The former businessman, played by Zach Gilford, begins the show by being given a four-year prison sentence after killing a young woman in a drunk-driving incident, and once he completes it he returns home to Crockett Island.
Back among the isolated community he grew up in, Riley struggles with his faith and inner demons.
But he finds solace in former childhood sweetheart Erin Greene (Kate Siegel) and priest Father Paul (Hamish Linklater).
It’s his relationship with the clergyman that has grave consequences for the character, though, because he isn’t quite what he seems and he has a dark secret that leads to Riley’s apparent demise.
What Happened to Riley in Midnight Mass?
Riley catches onto Father Paul’s darker nature when the priest lies to him about where Joe Collie (Robert Longstreet) is when he doesn’t show up for their AA meeting, saying he’d left the island to visit his sister, despite her being deceased.
Deciding to question Father Paul further, Riley goes to see him late at night after the meeting and discovers the priest with The Angel, a blood-sucking creature who immediately attacks Riley and drains him of his blood.
Riley is brought back to life hours later after being given The Angel’s blood, which has healing qualities and gives its drinkers eternal life in exchange for not being able to walk in the sun and being driven by a relentless blood-thirst.
While it’s not explicitly stated, after the attack Riley becomes a vampire in all but name and decides that rather than live like Father Paul and The Angel he’d rather sacrifice himself by warning Erin of what’s happening.
Is Riley Really Dead in Midnight Mass?
In order to warn Erin, Riley persuades her to come with him onto a boat in the middle of the ocean and tells her everything that happened after he was attacked.
Erin asks him why he brought her out to the ocean to tell her all this and if he picked the location so that she can’t escape, fearing he intends to kill her and drink her blood.
But in reality Riley chose the location so that he was the one unable to escape when the sun came up, telling Erin that he brought her there to prove that what he said was true and to also persuade her to run away.
When the sun rises, Riley closes his eyes and opens them to see the young woman who he had killed at the start of the limited series, and whose ghost has haunted him ever since.
No longer injured from the accident, the young woman’s spirit takes Riley’s hand and they levitate off the boat.
At the same time, Erin watches in despair as Riley burns to ash in the sunlight before returning to the island to stop Father Paul and The Angel.
Midnight Mass is available to watch on Netflix.
