WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the entirety of Midnight Mass, streaming now on Netflix.
In Netflix's Midnight Mass, family and friendships play a major part in the fate of Crockett Island as its devotion to Catholicism dooms the citizenry. They all follow Father Paul (Hamish Linklater), not realizing he's setting them up to become vampires rather than folks who can live happily in eternal life. While this builds to the last stand made against his St. Patrick's church, most of these bonds on either side of the coin are well-mapped out, apart from the two most poignant ones that end up feeling totally wasted.
The first comes with Father Paul and Sarah, the island's doctor. He often visits to offer communion to her sick mom, Mildred, and in time, the vampiric wine makes Mildred younger. When it's revealed that Father Paul is actually Monsignor Pruitt -- the old priest who's been made young by his demonic "angel" -- it becomes clear that he loves Mildred. He admits as much, dropping the bombshell that Sarah is, in fact, his daughter.
However, this arc doesn't resonate as they don't spend much time together in the series. He just pops in and out to visit Mildred, which makes the finale -- when Sarah's shot as she finds out the truth -- feel flat. Both admit they wished they had more time together, and had the show given them just that, it would have made sense.
They have so much they could have discussed, such as Sarah's lesbianism and her getting bad looks from the island folk during a celebration. Addressing homosexuality in the church would have brought them together as Paul is progressive, which would have done wonders to show how far he came from being the arcane Pruitt. Seeing him convincing Sarah that she's not an abomination would truly have added that nuanced layer of sentimentality the series aims for but misses.
Father Paul could also have worked with her on Erin's pregnancy, which dematerialized when Erin took the wine, speaking to her story of failed relationships, miscarriages and anti-Biblical behavior. This would inform later on when Paul tries to help his daughter escape the midnight frenzy during the Easter massacre, regretting what he did by converting everyone. Such a deep bond would have also made Sarah spitting out his blood, as she didn't want immortality from a monster, much more impactful, driving Paul to want to end things as he failed as a father.
Secondly, there's also the arc with Warren and his best friend, Ooker -- altar boys who had no idea they were poisoning the congregation. When the mass occurs, Ooker's glad to kill himself and be resurrected as an immortal but Warren flees, hiding out with Hassan's crew as they try to get off the island. Warren simply breaks free with Leeza and they row out to sea as sunrise burns the place up. Sadly, there's no confrontation with him and Ooker, which could have seen the teen tempting his buddy to participate in this "gift." Were Ooker to meet them at the shoreline, trying to attack Warren for choosing the girl he loves over him, it would have created drama and tension. All they did was get high, but seeing as Riley (Warren's brother) wasn't around and Ooker took his place, it'd be an organic brotherhood to capitalize on.
Instead, Ooker merely befriends Sturge, admitting that he killed his family when Sturge really had no connection. Given that vamps can resist the urge to feed, it would have been more powerful seeing Ooker talking to Warren about how he devoured his loved ones, and eventually sparing Warren and Leeza. Him acknowledging they had a life to live rather than being resigned to this macabre path would have added a ton of endearment and loyalty. Seeing as Warren and Leeza the only two who end up surviving the genocide, it would have come down to the love of a vampire letting them have this shot too, which would have shown that Pruitt and his overlord failed to erase the island's humanity.
All seven episodes of Midnight Mass are now available on Netflix.
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