There were many moments when I found myself identifying with one of the characters or replaying one of the conversations as in “been there, done that”.

I can’t say enough about how very well done I thought this entire series was. The facial expressions, especially of Mare and Lori, brought the reality and the emotions of the situations right to the forefront. It was really quite incredible how all the “loose ends” and character interactions came together in the finale. However it made sense when all was “said and done.”Īs for John wanting to kill Billy: John’s emotional state was so messed up, he figured Billy would fall apart after a drinking binge and “spill the beans.” John probably figured it would be easy to blame it all on Billy’s drinking problem. I didn’t want to think it was Ryan because I thought he was younger than he was and I also wondered about his riding his bike out so far to those woods and back. What accounts for the popularity of these series? Is it the titillation of torture porn and gore, or the self-serving conviction that crime belongs to the stranger, which rests on a form of xenophobia? The deviant personality theory of criminal behavior reassures the audience by trading understanding for forgiveness. I’m thinking of “Criminal Minds” and “Mindhunter,” in which scientific behavioral analysis serves the function of distancing the audience from acts of violence it would otherwise find abhorant. No wonder audiences worldwide find these programs extremely satisfying, returning week after week, like going to confession.Ĭontrast these with extremely popular (and equally well done television series) in which crime is viewed as germinating within the deviant personality of a psychopath and/or his or her dysfunctional family. Think of Erin’s pregnancy, with which this whole sequence begins in “Mare of Easttown,” which has been compared to the British series “Broadchurch” in this regard. It’s like, when are we hiding the ball too much? Because there’s a satisfaction in being able to play that game, I think.”Įmerging over time as the basis of the police procedural is what I call the it-takes-a-village theory of crime, as a feature (not a bug) of living within a neighborhood, i.e., a place “where everybody knows your name.” In this genre of murder mystery, we are meant to marvel at how easily we all break the law in our daily lives, in ways that seem innocuous but can have brutal consequences that no one could have anticipated. “There certainly have been times where I’ve seen people write about stuff, how it was shot… It becomes a little bit of a thing in the edit. “I have to admit, that happened more than I even thought,” Zobel says with a laugh. The theories got pretty wild online, with fans picking apart every frame for clues. With the mystery now solved, we can clearly see all the red herrings that Mare laid out along the way, from Erin’s ex Dylan to Deacon Mark. But I always felt like just making the choice was enough.” “I remember thinking about whether or not we needed to actually go up into the attic and be up there. We only saw her go up the stairs from afar before it cut to black, but Zobel reveals “there was discussion at different times” about the camera following Mare all the way up. The finale ended on a hopeful note as well, with Mare at long last dealing with her son Kevin’s death by pulling down the attic stairs and going up there for the first time since she found him hanging there. In some ways, that was the important stuff for us, as much as obviously fulfilling the murder mystery.” “So it felt like we needed to have some time after the end of the murder mystery to talk about Mare and Easttown, really the things that also drive the show. “Just as in the beginning of the series, when you get to learn about the town and the people before you dive into the murder mystery, we felt like it was similar on the other side,” he explains.

Could Mare of Easttown Return for a Season 2? ‘I Would Absolutely Love to Play Mare Again,’ Kate Winslet Saysīut Mare wasn’t just a simple whodunit: Even after we learned the killer’s identity, the finale took its time examining the emotional fallout for everyone involved.

Mare of easttown episode 7 summary