Midnight Mass

All the critics who gave Midnight Mass a full score, giving it almost 92% (!!!!!!!) upon release, go fuck yourselves. I'm switching off at the fourth episode, I have absolutely no interest in watching seven hours of drivel that some users gleefully gush over, feeling like they've swallowed all the wisdom in the world and like they've blown a hole in the world with their five stars. Mike Flanagan has taken too big a bite and tries to be very mysterious and build a strange village on an island, but what good is that when you are past the halfway point and wouldn't actually be able to describe "what the show is about" in one sentence. An overstuffed art-oriented oddity that has no drive, no pace, no atmosphere and actually nothing to make me want to follow it. Hand on heart, if someone really enjoys sitting on their ass for seven hours, staring at a dumbass and listening to the constant chatter of characters without anything interesting happening, then something is wrong. And now, everybody get on me. (29/09/2021)

I was drawn to the series by the director, but after the first episode, it became clear that this wasn’t just another of his usual ghost stories. I definitely didn’t anticipate the direction it would take. The show carries a certain quality, with a tense atmosphere that keeps you guessing. However, watching it requires a lot of patience. The episodes are long (often over an hour), and not much actually happens in them. You mostly watch scenes with characters who are more frustrating than engaging — especially that religious zealot who seems to be angling for sainthood, even though you’d rather see the opposite. I’m not sure I fully grasp what personal connection the director had to this project; to me, it felt more like he was trying to test the viewer’s patience. And honestly, I’m not sure Midnight Mass was worth that kind of investment. (14/10/2021)

I completely understand that Mike Flanagan's work might not be for everyone. However, I found a way to appreciate his films, and I must say, there aren't many better creators in today's Hollywood. Midnight Mass might deter some with its religious themes, but after the first few slower episodes, it turns into an excellent dialogue-driven experience. Flanagan is in his element here, and his scripts are hard to fault. Additionally, there is a wide range of characters, and everyone will find their favorite to root for until the end (for me, it's probably Riley... though the character Bev drove me to uncontrollable frustration). The final three episodes significantly raised the bar for me. There was no shortage of intense moments or surprising scenes; from this perspective, it was a top-notch experience. We'll see what his future projects bring. I'm quite excited. Midnight Mass gets an 8/10 from me. (20/09/2022)

This is probably the best thing that King never wrote, although it closely resembles at least one of his works. Midnight Mass is more of a drama than a horror series and is aimed mainly at patient audiences, who are going to appreciate the thought-provoking dialogues and rich characterization more than any significant jump scares, as there is not much of that in this show. (08/11/2021)

Midnight Mass will reward patient viewers, Impatient viewers probably shouldn’t even try it, because the pace is really slow – at least for the first four episodes even I would have welcomed some shortening. However, if you are in the mood to listen to the dialogues (and have the brain capacity to understand them), there are some fascinating aspects of fitting vampire mythology into biblical narrative. The series beautifully demonstrates how fanatical religious faith can misinterpret absolutely anything to fit its worldview. The funny icing on the cake are some Czech reactions to the series, which, from a hilariously militant atheist position, label it as religious propaganda. This is so blatantly incomprehensible that the writers of such rants should never watch anything more challenging than ten-second videos on TikTok. That said, Mike Flanagan had set the bar too high for me with some of his previous pieces, so I'm not fully thrilled with Midnight Mass. The first episodes really drag quite a bit, with a few minutes at the end that always pull them out of the average. From about halfway through it goes nicely, but in the last episode I didn't like the turn of one character, and I don’t think the final catharsis wasn't nearly as strong as it should have been given how much time had been dedicated to the characters beforehand. 75 % (02/10/2021)