Netflix's Midnight Mass tells the surprising story of vampires infiltrating a small community, but one of the show's big twists is spoiled almost immediately. Midnight Mass marketing was a huge success for Netflix. The trailers and promos for the series gave away few details, securely hiding the show's many twists. Additionally, Netflix even seemed to acknowledge its noticeable lack of information in its teasers. At one point in the trailer, Hamish Linklater's Father Paul says, "We tend to dislike mysteries. We feel uncomfortable not knowing." While a lack of marketing doesn't always work for new shows, Midnight Mass has been a staple in Netflix's Top 10 since its release in September, showing the strategy paid dividends.
Midnight Mass isn't connected to creator Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House or The Haunting of Bly Manor, but the show does bring back several fan-favorite cast members from those previous series. The returns include Kate Siegel (Hill House, Bly Manor), Henry Thomas (Hill House, Bly Manor), Rahul Kohli (Bly Manor), Alex Essoe (Bly Manor), Annabeth Gish (Hill House), Robert Longstreet (Hill House), and Samantha Sloyan (Hill House). Additionally, Midnight Mass continues Flanagan's tradition of creepy cinematography, often including disturbing images or figures in the background of shots.
Unfortunately, Netflix's Midnight Mass prematurely spoils one of its big twists. Early on in the series premiere, "Book I: Genesis," Erin Greene (Siegel) meets with Dr. Sarah Gunning (Gish) to check on her baby. However, before she leaves, Sarah's elderly mother, Mildred Gunning (Essoe), enters the room, obviously confused about her surroundings. But there's a problem. Mildred is very clearly a young actor wearing older-looking makeup. The odd choice of putting a young actor in the role of an older woman seemed to ruin one of Midnight Mass' twists, showing the series would eventually bring the character back in a younger version, which it did. Later in the series, vampire blood restores Mildred's youth.
The makeup in Midnight Mass completely gives away the twist. Rather than casting older actors for the roles and replacing them later with younger actors, the choice to put young actors in older-looking makeup completely telegraphs an upcoming change. It's incredibly distracting and takes all the attention away from the scene to leave viewers wondering why the show made such an odd choice. This Is Us often receives criticism for its makeup when it ages up young actors for different scenes, and Midnight Mass suffers from the same issue.
Despite the issues, the makeup choice has logic behind it. After all, replacing older actors with younger actors would have its own problems. Younger actors' looks likely wouldn't align perfectly with their older counterparts, thus creating the potential for confusion among viewers. The casting process would also become much harder, or CGI tweaks could potentially make production more expensive. The older makeup absolutely spoils Midnight Mass' big twist, but the final show still has a lot of bite.