Mare has no other leads, no other possibilities.

He’s convinced that Erin’s ex is the person who killed her, and at this point, I tend to agree! There was a feral quality to how Charlie raged in response to that discovery, and Kenny does the same thing: He pushes away his cousins, he yells and cries, and he threatens Dylan. That scene was excellent, devastating stuff, and Patrick Murney’s performance as Kenny reminded me of another HBO crime series moment: when Brad Carter’s Charlie Lange learned in True Detective that his ex-wife had been murdered by his ex-cellmate Reggie Ledoux. Mare knows this, and she also knows how impossible it is going to be to tell Kenny - who also happens to be her best friend Lori’s cousin-in-law - that his only child is dead. Physical evidence is going to be difficult to find, with Erin’s nearly naked body being dumped in the creek in Sharp’s Woods. “Fathers” begins with the discovery of Erin’s body and Mare reporting to the scene, during which Winslet nails Mare’s combination of dread, recognition, and regret. And disappointment in her ex-husband Frank, who Erin’s best friend Jess (Ruby Cruz) says might be Erin’s son DJ’s father. Disappointment in her family for continuing to stay in touch with her son Kevin’s former girlfriend and Drew’s mother Carrie (Sosie Bacon), who is trying to stay clean and get her life back together, but whom Mare blames for her son’s addiction and his death. But more of Mare’s frustration and resentment is the simmering, slow-burning kind that comes along with disappointment.ĭisappointment that the higher-ups would distrust her enough to bring in outside assistance in the form of wunderkind detective Colin Zabel (Evan Peters). Some of this is caused by the job and the fact that Mare’s failure to find Katie is common knowledge, recently brought up again by the crusading Dawn. She wears the emotional weight Mare is carrying, and makes plain how much Mare is taking the town’s rejection of her personally. She’s eyeing up suspects and collecting enemies, and Kate Winslet’s gruffness remains impressive. And in her attempts to figure out what happened to Erin and Katie, Mare isn’t making many friends. These are the people she’s known her whole life, in the town she’s lived in her whole life, and all of them seem to be hiding something. Dylan’s new girlfriend Brianna is unhinged in her cruelty, from the terrible catfishing scheme and attack she dreamed up for Erin to the horribly vicious way she spits at Mare, “No wonder your son killed himself.” This second Mare of Easttown episode, “Fathers,” doesn’t so much peel away the layers of Easttown’s dysfunction as it shoves them directly in Mare’s face.

Erin’s boyfriend Dylan is smug and was clearly an asshole to her. Erin’s father Kenny is hotheaded and probably was abusive toward his daughter. Opioids are clearly a problem, and they unfortunately drive people like Beth’s brother Freddie to crime. Is everyone in Easttown “a good person”? Absolutely not. You build a network, and it’s easy to assume that everyone in that network is a good person.Īnd then you have a place like Easttown.

You have co-workers and people you begin to recognize from the gym or the grocery store or wherever else you go. You make friends, you fall in love, you might have kids. Most of us spend our entire lives craving, and building toward, intimacy, camaraderie, and solidarity with people. HBO’s last flashy series about the murder of a beautiful young mom, The Undoing, was similarly about this very concept, as was the book on which it was based, You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Of course, that statement could apply to any sort of crime-focused TV show, movie, book, or whatever other form of media.

Mare of easttown episode 6 preview