WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the entirety of Midnight Mass, streaming now on Netflix.
Midnight Mass stands out as a masterclass in storytelling, but a few lingering details might keep it just shy of perfection. The series does exceptionally well at building up its plot threads, fleshing them out, and then delivering on them. But somewhere along the way one subplot fell to the wayside: Who was behind the poisonings in Midnight Mass?
There is a clear suspect presented early on, but rather than providing an answer, creator Mike Flannigan leaves the audience to wonder about the who and why behind the poisonings of Joe's dog and the Monsignor.
The larger plot of Midnight Mass revolves around the spooky occurrences on the sleepy Crockett Island, particularly those surrounding the enigmatic Father Paul Hill, recently arrived to replace the elderly Monsignor Pruitt, who oversaw the highly religious town's church. Most religious of all is the pious Bev Keane, whose constant lectures, scripture-quoting, and finger wagging puts her at odds with many of the town's less devout members. One of her earliest conflicts comes with the town drunk, Joe Collie, whose lovable dog Bev does not care for at all. In fact, she wants it gone.
That's why Bev becomes the prime suspect when Joe's dog seizes violently at a community gathering and falls over dead. It's quickly apparent that the dog was poisoned, and given Bev's access to rat poison, which she is seen stocking at the local school, she is clearly the prime suspect. The town's lawman, Sheriff Hassan, certainly seems to suspect her. When he confronts her about it she makes it apparent how hard she would be to prosecute. After all, everybody has access to the poison and any evidence against Bev is purely circumstantial. Confirmation as to the dog's poisoner lingers throughout the rest of the series...and then is never given at all.
In terms of narrative impact, the mystery becomes ever greater when Father Paul suffers the same fate as the dog. His mouth foams, his spits up blood, and his heart stops soon after. The event proves the impetus for his resurrection and the revelation to Bev and others that he is actually the Monsignor, reinvigorated by an angel's blood and blessed (or cursed) with a second life after his death. The supernatural occurrence clearly takes the focus throughout the rest of the series, and yet along the way nobody thinks to ask an extremely important question: Who poisoned the Monsignor in the first place, and why did they do it?
Once again Bev would seem the obvious culprit as the only town member with such explicit ties to the poison, but it's motive that proves particularly puzzling. She followed the Monsignor devoutly until the last episode, and though she seemed suspicious of his supernatural state prior to his poisoning, she gave little indication of intending him harm. She is seen returning the poison to its shelf soon after his poisoning, and yet neither the Monsignor nor anybody else questions her about it.
There is a possible explanation for her motive that can be inferred from other subplots in the story. Financing the recreation center in the town cast aspersions on Bev's reputation, as rumors began to swell that the project came as the result of an embezzlement scheme she conducted years ago. Despite her pious nature, Bev frequently proved willing to use the success of the church to bolster her own influence in the town. If she feared the Monsignor would be suspicious of her activities, or if she sought to replace him at the head of the church following miracles that boosted its attendance, she could well have poisoned him to clear him out of the way.
While the subtlety of the subplot is intriguing from a creative standpoint, it is also somewhat dissatisfying. The fact that no other characters follow through on the mystery, ask obvious questions, or provoke Bev into any degree of confession feels more like an oversight than a feature. Midnight Mass is a wonderfully told story, but that doesn't mean it's without any blemishes.
All seven episodes of Midnight Mass are now available on Netflix.