S01.E04: Book IV: Lamentations

[jewel21]

Quote

Erin turns to Riley after receiving upsetting news. Father Paul starts experiencing disturbing side effects. Bev makes a startling discovery.

Airdate: 09/24/2021

[ferjy]

So Monsignor is putting the vampire blood into the sacramental wine. The townsfolk are all visibly growing younger now. Erin’s fetus reversed right out of existence. Only Riley, who wasn’t taking the Sacrament, escaped the miracle (curse?). But it looks like now he’ll be part of the gang! 

 

[Paloma]

4 hours ago, ferjy said:

Erin’s fetus reversed right out of existence.

I was trying to figure out how the fetus could disappear without a trace, but that is a good explanation.

[Slovenly Muse]

Ok! This series is starting to click for me! I had heard a reviewer say that it was balls-to-the-wall bonkers, and you'd either love it or hate it. I quite enjoyed Flanagan's "Oculus" because it was balls-to-the-wall bonkers enough to distract from the weaker story elements, and since the Haunting series' were more story-forward and put those storytelling flaws on display (which detracted from my enjoyment), I figured there would be a good chance I would enjoy something of his that was more of a return to his "Oculus" style. And I'm starting to see what that reviewer meant! The first three episodes didn't wow me (especially having so much revealed in episode 3), and it still has a lot of the same issues as the Haunting series', but this is not going in the direction I expected, and I'm really appreciating what it seems to be trying to do! I was bracing for the low-key horror of people embracing miracles not knowing there was an evil force behind them, but seeing people actually disposing of bodies for the homicidal, blood-drinking Monsignor because he is a man of God and must therefore be simply acting out God's will is A CHOICE that I RESPECT!

Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the show has in store!

[merylinkid]

14 hours ago, ferjy said:

Erin’s fetus reversed right out of existence.

And of course the Mainland doctor thinks she nuts for insisting she was pregnant.   Not to mention probably thinks that "Island Doctor" is a complete incompetent.    

 

OMG I just realized how Leeza was "healed."   She got younger to before she was shot.   She wasn't "healed."  

[Paloma]

I like shows/movies that combine horror and the supernatural with characters I care about, which is why I thought Haunting of Hill House was great (Haunting of Bly Manor not so much). I've been having a hard time getting into this show for several reasons: (1) too much religion, (2) no characters that I care about, (3) too much killing of animals, and (4) unrealistic dialogue that sounds like characters in a play, especially the monologues by Riley and Erin about what happens when we die that seemed to go on for an eternity (word choice intended). I decided to hang in there after tonight's episode, because I hope the attack on Riley will set up an interesting conflict between good and evil and between faith and the rational mind (this conflict has already been suggested but without much drama up to this point). 

Some questions that I have: (1) Is the winged creature a demon, a fallen angel (maybe even Satan), a vampire, or some combination of these things? And if it is a vampire, why did it hang out for a while on the Uppards killing cats instead of coming right away to the populated part of the island to show himself to the priest and to find human blood? (2) What was in the priest's trunk? (3) Why did it take someone looking at a photo in an old newspaper article to see that the new priest looked just like the old monsignor? Maybe there is no one left in the town who is the same age as the old monsignor, but aren't there any people in their 50s-60s who would have been in their teens or 20s when the monsignor was in his 30s or 40s (aside from the doctor's mother)? I was recently looking at some photos of myself when I was younger and noticed that I looked pretty much the same from my early 30s into my mid-40s, and even for a decade or more after that would have been easily recognizable to anyone who knew me when I was younger (aside from hair color and style). So it's hard to believe that there was no recognition by, for example, Riley's parents, who were aged up to look like they are at least 50 and should have known the monsignor when he was in his 40s (if he was in his 70s when he died) and they were teens or even early 20s. I know I get overly caught up in figuring out ages and trying to make math work when I watch shows, and I should let it go, but it's annoying.

[Paloma]

12 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

OMG I just realized how Leeza was "healed."   She got younger to before she was shot.   She wasn't "healed."

Wow, I didn't think of that! But that brings up another question: It's all well and good to have the "sacrament" make old people younger, but what happens to people who are already young? There are at least 4 teenagers we see regularly, and I think there are more in school and church, as well as at least a couple of younger children. Will they regress to preteens, toddlers, and babies?

[Lady Calypso]

So, this episode really gave some answers to what's going on. It does seem like everyone is de-aging, some faster than others for some reason, based off of the drink that Father Paul keeps making people drink at church (and I guess, in Sarah's mother's case, at home). 

What I don't like is how Riley seems to now be like Father Paul, some sort of vampire creature now. I don't even fully understand what Father Paul is and why he was able to walk in the daylight in the first episode or two but not after.

That being said, I do think this episode clicked a bit better than the first three. Now that the show is baring all its secrets and isn't holding back for mystery, I hope it gets a bit better. There's lot of talk of religion, which I get is its primary focus, but goodness, Bev and Father Paul NEED to tone it down a bit. All of their conversations have them mostly preaching the Bible at people. There's not much more substance with their characters beyond that...well, and also how Father Paul drinks human blood.

I also feel bad for poor Joe. He may have done some bad things, but he didn't deserve to have his blood drunk by Father Paul as he died. 

 

[UnknownK]

17 hours ago, merylinkid said:

And of course the Mainland doctor thinks she nuts for insisting she was pregnant.   Not to mention probably thinks that "Island Doctor" is a complete incompetent.    

 

OMG I just realized how Leeza was "healed."   She got younger to before she was shot.   She wasn't "healed."  

I don't think that is what happened.

You seen when the priest was holding his crucifix so hard it caused him to bleed. He then licked the blood and liked it so much he cut his hand to drink some more and a few seconds later the wound was healing/healed.

Vampires heal very fast from pretty much anything. The people who take communion are drinking vampire blood and are all going to die and then turn.  What we are seeing is the healing power of that tainted blood. The girl who got a severed spine ended up healing it good as new. The pregnant woman's baby was seen as a foreign growth and "taken care off" like it was never there. Vampires can't make kids after all. The old lady (just like the old priest with alzheimers) is getting her mind back and deaging some).

So only the non believers and Muslims are going to be left alive (assuming they are not on the menu).

[raven]

8 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

All of their conversations have them mostly preaching the Bible at people. There's not much more substance with their characters beyond that...well, and also how Father Paul drinks human blood.

I also feel bad for poor Joe. He may have done some bad things, but he didn't deserve to have his blood drunk by Father Paul as he died. 

Those conversations are interminable.  I have to throw in Erin and Riley talking about the afterlife - I kept dozing off.   This show would be so much better if they cut these down, or cut them out.

Fr Paul is becoming a vampire and is in some denial, if he thinks God wants him to drink blood.  Maybe it takes time for that to work?  I agree about Joe, though I figured he would have been the next to go.  Still awful - thinking the priest was going to help him but instead hastens his death along.

Bev is just a straight up sociopath.   She's smart though - she picked for the coverup one guy (beard) who I guess can be instructed to do anything and the Mayor - able to be manipulated because of daughter.   She has no problem giving instructions on how to dispose of a body, for sure.  I still think the actress is killing it.

[Anela]

That was so gross.  I had to take my headphones off, so that I wouldn’t hear the slurping.  It was definitely horrific. Poor Joe. 
Erin’s description of heaven was beautiful   I hope it’s like that, too.  There are too many monologues, though, and in episode three, I thought parts of it felt more like a play. 
I can’t believe I didn’t catch onto the reason for it being a midnight mass, before I even watched one episode.   I’m really not with it.  Vampires.  The more of his blood they ingest, the more the sun will affect them, and they will eventually turn.  
How are they supposed to feed an entire town that’s turned? Those poor cats. 
Damn, vampire Freddie Krueger can really move.  
I want to watch more, but I’ve been watching on and off all night.  I finally really felt the creepiness, and the isolation.  That this creature has been stalking them - was on Erin’s roof, or in her house, and outside the sheriff’s boy’s window.  That’s terrifying.  

Edited September 28, 2021 by Anela

[bilgistic]

I just finished episode four, and this is my understanding of it all thus far.

The "angel" (vampire) creature from Monsignor Pruitt's trip to the Holy Land was in the trunk that Pruitt, a.k.a., Father Paul, brought with him to the island.

In the first episode when Beverly was waiting at the ferry, she asked where the Monsignor was, and the dockworkers/ferryman (I don't remember) said he wasn't on the boat. She expected an old man. Pruitt actually was on the ferry...but as his younger self, so no one recognized him. And so he begins the masquerade as Father Paul.

We now know that the creature and Paul/Pruitt are not the same being, which I wondered about for awhile. I thought perhaps the creature had initially inhabited Pruitt and was shapeshifting.

It aligns with vampire lore that the creature has to feed (drink blood), so I assume that's why Paul let him out if the trunk, which we see open in the first episode. He fed on the cats in the first episode. Since then...I don't know what he's been feeding on. Paul, too, has to feed. Eventually the craving for blood is too strong to overcome as the initial effects of renewed life (having drank from the creature) start to wane.

As many have said, Paul was dosing the congregation with the creature's blood (from the flask, poured into the sacrament wine). People are healing, getting younger, etc., and it's all evidence of "God's miracles".

Paul drank the last of the blood/wine when Joe Collie walked in on him at the house. Joe fell and Paul drank from his head wound. The next evening at the rec center, the creature finally arrived to "answer Paul's prayers" to come back to him and "refill the sacrament" (the crystal carafe) with its blood--the same blood Pruitt drank in the Holy Land, and it turned back his clock some 40-odd years.

Riley walked into the rec center right at the moment the sacrament was being refilled, and whoosh...the creature flew over to feed on Riley. Will Riley be revived like Pruitt was, or just consumed like Joe was? I don't know yet.

I think Beverly definitely poisoned Paul. She thinks he's a messiah and her "test" to affirm her faith was killing him to have him "awaken" later...but it's really just that vampires (in lore) can't be killed by poison--only a wooden stake in the heart (or beheading?).

Also, Dr. Sarah's formerly infirm mother recognized Paul as "John" Pruitt, who would've been about her age.

Spoiler

This is speculation: The way they reminisced, and because of Joe Collie saying that Pruitt was rumored to have not been celibate, and because Dr. Sarah's mom looked confused/"caught" for a moment when Sarah asked her who her father was (as part of the memory exercise) makes me think that Dr. Sarah is actually his daughter...and/or there may be more/other children of Pruitt's on the island.

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by bilgistic

[Sakura12]

In some Vampire stories it takes a few days to turn into a vampire and then you have to die to turn completely. That is what I got from Pruitt. He was still mostly human and able to be in the sun when he arrived back at the island. He was slowly turning until he died and awoke as a vampire. And the healing power of vampire blood is in stories too. I do wonder if it has to be an exchange of blood to turn. Meaning Pruitt or the other Vampire have to drink from them first, then share their blood for someone to turn or will the whole town turn except for the Sheriff and his son. Providing rhe son doesn't drink the wine. 

I didn't think about the title but it makes sense now. 

It is an interesting take to see how religious people would react to becoming a vampire. Bev is so self rightious in her religion that she's okay with murder. Or she's murdered before more then dogs. She seemed to know how to dispose of a body. They believe this is God and not a demonic force when it clearly points to darkness not light. 

I hope Riley becomes a vampire and not dead like Joe. 

[hypnotoad]

I'm all in on this show but sometimes it can be a little draggy and a little too religious, especially for an atheist. I realize Riley figured something was up when the priest said Joe was going to visit his sister. But hasn't he noticed his mother is starting to look younger than himself?!? Like the doctor can see her mother is getting better but she doesn't seem to notice the woman looks like 20 years younger too?

It's a strange show and I am oddly intrigued despite some of the slowness. Oh and please don't ever let me see someone sucking blood from a head wound again. Ick.

[Cheezwiz]

On 10/2/2021 at 7:30 PM, hypnotoad said:

It's a strange show and I am oddly intrigued despite some of the slowness. Oh and please don't ever let me see someone sucking blood from a head wound again. Ick.

Yeah, that was brutal. The whole time beforehand I was yelling at my screen "Don't go in for that hug Joe!!!". I will miss him as a character - despite being the town drunk, he had interesting commentary on the rest of the town.

I figured the demon winged thing had been tucked away in the trunk, but now I understand what Riley saw, when he thought he saw the monsignor walking through the storm on the beach. I initially couldn't figure out if Father Paul had been possessed by the creature, but now I understand that they arrived on the island as two separate beings.

On 9/26/2021 at 7:30 AM, Paloma said:

Why did it take someone looking at a photo in an old newspaper article to see that the new priest looked just like the old monsignor? Maybe there is no one left in the town who is the same age as the old monsignor, but aren't there any people in their 50s-60s who would have been in their teens or 20s when the monsignor was in his 30s or 40s

This is a plot hole that is bothering me as well. Surely there must be some older citizens on the island who remembered what Father Pruitt looked like when he was younger.

 How come Bev still looks pretty much the same age? Clearly that is not her first time at the body disposal rodeo.

[tennisgurl]

I think this show needs to cut down on the monologues, but I am still really interested in everything going on. I hope that Riley doesn't actually die, but him becoming a vampire like Father Paul would be rough, especially considering how guilt ridden he already is over killing that girl in the accident. I cant imagine he would enjoy a life of slurping up blood like Paul did when poor Joe died. 

This is an interesting take on vampires and how they could fit into a religious context. It seems like Paul just interpreted the vampire as being an angel due to its wings and power, but is it possible that the vampire is actually a fallen angel of some kind? He was originally found in the holy land after all, and fallen angels has been a part of a few vampire myths over the years, although those usually involve Lilith (not a part of the Catholic bible but gets added in a lot in pop culture) Nephilim or specific biblical characters. Whatever he is, good to know he has upped his wardrobe game since he left the cave.

Paul is now giving his parishioners blood to slowly turn them into vampires, so the older members are getting younger, Erin's fetus was reversed out of existence as her body goes to a pre pregnancy state, and Leeza was either aged back to before she was hurt or the vampire healing is kicking in. I mostly think that the twist about Paul being the elder Monsignor works, but its really weird to me that no one notices that Paul looks like a younger version of the Monsignor, especially older people who would remember him as a younger man. Or even just look at the picture he has on his wall. Might want to take that down if he wants to keep this a secret. 

[vavera4ka]

On 9/26/2021 at 9:06 PM, Lady Calypso said:

What I don't like is how Riley seems to now be like Father Paul, some sort of vampire creature now. I don't even fully understand what Father Paul is and why he was able to walk in the daylight in the first episode or two but not after.

He didn't complete his transformation. he was still human with a lot of vampire blood in him. So sunlight was ok. After he died and turned fully, it's now a problem.

On 9/27/2021 at 6:12 AM, raven said:

Those conversations are interminable.  I have to throw in Erin and Riley talking about the afterlife - I kept dozing off.   This show would be so much better if they cut these down, or cut them out.

 

I guess i'm in the minority. i hang on to every word. it's so heartbreaking how hurt both those characters are and how differently that pain made their outlook. And both are kinda looking forward to death what comes after it for different reasons.

Erin - to never be alone, to always be loved. Riley - to finally have a purpose, even if it's just "worm food". It broke my heart that he is punishing himself so much for a mistake (a huge mistake, don't get me wrong). and the way he is punishing himself. very different from how Joe was punishing himself for shooting Leeza. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by vavera4ka

[Red Fields]

On 9/27/2021 at 7:12 AM, raven said:

Those conversations are interminable.  I have to throw in Erin and Riley talking about the afterlife - I kept dozing off.   This show would be so much better if they cut these down, or cut them out.

Agreed! I am fast forwarding through these scenes.

[Chickabiddy]

I don’t know. This show is losing me. As a Catholic, but not a hardcore one, I just can’t buy that a priest, even one with onset dementia, would confuse that winged creature  lurking in the darkness for an angel or an emissary of God. Whatever that winged creature is, it is out of central Catholic casting for an evil being. It looks like a gargoyle jumped off a church and came to life. While exorcism has taken a back seat in modern church life, there is still very much an understanding of light and dark and the power of Satan  to corrupt. Just read the St. Michael prayer. It mentions  Satan and the evil spirits who prowl the earth seeking the ruin of souls. When I lived in New Orleans, we said that prayer at the end of every Mass.

I would find this story more compelling if the vampire/demon/evil spirit had taken on a more “angelic” or less outwardly dark form. That would have spoken more to the concept of how the devil comes in many forms and can deceive us. At he very least, Pruitt should have been more skeptical and less trusting about what happened to him. His immediate acceptance that what happened to him was an act of God is the biggest plot hole for me. And it just kind of ruins it for me. 

Well, that’s my two cents. They say confession is good for the soul. 😉

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by Chickabiddy

[Vivigirl10]

On 9/26/2021 at 9:30 AM, Paloma said:

unrealistic dialogue that sounds like characters in a play, especially the monologues by Riley and Erin about what happens when we die that seemed to go on for an eternity (word choice intended).

Perfect description of them seeming more like actors doing a play.  Either way, it was so boring I had to fast forward through it - which I never do.

It's a great question as to why other townsfolk don't recognize the young Monsignor.  Even more than the way he looks is his particular speech cadence when he's droning on!  It's so distinctive I would imagine people would know it anywhere.  It's kind of driving me crazy.

I'm sorry, I found it laughable when the demon/angel showed up wearing a fedora and trench coat.   For real???  He's millions of years old and was last living naked in a cave but now he's comfortable with the latest fashion trends!  All I could think of was, how did the wings fit under the coat 🙃

[millennium]

On 10/17/2021 at 9:07 AM, Chickabiddy said:

I don’t know. This show is losing me. As a Catholic, but not a hardcore one, I just can’t buy that a priest, even one with onset dementia, would confuse that winged creature  lurking in the darkness for an angel or an emissary of God. Whatever that winged creature is, it is out of central Catholic casting for an evil being.

These people remind me of everyone on The Walking Dead who don't have the word "zombie" in their vocabularies or have never seen Night of the Living Dead.   The Crockett Island crowd has never heard of vampires, never seen Dracula, etc.   Even the person least acquainted with vampires would KNOW what's going on.   OMG, the priest!   "I have this unquenchable thirst for blood!  Vampire?  What's a vampire?  This is God's will!"   Then the person who should be the voice of science, Annabeth Gish, just kind of shrugs when the blood sizzles and explodes in the sunlight (didn't she learn anything on X-Files?)

This show is a shameless mashup of better stories.  So far we have Storm of the Century, Salem's Lot, Dracula, 30 Days of Night, and now Benjamin Button. 

I'll keep watching because there's nothing else on, but jeez.

Edited August 26, 2022 by millennium

[sugarbaker design]

I know I'm late to the party, but I'm loving this, especially, that on Crockpot Island, being an atheist or Muslim or a lesbian doctor is an advantage!

[anniebird]

My favorite moment of the show so far was when Riley was telling Erin about his completely atheistic opinion of what happens when you die, the song playing in the background was Nearer My God to Thee.