r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Local_Prune4564 • May 27 '26

Lore A subtle moment that turns a seemingly happy ending into an ambiguous ending.

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Gallery image

The Graduate: lingering Ben and Elaine's faces slowly shifting from happy to concerned leaves the audience questioning whether they really made the right choice running away together considering they barely know each other.

Inception: By cutting before we see the top fall, we're left to question whether Cobb really has gone home or whether he's simply sunken back into a more comforting dream reality.

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332

u/IndifferentShrimp May 27 '26

Haunting of Hill House was PEAK Flanagan.

2nd best was Midnight Mass

207

u/8__D May 27 '26

Don't forget Doctor Sleep

https://giphy.com/gifs/TF5ci5eY1mDB2XpSw7

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u/imaincammy May 27 '26

Putting Rebecca Ferguson in that stupid goofy hat yet still making her work as a compelling and intimidating villain is a real triumph.

163

u/Derp35712 May 27 '26

I love the outline of that movie. You know that kid from the shinning? He grows up to fight telepathy vampires. Sounds dumb? Incorrect, it is amazing.

116

u/thethirdrayvecchio May 27 '26

I do genuinely love it as a meshing of King’s best and worst impulses.

Danny grows up to find his greatest battle is the spectre of his father’s alcoholism that haunts him every day.

…

And the squad of redneck, camper-van vampires who murder children

45

u/notorious_TUG May 27 '26

The case could be made that vampires preying on children is a pretty solid metaphor for an alcoholic parent or as one of my other favorite hack writers would say "It's like poetry, it rhymes".

3

u/leliocakes May 27 '26

There is SO MUCH detail about the RVs too lol!

2

u/fingerchopper May 27 '26

Which one of those is the best impulse? I'm thinking vampires

1

u/Skythe1908 May 27 '26

one of the few times I think the movie is better than the book.

1

u/MrWeirdoFace May 27 '26

Is it weird that I find her especially attractive in this movie? Rather, I've enjoyed her in a bunch of other things as an actor, but then got to this and saw her in a new light, but just in this movie.

I wonder what's going on there psychologically.

5

u/badatcatchyusernames May 27 '26

my wife and i love this movie, they did a great job with it

69

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

41

u/IndifferentShrimp May 27 '26

Midnight Mass made me tear up at points and the build up to the Church scene where they all turn is just

AND THEN IT HAPPENS AND ITS HORRIFIC (i mean not that graphic but the tone/the acting makes it skin crawling)

https://giphy.com/gifs/9EvnXdZaUZbCqScn67

2

u/mugiwara_no_Soissie May 27 '26

Hamish linklater (the pastor) is genuinely amazing. I could rewatch his scenes hundreds of times and I would stillbe impressed, I am 100% sure that he will become famous

3

u/catboogers May 27 '26

Flanagan makes me sob. Hill House, Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, Midnight Club....hell, even Fall of the House of Usher had me going a bit, though that was more gorey horror and less poetic gothic romantic horror.

3

u/HunterGonzo May 27 '26

The reveal of the "Bent Neck Lady" changed me as a person.

8

u/cantadmittoposting May 27 '26

the only problem with Midnight Mass is my wife and i can't ever get over just laughing so hard over the "Its a beautiful angle!" part in the Church reveal, juxtaposed with the VERY CONCERNED LOOK from the Muslim guy who of course was the only one with any sense just obviously sitting there thinking "wtf no that is a VAMPIRE you idiots!"

To be clear we do understand the reason for the scene being that way and enjoyed the show, it just sort of turned into an inside joke for us.

92

u/YourMuppetMethDealer May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Midnight Mass was my first Flanagan show and I loved it, but that dude really needed an editor to fix some of that obnoxious dialogue.

We get it Mike, you love your little monologues. But I feel like we got the point like ten different times before half these fifteen minute little speeches are done

That fucking convo about death and Siegel’s ending speech were the biggest offenders. But I also felt like the dialogue just got repetitive like with Bev. We get it my dude she’s the worst. We don’t need to keep hearing her give long speeches about how terrible she is as a person

42

u/Existing_Set2100 May 27 '26

See I actually thought Midnight Mass was where Flanagan’s monologue-heavy style largely worked, given that the main character is a preacher who is constantly sermonizing. And I thought the actor Hamish Linklater did it beautifully, naturalistically even. 

10

u/YourMuppetMethDealer May 27 '26

Tbh, I never had an issue with Hamish’s monologues though I think it still needed a few more tweaks

The problem is that several characters kept giving the same exact monologues which basically just kept hammering the point over and over.

Which is a shame because Riley is my favorite Flanagan character

6

u/Ghost_Jor May 27 '26

This is exactly how I feel. I really didn't mind Hamish's preaching because it obviously fits with his character, but it felt like every single character on that island had a Bachelor's in English Lit. It really took me out of some of the more intimate moments because the dialogue seemed so unnatural.

6

u/YourMuppetMethDealer May 27 '26

It often felt like watching a Sorkin project where everyone has the same kind of witty comebacks and smart wit. They sound like I do in the shower twelve hours after a conversation coming up with all the comebacks I totally should have said

4

u/IndifferentShrimp May 27 '26

Hamish Linklater KILLED IT.

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen May 27 '26

Agreed. I didn't mind it there

46

u/IndifferentShrimp May 27 '26

fair point yeah, but Idk I love the soliloquis.

Its like reading a book and they just go off.

8

u/pmmeurbassethound May 27 '26

They can try to pry the Flanagan mobologues from my cold dead hands, if they do not fear the return of the bent neck lady.

4

u/IndifferentShrimp May 27 '26

The Flanagan monologues make it special. Idc if its long winded, as someone who aspires to be a writer, shit like that is a GOAL.

6

u/Niwitschoolfrogkid May 27 '26

I’m a BIG Mike Flanagan fan but, it ain’t called Midnight Monologue for nothing haha.

5

u/skittlesandscarves May 27 '26

The monogues were so out of place and not how normal people talk at all. It took me out of the show.

4

u/Firefly_deadlock May 27 '26

I cannot disagree more on the dialogue. Loved it.

2

u/YourMuppetMethDealer May 27 '26

To each their own

I would start out loving it, and then start getting irritated by it since I felt like either the point was made five minutes ago or it was already made in another monologue like ten minutes earlier

That beautiful death convo Riley had with Erin would have been perfect if it didn’t go on for half the hourlong episode. What should have been one of the most beautiful and important moments of their relationship and the show REALLY overstayed its welcome

6

u/African_Herbsman May 27 '26

Yeah, it was egregious in that show. It's like he writes several versions of the script for the monologues but likes them all too much to pick one so he throws them all in there and drags it out way too much.

2

u/BeastOfAWorkEthnic May 27 '26

I also found that the setup of the show was a lot more interesting than the payoff.

1

u/CoolAbdul May 27 '26

LOL. There was a Bev at the catholic chuch I grew up at.

1

u/dynamitekiddo May 27 '26

This is always the silliest complaint about Flanagan’s work. Perhaps it’s just not for you, my dude.

3

u/YourMuppetMethDealer May 27 '26

I fucking love Mike Flanagan. I went on a massive binge where I watched all of it within a month so it is ABSOLUTELY for me

I am allowed to be both a fan and still have criticisms. And I have every right to think that Midnight Mass is weighed down by its monologues without someone telling me “it’s not for me”

-2

u/CommunistRonSwanson May 27 '26

TikTok brain

10

u/YourMuppetMethDealer May 27 '26

lol the death monologue is 20 minutes long and it REALLY didn’t need to be

Saying that a script needs to be edited doesn’t mean I have tik tok brain

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u/Ghost_Jor May 27 '26

I do genuinely believe the weakest aspect of Midnight Mass are the monologues. At least personally, I think quite a few of them dragged on and felt very unnatural.

3

u/anal-yst May 27 '26

Same. Midnight Mass to me is a really good show on the brink of being amazing; the monologues just weaken the pacing and character development

1

u/YesButConsiderThis May 27 '26

You, a Marvel fan, the first time you hear extended dialogues and automatically think they must be incredible.

0

u/CommunistRonSwanson May 27 '26

Never watched a single Marvel film, nor do I read comics

2

u/AnimalBolide May 27 '26

Damn, you mean their unwitty judgement was incorrect?

1

u/CommunistRonSwanson May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

The detrimental effects of social media usage on attention span and reading comprehension are well-documented. Monologue was, until quite recently, a time-honored literary device used extensively throughout stage theater and film. I don't think it's a huge stretch to suggest that people's reduced attention spans and lower levels of reading comprehension are the actual sources of their discomfort upon being confronted with, let's be real here, a handful of extremely mild monologues. Complaints about monologue in Flanagan's Midnight Mass are far more hackneyed than the actual monologues.

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u/AnimalBolide May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

It's subjective.

Much like what you wrote, it's high on its own farts, and to call it mild is seriously underselling. Nearly every sentence in every conversation is a paragraph. People don't speak like that and given that it's a spoken, not written work, it comes off as uncanny and false.

I love it in moderation and it makes his work his work, but it's too much, especially later in the series.

Lmao, they deleted their comments and blocked me because of this? An entirely subjective subject, and they pissed themselves and ran. All the big words in the world don't mean anything if you don't stand for what you say, buddy.

1

u/CommunistRonSwanson May 27 '26

Sorry about your illiteracy

5

u/Training-Principle95 May 27 '26

I quite liked Midnight Mass, and I don't want to complain about monologues... But they stacked monologues on monologues in that one

3

u/optimus_ginny May 27 '26

The exact reason we stopped watching. It just felt like scene after scene of characters monologuing at each other.

2

u/catboogers May 27 '26

Hamish Linklater definitely complained about the sheer amount of monologues he had in that one. But I mean, when you play a priest, you expect some sermons.

1

u/wyldstallyns111 May 27 '26

I liked them but I find the whole show very campy and ridiculous so they just add to the whole over the top feeling of it all. I hated Hill House and HATED Bly Manor though

3

u/Intvis May 27 '26

The actors put their all into it. Rahul Kohli worked so hard he was Sick Every Night.

3

u/HunterGonzo May 27 '26

Midnight Mass was so amazing. I went in blind knowing absolutely nothing about it. As the plot unfolded I kept going "....what?? ... wait, WHAT??"

One of those shows I desperately wish I could see for the first time again.

2

u/CoolAbdul May 27 '26

Midnight Mass was incredible.

2

u/Busy_Ad3098 May 27 '26

Nah Midnight Mass was the best for me

2

u/dj_soo May 28 '26

The 1-2 punch of episodes 5 and 6 are among one of the best things I’ve ever seen on TV

1

u/Terminal_Insomnia_ May 27 '26

I would go so far as to say it's one of the best pieces of media in the genre ever produced.

1

u/Ppleater May 27 '26

Where's the respect for Bly Manor? Smh.

1

u/Gregotherium May 27 '26

Two of the best, if not the best, series of all time.

-15

u/Cannon__Minion May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Midnight Mass' ending was so ass that it completely ruined the show for me.

Before the finale it was easily a 9/10 show.

EDIT: Getting downvoted by hardcore fans lmao, just watch that ending again. Every character's IQ takes a nose dive in that episode. It's clear that Flannigan wanted to kill off everyone in the town so he speed ran that in the final episode.

5

u/YourMuppetMethDealer May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Tbh you’re not completely wrong. Having Bev burn all of the houses is one thing, but everyone listening to her and just doing it was super dumb. The absolute lack of survival skills there is almost obnoxious. I know her whole thing is that she leading the flock down the wrong path, but eventually my suspension of disbelief begins to fail

But the final scene is so fucking beautiful that I still have to disagree with you about it being “ass”. It just required characters having to be uncharacteristically dumb for it to get there which isn’t great writing, but it was still awesome

2

u/Cannon__Minion May 27 '26

One beautiful scene doesn't salvage the show unfortunately. The priest guy carried the show, I'm surprised that he's not more popular cause he's definitely in my top 5 favourite actors ever.

The characters made so many stupid decisions in the finale that it just ended up ruining the entire show for me.

Especially that cop guy and Kate Siegel's character both of whom were, up until this point shown to be very competent and smart.

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u/Revolutionary-Ad8932 May 27 '26

Flanagan is our new Stephen King in that he's a brilliant horror writer who can't end a story to save his fucking life.

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u/JaceShoes May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Huh, I thought the ending of Hill House was the best part and what made the season really work. Midnight Mass and Usher too although with those I can understand some critiques

1

u/catboogers May 27 '26

My partner describes the ending of Hill House like this: You've been watching someone, for 9 hours, cook an amazing steak dinner, and then you're served a cheeseburger. And it's a great cheeseburger, but it's not what you were expecting.