The Midnight Gospel Season 1 finale recap: Mouse of Silver

The season 1 finale of Netflix’s The Midnight Gospel reunites Clancy/Duncan with his mom to explore birth, death, and reactivity.

In episode 8 of The Midnight Gospel, Clancy (Duncan Trussell) meet up with his mom (Deneen Fendig) to discuss Clancy’s (or Duncan’s) birth and life. In many ways, this episode can instantly be regarded as sentimental, as Deneen Fendig actually died in 2013. According to their conversation, Clancy/Duncan was born early and actually peed of the doctor’s eyeglasses!

A number of awkward topics arise, such as how his brother, Jeff, was scared of seeing his mom nursing. However, not everything they talk about is awkward, such as how the first 5 years of life will be vital in shaping personality. They also discuss (in traditional Midnight Gospel style) how “spirituality” is about distinguishing what’s real from what is not, and part of that realization involves putting past and future aside (something easier said than done).

The Midnight Gospel recap: Reality is a river?

Because this is The Midnight Gospel, all of their conversations are augmented by crazy animated scenes. For example, there’s a point where Clancy gives birth to his mom. However, plenty of surreal moments occur with what they say, too (with “surreal” not necessarily being a bad thing, mind you). The two compare reality to a river, adding that true identity lies outside of space and time.

Yes, that might sound like some cosmic mumbo-jumbo. However, it does seem like much of our difficulty in life stems from denying the infinite universe outside of our selves, while believing who we are and what we know formally should encapsulate and inform all that we are, or all we ever could be. Great minds are able to see beyond all that, or at least aspire to, through imagination and creative discovery.

The Midnight Gospel recap: People are like dogs

The Midnight Gospel also suggests that people are like dogs who can’t control their anger when they don’t get instant gratification. Unfortunately, humans tend to have far greater destructive capacity than the average canine family, which is probably why Duncan and his mom discuss the need to become aware of your reactivity. To borrow from one subject they raise: If you are aware that a tornado can knock down your house, maybe you should react by tornado-proofing your house.

This episode tells us that Duncan’s mother had cancer, and they told her she should call a crematorium because of having merely 6 months to live. Like previous episodes, this one explores the concept of death as a teacher and ego death is a transfiguration. It will come across as esoteric and vague to plenty of viewers and there are reasons to be skeptical of any philosophy, but the ideas and sentiments here at least seem genuine and well-meaning.

The Midnight Gospel recap: Back to Clancy

Much of this episode will distract you away from the character of Clancy, as the focus is a little more on Duncan. Nevertheless, some interesting things happen to Clancy as the episode winds down (it is the season finale, after all). Clancy gets in trouble for being an unlicensed sim user, and also for green oil theft. As cops swarm in they shoot his dog and ultimately cause an explosion!

In the end, Clancy gets on a bus with many previously seen characters in a strange new universe. The question might be: Is Clancy dead? However, looking at his previously occupied universe(s), we might ask what life really was before. In any case, a second season of The MIdnight Gospel may or may not be in the works, as Netflix often keeps people on their toes (or, of course, they renew something almost immediately, feast-or-famine style).

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