#got so caught up in bev's noah's ark comment that i briefly lived in a world where time and reasoning did not exist

[yepthatsacowalright]

I wanted to talk a little about arks in Midnight Mass for a minute.

As discussed to some degree a long time ago on the tumblrsphere, St. Patrick's and the Rec Center are both designed (in very interesting to dissect ways!) to resemble an ark. An old, weathered wooden vessel cared for by a community, vs. a modern, militaristic looking one built by a community tricked into footing the bill for it. But there's a couple other places you could make a good argument for being an ark. (An ark-gument, if you will.) In the same way that the church is named after St. Patrick, and the Rec Center is named after Pruitt, The Flynn's fishing boat is named after Annie (who Ed considers to be a saint.)

(I especially like that you can see how it was painted over, like Ed made it a point when he bought it to change the name to hers.) Ed and Warren spend as many mornings communing with each other on that boat as Annie and Leeza do at Daily Mass. I think it's interesting that while Riley has no interest in going back to St. Patrick's, he does ask to join his father and brother again on the boat. And it's on the boat that Ed makes the most meaningful confession and apology to Riley. There was a small salvation of sorts happening there. My personal favorite place to interpret as an ark, however, is the Town Square.

After everything else falls to flame, this is where the island goes. A patch of open land, free and accessible to all, the only place that ever actually did welcome everyone. The Crock Pot Luck - not named after any one individual, by the way, but for the community as a whole - was the only event that saw everyone together. Bowl and his mom were there. Sarah and her girlfriend were there. The Hassans were there. Howie was there. Hell, even Joe Collie was there.

And because I cannot believe Mike Flanagan ever puts anything in frame by accident, may I also direct your attention to the fact that when Annie and Ed start singing in the final episode, you can see the ship's wheel in the background.

Like, what is this if not an ark in a flood?

I would also posit that the Hassans find their own salvation on the shore, Pruitt and Millie on the bridge, and Warren & Leeza in the row boat. And Bev, who neither found nor sought out salvation in anything, the master only of an empty shell, a vampiric mimic of an ark lost to the flames that she herself spread, is the only one to die alone and afraid.