Nice reaction. Mike Flanagan is an atheist and former Catholic, so Midnight Mass is sort of a job at Christianity, trying to equate it with cultlike behaviours. I ignore that aspect of the series and enjoy it as a novel variation on the vampire story. And, yes, the vampirism myths do sort of turn Christianity on its head. The stuff about we're all stardust is straight out of Carl Sagan. He was an American astronomer who hosted a popular science program called Cosmos ages ago. He was an agnostic and was famous for saying we're all made of starstuff. Some atheists have latched onto this notion as a sop for death. When we die, we become one with the Universe, again, or some such. Fr. Paul/Msg. Pruitt clearly exhibited willful blindness about his "Angel" and its "gift." His actions were, at least, partly determined by selfishness. He wanted to use the gift to save his longtime love interest, Mildred. He also shared it with the islanders, of course. Pruitt healed them of their infirmities like Jesus. Pruitt deluded himself into thinking he was doing God's work. No doubt, he was influenced by his Angel, although that aspect of their relationship remained a mystery. The Angel wanted an army to make converts in world. Bev Keene knew Paul Hill was Pruitt, and she saw him make the lame walk, so-to-speak. In her madness, clearly, she was crazy, she saw him as the Second-Coming of Jesus. Either to verify this or to hasten God's plan, she was a rather impatient person, she poisoned Pruitt, fully expecting him to raise from the dead. In the universe of this story, people don't know about vampires or vampirism. The rules are a little different. They don't have super-strength, although that might come later, perhaps. They don't need invitations to enter homes, and they don't have fangs. However, anyone who's consumed vampire blood is part-vampire. While the head vampire lives, if such a person dies, you became full vampire. The people who didn't drink the poison, but were killed by those who did, will be vampires. Because the Angel couldn't fly to safety before the sunshine destroyed him, the contagion in Warren and Leeza dissipated. However, so did its healing properties, and Leeza would not have use of her legs, again. Erin Greene had clipped the Angel's wings. I liked the series very much, and it's Flanagan's personal favourite, apparently, but I find The Haunting of Hill House even better. It's incredibly good.
I don’t see Pruitt as selfish but as deluded. He’s an addict who doesn’t know he is addicted to the blood, even though he experiences very negative side effects from it, including dying from too much of the vampire blood, he primarily sees it as a gift and as something that rejuvenates his and makes him young again.
Nice reaction. Mike Flanagan is an atheist and former Catholic, so Midnight Mass is sort of a job at Christianity, trying to equate it with cultlike behaviours. I ignore that aspect of the series and enjoy it as a novel variation on the vampire story. And, yes, the vampirism myths do sort of turn Christianity on its head. The stuff about we're all stardust is straight out of Carl Sagan. He was an American astronomer who hosted a popular science program called Cosmos ages ago. He was an agnostic and was famous for saying we're all made of starstuff. Some atheists have latched onto this notion as a sop for death. When we die, we become one with the Universe, again, or some such.
Fr. Paul/Msg. Pruitt clearly exhibited willful blindness about his "Angel" and its "gift." His actions were, at least, partly determined by selfishness. He wanted to use the gift to save his longtime love interest, Mildred. He also shared it with the islanders, of course. Pruitt healed them of their infirmities like Jesus. Pruitt deluded himself into thinking he was doing God's work. No doubt, he was influenced by his Angel, although that aspect of their relationship remained a mystery. The Angel wanted an army to make converts in world. Bev Keene knew Paul Hill was Pruitt, and she saw him make the lame walk, so-to-speak. In her madness, clearly, she was crazy, she saw him as the Second-Coming of Jesus. Either to verify this or to hasten God's plan, she was a rather impatient person, she poisoned Pruitt, fully expecting him to raise from the dead.
In the universe of this story, people don't know about vampires or vampirism. The rules are a little different. They don't have super-strength, although that might come later, perhaps. They don't need invitations to enter homes, and they don't have fangs. However, anyone who's consumed vampire blood is part-vampire. While the head vampire lives, if such a person dies, you became full vampire. The people who didn't drink the poison, but were killed by those who did, will be vampires.
Because the Angel couldn't fly to safety before the sunshine destroyed him, the contagion in Warren and Leeza dissipated. However, so did its healing properties, and Leeza would not have use of her legs, again. Erin Greene had clipped the Angel's wings.
I liked the series very much, and it's Flanagan's personal favourite, apparently, but I find The Haunting of Hill House even better. It's incredibly good.
I don’t see Pruitt as selfish but as deluded. He’s an addict who doesn’t know he is addicted to the blood, even though he experiences very negative side effects from it, including dying from too much of the vampire blood, he primarily sees it as a gift and as something that rejuvenates his and makes him young again.