(Warning: This post contains spoilers through the finale of Netflix’s “Midnight Mass.”)
Recently released convict Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) sacrifices himself midway through “The Haunting of Hill House” creator Mike Flanagan’s new limited series “Midnight Mass” in a desperate attempt to convince his childhood friend Erin Greene (Kate Siegel) to escape the bloody fate awaiting their community. He knows full well that Erin, being the good-natured person she is, will just return to Crockett Island to save their friends and family anyway.
Riley’s fiery death, which occurs after he has been turned into a vampirelike creature by Father Paul/Monsignor Pruitt (Hamish Linklater) and The Angel who has brought this “miracle” to their town, is a spectacle he set up to convince Erin that the story he’s told her about what happened to him really is true, as it’s pretty unbelievable until you see someone turn into ash in front of you.