Step forward Mare of Easttown , the Kate Winslet–fronted HBO drama that’s keeping audiences engrossed (and ever so slightly depressed) with its portrayal of police detection in rural Pennsylvania. As we try and ascertain who done it (and the tricky vowels of the rust belt accent), episodes offer precisely what we want from a police drama: a sense of authenticity, minus the actual banality of real life. The show is equally drab and riveting, claustrophobic and caustic. I’m going nuts on thesaurus adjectives to stop myself writing gritty, cliché as the word is, but Easttown is Gritopia, and the show is greased by the brutal tenacity of Winslet in the titular role. Whether sleuthing a mundane robbery or asking “Do I fuck like a grandmother?” Mare is traditionally unglamorous—a grown-out blonde fueled by pizza and whiskey shots—and audiences, despite our best intentions, love a little unglamour. Who can resist the catnip of a Hollywood actress damn unprettying herself? See Charlize Theron in Monster and the Oscar for Nicole Kidman’s prosthetic nose in The Hours. All that said, it must be a relief for the hardened Pennsylvanian police chief to take a hot shower at the end of the day and see Oscar-winner Kate Winslet in the bathroom mirror.
Unlike our politicians, none of the inhabitants of Easttown seem preoccupied with being likable, which makes for a great slew of suspects—including an out-of-town writer, a creepy Catholic priest, and the missing girl’s deadbeat dad. Everybody acts so damn suspicious, motivated by desperation, trapped by circumstance. Nobody has an honest conversation, and every alibi feels overly cooked. But rather than the exhausting buffet of red herrings, the drama is a dense sponge, served slice after slice, never leaving us fully nourished, so we always want more. Mare of Easttown feels like Twin Peaks on Oxycodone, not Lynchian by any means, but remote, intriguing, and addled. The show tackles generational depression, drug dependency, suicide, and biting, desperate economic hardship alongside the more usual thematic dose of missing girl/dead girl.
If you remember the movie Mystic River, I think there are some similarities, particularly among the characters and the lower class setting , from that movie to this series.
If you remember the movie Mystic River, I think there are some similarities, particularly among the characters and the lower class setting , from that movie to this series.
Kate Winslet is a sure awards contender.
I have, X-men dude (Zable) got killed hard.
I thought it was about a horse.................mare.
I assume Mare is short for Mary, although I dont think the show ever refers to that.
They said it once in an episode. Can’t remember exactly what the full name was.
Excellent series.