Even with the glut of TV content coming out each month these days -especially from steaming services- some networks such as HBO and FX still manage to deliver stellar shows that stand out from the rest. Mare of Easttown is another exercise in that vein, featuring flawed characters brought to life by brilliant actors and actresses, a small town setting where almost everyone knows each other and a murder mystery that takes its twist and turns before venturing into a heartbreaking climax.
Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) is a middle aged detective in a Philly town who’s driven and bottling down a lot of trauma and baggage. Her son took his life in the attic, and now she lives with her mother (Jean Smart), her daughter Siobhan (Angourie Rice) and her grandson Drew. Her ex-husband, Frank (David Denman) is getting married again. Mare is also the lead detective on a missing girl case that has been cold for a year. Soon, she has to investigate a new murder case when she finds a teenager, Erin McMenamin (Cailee Spaeny) dead and naked in the woods. Mare also has to deal with a young detective from out of town, Colin Zabel (Evan Peters) who has been brought in to help with murder investigations.
Kate Winslet is compelling as the tough-as-nails Mare.
She always gets deep into her characters, and this time, she transforms herself into a Philly woman who’s great at her job but isn’t doing so great in other aspects of her life. Her trauma is tastefully addressed. It gnaws at her inside, but she never lets it show. We see more of her late son Kevin through flashbacks and see that it’s not as cut and dry as her failing a child with special needs and complicated issues. She’s also fighting for her grandson’s custody with her daughter-in-law, who’s a recovering drug addict. At one point, she tries to frame her by planting drugs stolen from evidence, but Mare gets caught and suspended. Then there’s her mandafed therapy sessions later on in the seties, which she actually commits to and starts to come to grips with her buried trauma.
Writer Brad Ingelsby and director Craig Zobel imbue most of the side characters with enough vitality that they resemble local people you know with rich inner lives of their own.
Jean Smart, in particular, plays a consistent and vital role as Mare’s mother. In fact, Mare of Easttown spends a considerable amount of time on reflecting on motherhood, and how that can be complicated despite well-meaning intentions. The climax, for instance, pits Mare against a family that’s doing everything it can to protect its children.
Evan Peters is also great as Zabel. He has a good dynamic with Winslet and his admiration for Mare is adorable, and in time, it turns into something deeper. The series also doesn’t pull on its gut punches, and the few action set pieces it does have are tense and well-directed. Guy Pierce also features as a writer/love interest for Mare, but he is conspicuously absent from the later half of the series.
Mare of Easttown is a limited series, allowing it enough room to wrap up its narrative while ending on a tone that suggests hope and closure. It’s probably the first must-see TV show of 2021. You should definitely give it a try if you haven’t seen it yet.