Midnight Mass episode 5 recap: Gospel

Paul calms down a bit, and tells Riley he is sorry he was frightened by the angel. “In the Bible, people are always frightened when they encounter an angel.” Riley asks if Paul fed on him when the angel took him down, and Paul hesitates before saying yes.

Here come Bev and Sturge again, and this time, Bev is carrying a gold chalice. She gets a little snarky, saying, “For some reason, Riley Flynn, you were chosen.” She starts getting preachy, then snaps at Riley for “mocking God’s will.” Sturge slices his forearm and lets his blood flow into the chalice, then offers it to Paul. We can see by the bandage on his arm that this isn’t the first time Sturge has allowed himself to be used as a food source, but Paul abstains, and encourages Riley to drink.

Bev and Sturge leave, and Paul tells Riley that the blood of the angel has been a real blessing to the town. It’s helped Leeza, Riley’s parents…he asks if Riley feels at peace, and he nods his head yes. Bev interrupts again to let Father Paul know that the sun is down, and people will be arriving at the church.

Riley walks to the church, looking at the lights and the way they swirl, and we see his eyes shining/glowing like the eyes of the angel did. He observes Mildred telling Sarah not to go back to the church, he walks while his stomach rumbles. He goes home and observes his parents sleeping, then walks to Erin’s house.

All of which leads us back to the boat, where he sits with Erin. She looks at him and says, “That’s quite a story.” She observes that he has brought the two of them out here where there’s nowhere for her to go, “To what, exactly?” She is not afraid of him, if he needs help, she is not afraid of that, she’ll help him. “Tell me what you need, tell me why we’re out here, tell me what you want.”

He tells her he didn’t bring her there to scare her; he brought her out there so he would have nowhere to go. We can see the sun starting to rise. He tells Erin he wants her to row to the mainland and never look back, but he knows she won’t. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me unless you saw. I’m sorry you have to see this. I love you, Erin Green.” She says she loves him too, he takes a breath and says, “I did my best.”

The sun brightens, Riley closes his eyes, and he sees the dead girl sitting in Erin’s spot in the boat. She smiles at him, and reaches for his hand. As Riley begins to burn, Erin screams, and we see her watching him to turn to ash as she screams again and again. As the end credits roll for Midnight Mass, we continue to hear Erin scream.

Whew! That was possibly the most harrowing episode of Midnight Mass up to this point! Who would believe that Riley wouldn’t make it to the end? And if Kate Siegel doesn’t get at least an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Erin, there is no justice in the world!

With two more episodes of Midnight Mass to go, I have no idea where this is headed.

How did the fifth episode of Midnight Mass affect you? Were you scared, saddened, both? Let us know in the comments section.