God first, and then by doing everything for Mildred and Sarah. Father Paul seems to have decided to no longer pretend to be this godly man and in his death, he removes his priest collar and enjoys his few last moments with Mildred. The Midnight Mass ending is pretty bleak, everyone dies and the town burns down.

However, Leeza and Warren make it out alive. The fact that those two survived and can likely start over, gives the series some sense of hope. There is a chance of a happy ending for them. The fact that the Crockett Island townsfolk also came together at the end gives the show a hopeful note, in my opinion. I think it shows that Midnight Mass is not trying to paint religion in a bad manner.

In fact, most of them are more neighborly because of it. I thought the Midnight Mass ending brought the show full circle. It was a fitting ending that got to the core messages of the series. But what did you think? Vote in our poll below Spent most of my life in various parts of Illinois, including attending college in Evanston.

I have been a life long lover of pop culture, especially television, turned that passion into writing about all things entertainment related. Gunning theorizes -- has been altering the cells of people who drink it. Gunning, who's been analyzing Erin Greene and her mother's blood, which sizzles and catches fire in the sun, explains: "So there's this blood disorder called erythropoietic protoporphyria.

A lot of those myths probably came from EPP. People with it are extremely sensitive to light, to the point of burning and blistering in the sun. And very anemic. She theorizes that their blood -- and likely the once wheelchair-bound Leeza's -- contains "something that repairs damaged cells, is violently photosensitive and causes an insane anemia.

A desperate hunger for iron. Iron in blood. Though Mildred Gunning's youth is restored and her dementia remedied, Erin loses her baby.

This is how Dr. Gunning explains it: "Hypothetically, a pregnancy is an alien presence in a human body. A lot of processes occur to stop a mother's body from attacking a fetus in the womb Gunning's tests on Erin's and her mother's blood provide a glimmer of hope that everyone can return back to normal. When Dr. Gunning places samples of their blood in the sun, the infected part burns away, leaving their normal blood behind. Because the ratio of the Angel's parasite is still only at trace amounts in their systems, Dr.

Gunning reasons, they might be able to pass it through, similar to what happens when you ingest alcohol. Filter it out, the way it does any other harmful substance, if it's not too much. In episode 7, as the vampiric townspeople run riot, Mildred Gunning and John Pruitt sit inside the church, ruminating over their days in love and the miracle of having a second chance to be together, as a family. It's implied that Mildred and John had an affair during the war, but Mildred chose not to disrupt her family with her then husband, letting her daughter Sarah believe he was her father.

But Sarah's real father, as she finds out just before Sturge shoots her, was John. Strange things have happened before on Crockett Island. In episode 7, Sturge says that in , the whole island "burned to nothing.

When the cats wash up on the beach, Mayor Scarborough informs Sheriff Hassan that in a flock of starlings fell out of the sky. Lots of theories. Lightning, noises, disease. Whole pile of dolphins once too More than a dozen and they had bites missing. Three years ago, an oil spill saw all the fishermen's catches spoiled. Then came a rat problem, pantries invaded after the rodents' regular fish food source was polluted at least, according to nosy priest's assistant Bev Keane.

Across these events, since the island community was established in the s according to the old newspaper clipping in the pastor's house , the island's population has diminished. This isn't a community anymore, honey. It's a ghost," Riley's mom Annie says. These events play into Father Paul's idea that "we tend to dislike mysteries.

We feel uncomfortable not knowing. In episode 1, when Bev Keane passes by Pike at the local store, she jumps at the sound of the dog's bark. She scolds Joe Collie for letting his dog snap at her. Joe tries to explain that that's just Pike's way of saying hello, but Bev declares Pike a "menace," implying the same of his owner. Joe is the outcast town drunk after accidentally shooting the mayor's daughter Leeza and paralyzing her legs. At the Crock Pot Luck festivities in episode 2, Pike is found dead, having apparently ingested a poisoned hot dog.

Erin remembers that Bev, who's also a teacher, was acting nervously with a canister of rat poison she had easy access to from the school store cupboard. If you go back to a few moments before Pike is found dead, a hand and the hem of a floral dress flash past the pet, revealing a hot dog now discarded on the ground. That same dress is seen worn by Bev Greene a few scenes earlier as she peruses the food selection. A spot on the island called the Uppards is rumored to be haunted by Harpoon Harry, a dead fisherman who "harpooned kids for their meat.

This story both builds atmosphere and provides misdirection for the real threat preying on the people of Crockett Island. In the end, Bev and Sturge's plan to burn down all the buildings -- to create a "new flood" with the church as the arc for the "good citizens" -- backfires.

After Monsignor Pruitt sees the destruction he's caused and after Sturge shoots his daughter Sarah dead, he angrily sets the church alight. Then Sherif Hassan, with the help of his son Ali, burns down the recreation center.

With Erin, Sarah and Mildred having already burned the remainder of the large boats, this leaves no shelters whatsoever on the small island for the vampiric townsfolk to hide beneath and escape the sun. Nor can they spread their contagion to the rest of the world. What is the opposite of a miracle? Why do some of the faithful get blessings in their life while others face only torment? And yet I come back to that King comparison.

Brian Tallerico is the Editor of RogerEbert. Hamish Linklater as Father Paul. Zach Gilford as Riley Flynn. Kate Siegel as Erin Greene. Kristin Lehman as Annie Flynn. Rahul Kohli as Sheriff Hassan. Annabeth Gish as Sarah Gunning. Alex Essoe as Mildred Gunning.