Mare of Eastttown

[Twit 2]

Kate Winslet police procedural/drama. Shit title but good show. Put me in mind of True Detective series 3, or something like Happy Valley over here. If you like to watch Kate moodily vaping, which it turns out I do, then this is good. It captures small town shitty lives very well and mostly avoids genre cliches. Found it quite refreshing and very watchable. Only 5 episodes, nice length. Any fans?

[bgmnts]

My mother is watching it and I pop in and out and yes I noticed Winslet vaping a lot.

I cant wait until we get neo-noirs with femme fatales and private dicks vaping under street lights.

Anyway from what I saw it looked a good show with decent acting in it.

[Emotional Support Peacock]

When I started watching this I didn't think I was going to continue. Too bleak, too depressing.

But i continued and am glad I did. It's still depressing but definitely entertaining and gripping.

Reminds me a bit of The Killing and a bit of True Detective series 1 (haven't seen any of the others).

I have seen 5 episodes and think there are 2 more to come.

[Twit 2]

Ah, I'm up to episode 4 and thought there were only 5.

[phantom_power]

Ah, I'm up to episode 4 and thought there were only 5.

They are released weekly so maybe there have only been five so far

[mothman]

Wiki lists seven episodes.

[Ja'moke]

I've been loving this. And the thing I like the most is that it gets shit done, characters actually talk to each other. Usually in these kind of murder mystery shows the audience is way ahead of the characters because they all play coy and don't act like how normal humans would. So I find this show very refreshing.

For example, I think it's the second or third episode when Mare's best friend Lori is told about Mare's ex-husband Frank possibly being the father of the dead girl's baby. I expected Lori to keep this a secret and for it to drag out all series. But next episode, she immediately tells Mare about it... and then Mare immediately goes to confront Frank about it.

The whole series has been like that, all while creating a well-realised town of characters. Yeah it's all rather grey and bleak. But there is a dark humour to it too; the scenes between Mare and her mother (played by the superb Jean Smart) being the funniest.

I'm one episode ahead because I have the screeners, but it's all set up for what should be a tense finale.

[chveik]

this is so bleak it's almost comical at times

winslet is ace though

[BlodwynPig]

Is this on terrestrial tv?

[mjwilson]

No, Now.

[wooders1978]

Started it, found the pacing a bit dull, will go back for another go, saw the potential it has

[Twit 2]

Oh absolutely stick with it. Episode 5 certainly ended tensely!

[Ja'moke]

Yeah, the pacing is one of the plus points I'd say. The plot moves along pretty significantly each episode and, like I said before, the characters actually share important info with each other.

[Twit 2]

Episode 6 was another cracker.

Spoiler alert

The finding the son's body hanging stuff was a tough watch. I liked the twist at the end of this one implying the killer is John (beardy brother). Any theories on how Dylan is connected to Erin's murder?

[close]

[phantom_power]

Yeah it has seemed so obvious who the killer is, even more so following the confession so there must be one last twist, to do with the bit of paper Jess(?) saved from the journals but I can't think what on earth it might be

[Twit 2]

Yeah it has seemed so obvious who the killer is, even more so following the confession so there must be one last twist, to do with the bit of paper Jess(?) saved from the journals but I can't think what on earth it might be

I'm not sure which brother you think is the obvious twist. Do you mean the confession proves it's

Spoiler alert

Billy or, as I thought, he's being forced into it by John, who's the actual killer?

[close]

The latter isn't that obvious and has been cleverly seeded, I think.

Spoiler alert

For example, Billy saying "I'm sick of covering for you" (which you first assume is the affairs and later realise could be the murder) and John making him say "I killed her" but as a rehearsed alibi, not a confession.

[close]

Spoiler alert

You are led to believe it's the flakey brother (Billy) who's admitted to it, only for that photo from the journals she hands the police to (presumably) reveal the other brother (John, the one who's in the dog house for all the affairs). The only plot points left to reveal are the connection of Dylan (who burned the journals) to it all. Billy has taken his gun in the tackle box cos he's a) afraid of John bumping him off b) wants to bump John off. They'll be a shoot out and at least one person's gonna die. I'm guessing they'll go with a happy ending: Mare will get her grandson back after biological mum realises she's not up to it, and she'll move away with Guy Pearce to start a new life in a better town...

[close]

[mjwilson]

I hope she runs for mayor next season.

[Emotional Support Peacock]

Spoiler alert

I thought the gun was John's and Billy discovered it by accident and now fears John is planning on killing him - thus grabbing the tackle box in a "subtle" way and John possibly picking up on it.

[close]

[phantom_power]

SPOILERS (though we shouldn't need to spoil a show that has been shown on TV for nearly a week)

I think it has been seeded that Billy is the murderer from an early episode when he was a bit funny about mentioning Erin had stayed with him for a bit. Then his bloody clothes and confession sealed it. I am not sure how John killing her would work with the bloody clothes unless there was some convoluted stuff going on, maybe Billy was black-out drunk and John set it up to convince him he had done it. It seems a bit far-fetched though, considering how grounded the show has been.

I think the gun was John's and he was going to kill Billy to put him out of his misery and avoid the family being shamed but now Billy knows something is happening.

No idea what the journal paper is.

[Ja'moke]

I also think John is the killer, and that photo cliffhanger is probably going to show him "with" Erin.

There have definitely been quite a few hints along the way pointing at John. We know he's been keeping a secret, which we assumed was an affair, but Lori his wife said in this episode that the last time he was cheating on her, she could feel it. This time she said she felt nothing. That's probably because the secret isn't an affair this time, but murder.

The necklace was purchased under the name Ross, which is also John's surname.

The way he said to Billy "I need you to say out loud that you killed her" sounded like coaching to me, like he's setting up Billy to take the fall.

My guess is that John is the baby daddy and killed Erin and he forced Billy into helping him clean it up (hence why Billy returned home with his clothes full of blood). Or perhaps they were both involved with Erin.

As for Dylan and the journal situation, I'm guessing he's probably involved in drug dealing or something (there's a theme of opioid addiction running through this show) and he's worried Erin talked about it in her journals.

[Twit 2]

Yes thank you, much better explained than my attempt.

[phantom_power]

That was a really satisfying finale. I like how it focused more on the aftermath and what effect it all had on the characters and community rather just the whodunnit element. Winslet is fucking brilliant in it, as are the whole cast

[badaids]

That was a really satisfying finale. I like how it focused more on the aftermath and what effect it all had on the characters and community rather just the whodunnit element. Winslet is fucking brilliant in it, as are the whole cast

It was a really good finale, and a really enjoyable series so thanks for the thread pointing it out.  It reminded me a lot of The Wire in that it's slow and bleak and the writers don't spoon feed you - you get the feeling of 'hang on, who's that character again' - and of course the characters and dialogue are excellent.  It's the best drama I've seen in years.

Hard to see how they can do another series, but is there one in the offing?

The only thing was that someone literally said at the end

Spoiler alert

'and I would have got away with it if it wasn't for you damn pesky Mare'.

[close]

[Ja'moke]

Agreed that it was a very satisfying finale, one that made sense, and the aftermath of how the characters reacted to it was very well done. (More thoughts in my recap if anyone wants to read: https://www.tvinsider.com/1000616/mare-of-easttown-recap-episode-7-sacrament/)

It was meant to be just a one off limited series and I hope that's all it is. But we've seen this time and again where a supposed one-off is brought back because of popularity but it's almost always diminishing returns.

[phantom_power]

There is scope for another series as the crime element was just a part of the whole and those characters definitely have more life in them. I would trust the writers if they felt there was more to tell given how assured they have been through the whole thing.

[studpuppet]

I think if I were to get someone new to watch it, I'd describe it more as a human drama with the crime element almost as a sub-plot (although the crimes are very elegantly woven into the plot eg.

Spoiler alert

finding Erin's clothes at the scene of Freddie's OD and thus the date of the Ross family reunion

[close]

).

Best bit of telly I've seen in ages - a very good plot, all the characters do believable things in the situations they find themselves in, all the performances are top notch, and the scene where

Spoiler alert

Mare & Lori reconcile

[close]

is one of the most moving bits of TV I've seen.

I also hope that it's a one-off; that sort of upheaval in a small community only happens very infrequently and the whole point of the drama is to show how these kind of events affect close-knit families and friends for whole lifetimes. On the other hand, I do think the writers should be able to write another one just as good, in a similar vein and set somewhere else.

The thing that had me bamboozled completely was this:

Spoiler alert

If you google "mare easttown cast" like I did to find out what I'd seen Mare's mother in before (it was Watchmen), you'll find that both Guy Pearce and Ben Miles are down as playing Richard Ryan in that ribbon of cast members you get at the top of the search page. So I spent most of the last episode thinking I'd seen spoilers and there was going to be another twist ("Of course Guy Pearce turns out to be something to do with it!"). Maybe the show put both actors online to throw people like me off the scent? Or perhaps that's too meta.

[close]

[phantom_power]

Ben Miles was originally cast but had to leave due to scheduling conflicts:

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/guy-pearce-kate-winslet-hbo-mare-easttown-1234904322/

[EOLAN]

Very good and nicely done. These type of shows do tend to be at their best early on when it seems the creators have drawn out a clear series arc and can gradually hint at evidence and mis-directions. Compared to something like recent season of Line of Duty where it seemed somewhat paralysed to make up something newish in its own world; and whoever was the big reveal felt it was just on the whim of the creator. So basically; probably best to keep it as a single show.

Maybe in True Detective style (but not Series 2) the same people can transpose a story to another region.

One question I do have. Was there any resolution to

Spoiler alert

Dylan being out on the night of the murder? It alludes to nothing more sinister than the trading of some drugs was happening.

[close]

[phantom_power]

Yeah that hints at something that ended up on the cutting room floor for some reason. It was a red herring that ended up having no relevance to the main story so may have been cut for time

[Ja'moke]

I also hope that it's a one-off; that sort of upheaval in a small community only happens very infrequently and the whole point of the drama is to show how these kind of events affect close-knit families and friends for whole lifetimes. On the other hand, I do think the writers should be able to write another one just as good, in a similar vein and set somewhere else.

Yeah, I think the only way that could maybe work and still keep Mare in the show is if there is another murder/kidnapping case in another town within the area and Mare is called in to help, much like how Zabel was called into Easttown to help with the kidnapping case.