The episode begins with Father Paul in confession where he talks to God about how he’s going to sin by not telling the truth about Monsignor Pruitt. The scene swaps between him in the confessional booth and Pruitt in the Holy Land.
We are then taken back to where the last episode left off. The parishioners are watching Leeza and Father Paul in disbelief. They have all now witnessed a miracle. During the excitement, Father Paul rushes out of the church and back to the home of Pruitt, where he is followed by Bev. She finds him coughing up blood in the bathroom then sees something on the wall that gives her pause.
Wade and his wife, Dolly, take Leeza to see Dr Sarah, who is rightfully confused about her sudden ability to reuse her legs. Her reflexes are weak but they are working. Sarah gives her a cane to use until her muscles strengthen. While the mayor believes the whole thing is a gift from God, Sarah explains that spinal injuries can heal themselves over time and suggests that they go to the hospital on the mainland for further tests. Dolly tells her that they had so many expensive experimental treatments and tests done after the accident that it hit them financially. They now pay rent on the house they used to own and rely on benefits and donations to feed themselves. That statement tells you so much about the financial instability of the island when the mayor can barely afford to feed his family without help.
Sarah goes to check on her mother in her room downstairs, which she was moved into after breaking her hip a while ago, although she often forgets this due to her dementia. When she hears a bang upstairs she goes to look for her where she finds her staring into her bedroom in confusion. It seems she’s getting worse.
A group of residents congregate outside of Father Paul’s house where Bev is trying to control the situation. People are begging for Father Paul to give out more miracles, but Bev insists they all pray together and give thanks. During this Father Paul listens from inside. Although Leeza being able to walk again is a great thing that will give her back her life and future, the town is now going to be desperately looking to Father Paul to help them by providing more miracles. It may cause more people to not only take their faith more seriously, but also find it again, but it just feels that witnessing a real miracle like that will make those who don’t get their own very angry and frustrated.
That evening at Riley’s AA meeting, he brings up Leeza’s miracle and how everyone will now come to him for the slightest cold. He then tries to rationalise the ordeal, but finds that Paul must have known that Leeza was capable of walking since he coaxed her out of her chair by beckoning her. Paul responds by saying that he doesn’t know how he knew, he just did.
As Leeza and Warren walk to school, they attract a lot of attention, at least Leeza does. At the Flynn house, Ed has noticed that his back is no longer in pain and takes the opportunity to dance with Annie, who is now reading without her glasses. This kicks off a Neil Diamond serenaded montage. Leeza appears at Warren’s bedroom window and the two sneak off for a moonlit boat ride where they have what I assume is their first kiss. Unable to sleep, Riley heads over to Erin’s where they sit on her front porch and talk. The church is now full of worshippers. Bev keeps walking around with a can of rat poison. Mildred keeps trying to go upstairs. Riley and Erin get closer. Things seem to be looking up on the usually dreary island.
During the next mass, Warren witnesses Paul filling up the sacramental wine with something out of a flask. During the sermon, Father Paul collapses, causing the scene to return to his confession and his tale of Pruitt. He got lost in the desert in a sandstorm. This is then interrupted by Paul being examined by Sarah. I guess he’ll finish his story later.
Next we come to the best scene in the episode, and one of the best in the whole show. When Leeza goes to see Joe. We get the full picture of what happened and how she felt all these years. With complete honesty she tells him how much she hates him for what he took from her, including him “reaching through time” and taking away things she didn’t even have yet. I love that phrasing. It’s so perfectly put. Everything she says is so visceral, yet justified. She deserves the chance to tell him what he did and how it ruined her life. And she deserves to feel the way she does. The whole moment is so raw and emotional. Then it changes. She walks towards him and talks about forgiveness. As much as she hates him, she also forgives him. She tells him that he’s standing in his own way and the only thing stopping him from forgiving himself, is him. I can’t truly describe just how incredible this moment is and how strong the performances are. He’s in the same situation as Riley, only he can get a redemption arc. What Riley did cannot be undone, what Joe did was undone. Now all he can do is heal himself. He clearly hates himself for what he did, which is why he continued to drink excessively. Now that Leeza has forgiven him, can he forgive himself?
That evening during a meeting at the school, Hassan brings up the problem with a public school handing out Christian bibles, much to Bev Keane’s dismay (shocker). There is some amazing back and forth where Hassan explains that Muslims believe in the teachings of Jesus and the bible, but that man’s interference in the holy scripture is what causes multiple religions to be formed, and that the Quran is the last uninterfered with word of God. When Bev states that this isn’t the place for her to be corrected (I’m obviously paraphrasing), Hassan responds with “exactly”. Clearly he was making a point. A brilliant, wonderful point. Of course Bev pulls out the violin and plays the victim while still yelling her own point. Everytime Erin tries to interject Bev just talks over her. Even though Erin is in the same congregation, her logical thinking seems to make her faith based opinions invalid and unimportant to even listen to. I will say, Samantha Sloyan did an amazing job at portraying a truly despise-able character.
When Sarah is getting ready to give Mildred a bath before bed, we soon realise that her dementia seems to be improving as she describes having been alone in a dark place for so long. Since Mildred has been housebound, Father Paul has been coming to the house to give her communion.
When Riley goes to the rec center for his meeting, he is greeted by Paul and Joe, who has now decided to attend also. Clearly Leeza’s words reached him. At the end of the meeting we are treated to an extended scene between Riley and Joe. It’s a conversation between two men who are in the same boat. Two men who have made a huge mistake while drunk, causing them self-loathing and a loss of purpose. We learn that Joe’s sister recently passed, years after she left the island. Again, I cannot stress enough just how good Robert Longstreet’s performance is. Also, when they left the rec centre, Father Paul is seen on the floor coughing, again. The man isn’t well.
After finding the bible in his son Ali’s backpack, prompting the whole discussion at the school with Bev in the first place, Ali tells Hassan that he wants to go to church on Sunday to see what it’s all about. He begins questioning their faith, which descends into a thought provoking performance about the fairness of miracles. Ali argues that he didn’t pick their religion, while Hassan is adamant about their beliefs. It’s not often that you see a child re-evaluate their faith and argue that it was chosen for them and they only really practice it because they were raised to. Parents raise their children to be like them. A vegan parent will make the same meals for their offspring as they would themselves, even though it’s not the choice of the child. This is understandable as you wouldn’t want to cook meat if you don’t eat it because of a strong conviction. But the child didn’t choose this lifestyle. The same goes for religion. Of course you can convert to a different belief, but you know the family that raised you won’t necessarily be happy with it.
Then we get to see how useless both Bev and Wade truly are. While discussing an event, Father Paul returns to his house where he collapses and dies, while everyone just screams and watches. Yup, no one even tries to help. We then go back to the confession where we get the final part of the story about Pruitt, While out in the desert he makes his way into a dark cave. There, after lighting a match, he sees a pair of glowing eyes. The match goes out so he lights another. The eyes are gone. He hears a noise around him so he repeatedly turns, looking at his surroundings. The match goes out. He lights another. Jump scare vampire! It pounces on him and drinks his blood. Pruitt prays as he lies dying, looking up at the winged creature, believing it to be an angel. The vampire offers up his blood to drink. This causes Pruitt to awaken in the daylight as Father Paul, his younger self. Surprise! Paul was Pruitt all along. The vampire is still in the cave behind him, which he still believes to be an angel. He decides to bring it home with him to share this gift.
Back to Paul’s dead body and the useless people around him. Another jump scare! He awakens, displaying another miracle. The camera zooms in on an old newspaper article about the building of the church, with a picture of young Pruitt standing in front of it.
So far we’ve gone from strength to strength with each episode. We’ve learned that Paul is in fact Monsignor Pruitt, which never even occurred to me on the first watch. The creature that has been flying and skulking around the bushes at night is in fact a vampire, although it will be rationalised as an angel of good rather than an evil bloodsucker. There have been more character improvements. Some are getting healthier and Joe is getting sobre. I really want that for him.
Oh, and Mike Flanagan has a cameo as a priest.
Linsey Loves Horror 