Mare of Easttown
Everybody Hurts And Has Secrets
Mare of Easttown stars Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan, a detective in a sleepy, small working-class suburb outside of Philadelphia. Mare is still considered a local hero/celebrity 25 years after hitting the game-winning shot leading her team to the state basketball title. However, we get the sense that the past 25 years haven’t exactly been kind to Mare. Her personal life is a hot mess and her once pristine professional career and reputation are also on the brink as well.
Her abilities as a cop are called into question after she failed to solve the case of a missing teenage girl/young mother over a year ago. Making matters even more complicated is the fact that this missing girl is the daughter of one of her friends/high school teammate who is also battling cancer while raising her single-handedly raising her granddaughter. Her friend/former teammate refuses to accept the status quo of her daughter’s missing person’s case and begins making very loud and public demands for her daughter’s cold case to be reopened, even if Mare is not leading the investigation. All of this happens just as another teenage girl/mother goes missing and is later discovered dead.
Mare’s personal life doesn’t make dealing with all her professional crap any easier. She goes home to a mother and daughter who both seem like they can barely tolerate Mare on a good day. She’s also raising her grandson, Drew, after the death of his father, her son, who we later find out committed suicide. Mare’s whole family still seems to be stuck in the cycle of grief and trauma as they try to process his death, but no one appears to be as stuck as Mare. It seems her son’s death tore her family apart. Although she and her ex-husband, Frank (why are they always named Frank?) seem to have a closish relationship, he and his new fianceè practically live in Mare’s backyard, they still have their issues especially over the death of their son. The whole family does find a way to band together to fight for Drew after his mother a former heroin addict wages a custody battle for her son.
Throughout all of this and some job mandated therapy, Mare begins to realize that her inability to grieve and process her son’s death, more specifically the way he died goes back to her father (yes the daddy issues rear their ugly head- but trust it’s not what you think) and the way he died. Mare’s father was also an Easttown police officer and her being a daddy’s girly through and through, she followed in his footsteps. As she begins the process of truly grieving and healing from those traumatic losses, she realizes that her inability to do so until now is what has kept her family mired in all the grief, pain, and trauma of her son’s death. It has also affected all of her other relationships and to some extent the way she does her job.
Mare’s most enduring and endearing relationship is that with her ride or die, BFF Lori Ross, portrayed superbly by Julianne Nicholson. Just like all of Mare’s other relationships, this one is also tested and pushed beyond the brink. It’s also the one that you are not so sure can be salvaged or will ever be anywhere near the same.
Mare of Easttown is a slow-burn crime drama/mystery. I know that usually translates to boring, but please I am begging you not to sleep on this show. Trust the show is definitely not what it seems on the surface and the lack of action is made up for with all the twists. It is engaging and engrossing from the first frame to the last. The show is on most people’s shortlist for the Emmy’s and deservedly so. Everything about it is so good from the acting, to the scenery the plot/character development, all of it. I even liked Evan Peters’ character. I am not saying it should win all the things but it definitely deserves to be in contention. Overall I would highly recommend Mare of Easttown.
OVERALL RATING 🍿🍿🍿🍿/5
MARE of EASTTOWN
Creator: Brad Ingelsby
Starring: Kate Winslet, Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart
Limited TV Series
Episodes 7 / Run Time: 60min+
Where to Watch: HBO Max
Soundtrack/Curated Playlist
