Mare of Easttown

[kairparavel]

27 minutes ago, Zorral said:

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Why steal the money?  A very bad look.

 

I think it was to be used for the ear tube surgery.

[Zorral]

14 hours ago, kairparavel said:

Spoiler

I think it was to be used for the ear tube surgery.

 

You might be right, yet it doesn't fit in with his other behaviors evidenced in this episode though.

[Fury Resurrected]

One more episode to go and I still don’t know wtf is up with that Dylan kid

[Zorral]

 

10 hours ago, Fury Resurrected said:

One more episode to go and I still don’t know wtf is up with that Dylan kid

Nothing has boded well for that poor child's future from the very beginning.

Haven't watched this episode yet, because I wanted to be able to watch with full attention.  By 10 PM last night I was already in bed with a book.  It's been an exhausting stretch of days, this month.

 

[l2 0 5 5]

One ep to go and there's clearly something else to the story besides Billy being the killer and dad. What's Dylan's involvement? Clue about the gun? They had that ballistics guy in there talking about it being an old cop gun that they don't produce anymore. The gun in the tackle box did look old. I'm grasping at straws there. Tough moment for Mare with Zabel's mom. Damned if you do/don't there. If you don't show up you're being disrespectful for not offering your condolences. Potentially the biggest red herring to this point has been Guy Pearce just casually being the understanding creative writing professor that gives Mare her space.

Bummer there's only one episode left. I've enjoyed this. I'm always down for a good binge but there's still something special about HBO dropping their eps weekly. Adds that water cooler element to it. You get the chance to digest, rewatch, chat with friends/family/co-workers about what happened and get their take on it. Everything is so blurred when it's dropped all at once. Harder to cherish the individual moments from a given episode imo.

[Zorral]

Spoiler

Good for Jenna refusing to obey Dylan!  As the poster above said, well, now, there seems there has to be something more going on.  Jimmy the murderer is too easy -- or so it seems at the moment.  And Richard absent the entire previous episode, and now returns for his one -- I REALLY don't want it to be a novelist-writing teacher who is the murderer (which plot point has been used too recently as well, in whatever season that was of Affair, so it would doubly suck).  Then the woman Lori's husband has been shagging, we never saw and evidently never will.  She's merely a name-plot point, w/o identity.  Don't like that too much, you know?

 

[Zorral]

The more I think over this penultimate episode, the more anxiety (per se) increases

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that since all the plausible suspects have been suspected, most of which have been cleared, the only one left not suspected at all is the writer.

 

[3CityApache]

36 minutes ago, Zorral said:

The more I think over this penultimate episode, the more anxiety (per se) increases

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that since all the plausible suspects have been suspected, most of which have been cleared, the only one left not suspected at all is the writer.

 

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But that would make no sense, would it? Except for the shocking twist value. And why would Billy admit to it? Gotta say, they really got me curious as to what was in that diary.

 

[Zorral]

1 minute ago, 3CityApache said:

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But that would make no sense, would it? Except for the shocking twist value. And why would Billy admit to it? Gotta say, they really got me curious as to was was in that diary.

 

 But you know, tv writers (in writers rooms or on screen) cannot be trusted!

What is plausible is that both a very drunk John , and a very drunk Billy, had sex at the same time, with a very drunk Erin at the reunion. Well, things went on from there, with perhaps John being the one to have killed Erin.  I know such things happen, but I really don't want to believe it this time around, despite John's despicable serial, multiple, and even simultaneous infidelities.  "Susan" isn't in a single frame of any scene beyond a token mention of the name to signify his to us his character, which seems driven by compulsive infidelity.  So one thinks it all too likely that John got perv pash on his underage -- second cousin? -- whatever the close relationship is called technically/genealogically, as Erin's dad is his cousin.

And then somehow got a very drunk-to-blackouted Billy to think HE killed Erin.

But we do not know!  Which is the carrot pulling us to next week!

 

[3CityApache]

 

@Zorral

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Except Billy didn't look drunk at all the night Erin died, when he was caught with bloodstained clothes by his father. Secondly, John seemed genuinely surprised by this and I don't take him as a particularly good actor (character, not the actual actor of course).

 

[Zorral]

9 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

 

@Zorral

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Except Billy didn't look drunk at all the night Erin died, when he was caught with bloodstained clothes by his father. Secondly, John seemed genuinely surprised by this and I don't take him as a particularly good actor (character, not the actual actor of course).

 

Well, 

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Then there's all the speculation about Lori and / or their son, Ryan. Lori also tells Mare that "this time" she had no clue John was doggin' round.  Carrying on with a close relative could be a lot easier for hiding all the usual clues.

Nor do we have a clue yet about Dylan & Co and what they are concealing.

 

 

 

[l2 0 5 5]

Lori and John's kid seemed to react strangely when the newest girl went missing. Almost seems like him being upset about knowing his dad was having an affair is a cover up. The kid is pretty young. Unless John is screwing around in their house I'm not sure where he'd see this at ya know? Would also support why Lori didn't realize it was happening this time around cause maybe it wasn't actually happening?

[Zorral]

"The stunted conservative politics of Delco, which Mare of Easttown dutifully avoids, have contributed to the very miseries that the show exploits."

https://slate.com/culture/2021/05/mare-of-easttown-hbo-delaware-county-politics.html

Quote

 

....Despite this obvious source of tension and upheaval, Mare of Easttown, puzzlingly, does not mention politics at all. There are no kitchen table arguments, no drunk know-it-alls pontificating at the numerous pubs, no campaign posters, no red hats, not even a chuckle-worthy moment of political incorrectness from Mare’s mother Helen. For a Delco kid like me, this deliberately apolitical stance isn’t just a missed opportunity; it makes watching the show a truly surreal experience.

The stunted conservative politics of Delco, which Mare of Easttown dutifully avoids, have contributed to the very miseries that the show exploits.
To get an idea of how deeply ingrained right-wing politics can be in this part of the country, look no further than the failed insurrection of Jan. 6. Southeastern Pennsylvania contributed some of the worst perpetrators of that awful day, many of whom were respected members of the community—and some of whom undoubtedly still are. Delaware County itself was controlled by Republicans from before the Civil War until 2019. Yes, it’s true that Delco shifted back to blue in 2020, helping to deliver a victory for Joe Biden. But the total numbers belie steep divisions that will hamper progress in the years to come.

This is a place where even a 13-year-old will calmly tell you that Black people moving into the neighborhood will bring property values down—and that it’s not racist to say that because everyone knows it’s true. It is a place that in many ways is still fighting a 1980s-style war on drugs, despite the terrible price such policies have exacted. And in the pandemic, Delco has become a hotbed of performative “civil disobedience” against lockdowns and mask ordinances, fueled in large part by resentment toward Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the growth of his party in the area. Here, being apolitical is a political decision.

Yet here we have Mare Sheehan, a cop raised by a cop, and there is no mention of President You-Know-Who and all the related conflicts and debates—not so much as a lawn sign or a Back the Blue flag. Mare and the people around her are part of the demographic most likely to either overtly support Trump or give some rambling speech about how the country needs to reject two-party politics and be run like a business. (For an example of that more nebulous but still right-leaning position, I’m thinking of fellow Delaware County native Jamie Kennedy’s recent claim that he’s a “centrist” despite starring in an anti-abortion propaganda film. Classic Delco.)....

 

 

[RhaenysBee]

I just watched this - all 6 episodes in one go - and I think it’s great. Watching something in one sitting always makes it easier to find the flaws and I certainly found a few things that bothered me. Still, it’s an amazing production, Kate Winslet is an actor genius and compared to my previous crime binge (Home Before Dark), it’s also solid and decent writing.

My issues with the overall series 

1

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I understand and appreciate that the story is about a very tortured main character. Everybody has their flaws and struggles and that’s real and necessary - to a certain level. I obviously have no idea if the struggles and flaws depicted in the series are, to any extent, representative of small(er? Ish?) town someone in a cold part of the USA.
But I do find the amount of misery and tragedy packed into this runtime astounding and a little bit unrealistic. Especially because there’s nearly nothing to counterbalance it.
I mean, I’m aware that I’m a privileged and lucky person who lived a privileged, lucky and relatively happy life. And I obviously see the story through that filter. Far be it from me judge other, even fictional, people’s level of hardship. 
It’s just so strange to me that every single family in the story is sooooo deeply and seriously troubled. Is this representative? That every single family member is either a drug addict, or murdered, or a murderer or pedophile, adulterer, or terminally ill or a suicide victim or disabled or an aggressive abusive person or a combination of several of these? It’s just so much. It’s not an odd case or two, it’s every damn family. 
And there’s no spark of joy. No little things that the characters find solace in, no break, no moment of peace, no nothing. Even the poor grandma didn’t get to eat her hidden ice cream! It’s just non stop suffering and tragedy and struggle and pain. What keeps these people going? Just the little kids born out of the teen pregnancies? But even those little kids are just plot devices to torture the characters. Mare looks at Drew and she sees potential genetic disorder that might set him on a tragic path. The only functional parents in town look at the baby and it turns out it’s not their grandchild. Every time something normal starts to happen for 10-30 seconds, the show turns it into more drama. There’s a game night and guy gets accused of child rape and murder. There’s an opportunity for the band and the girl throws up on herself (whatever happened to that poor child Becca anyway, I wonder if she’ll end up murdered, killing herself, in prostitution or ODing). Mum finally spends the night with her son, gives him a fun filled bath and he almost dies. Daughter has a new date, grandma ends up in hospital. 
I don’t know, I get that it’s the genre and a consistency in setting atmosphere, but I would have liked to see a couple more scenes of peace. When these poor characters get to breathe and take a moment to just exist without anything bad happening. Isn’t there a cute dog in town? Isn’t there a nice coffee shop? Don’t they ever enjoy a book or tv or just a damn ice cream like grandma tried to? I get that we are going for a life is hard and sad and that’s the reality, but smelling the flowers from time to time is also reality. If it wasn’t for that, how would we get through all the shit? Just show it a bit more. 
like you know, you’ll show the cancer patient get lured into a basement by her best friend’s drug addict brother and knocked over by a water boiler as fake blackmail to get her missing daughter back, but you don’t show us the reunion when she actually gets her back?

2

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Mare is a deeply troubled, entirely emotionally unavailable 45ish grandmother with a hell of a temper and a shitton of personal struggle. She is brilliant and driven at her job, she has a strong sense of duty to help and protect and pursue. But am I really supposed to believe that BOTH new men entering her life immediately want to date her, especially the 33 year old detective, who was assigned to be her sidekick? I don’t know. 

Plot issues 

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1. It doesn’t make any sense for Faye to cut out Frank because his troubled, detective ex-wife accused him of something that he was 200% innocent of.
2. It also doesn’t make any sense that Mare, being who she is and how she immediately went for even Frank, wouldn’t DNA sample that beer bottle of Billy’s when they discussed how Erin had stayed with him and he became visibly really uncomfortable. It was entirely obvious from that moment on that even if he didn’t father the child or kill Erin, he was at the very least sexually involved with her. 
3. Dylan is a plot device who can’t stay consistent for two episodes straight. 
4. Why is there no social worker in this town with all the prostitution, drug abuse and teen pregnancies and domestic abuse? I mean just how can this be going on? Shouldn’t alllllll of these children be in counseling? One’s ex-girlfriend was murdered who he shared a teen pregnancy baby with, one’s best friend was murdered, half the others are addicts, one’s brother committed suicide? At least show or mention that the school (I presume some of these kids at least sporadically show up to school?) is at least offering counsel and support to the kids!!! What the hell! 
5. it was just adorable when the report of registered guns came in and Mare was just like, oh well. WHAT ABOUT UNREGISTERED ONES?! Have you even look around where you live? Everybody’s got a gun.
6. Would a court honestly give full custody to a woman who’s freshly out of rehab, has a questionable mental stability and working three cleaning jobs to rent a studio flat? That sounds unlikely to me. 
7. the bathroom scene was a really over the top and unnecessary red herring and it doesn’t make any sense either. 
8. I suppose at this point the best way out is to write of the priest as the wrong track, have Billy be both the killer and the father of the child, and have John just be a normal, ordinary unfaithful husband. 

But really I just want the grandma to enjoy her ice cream in peace. 

 

[Winterfell is Burning]

Regarding point #2: a lot easier to believe once you realize she looks like Kate Winslet. Plus, it's not like every man in town is after her. Most of the plot points you mention are nitpicking, though.

[Zorral]

Easttown doesn't look quite as miserable as you are seeing it.  It looks to be a fairly good place to be a kid for a lot of kids.  We are seeing kids everywhere with parents who care enormously for their children.  But like a lot of places, it's not so good for the non-centered adolescents or those with rather incohate ambition to ... Do Something, though they don't, and can't at this stage, know exactly what, generally speaking.  There's a lot of community life, as with the school and sports and family.  The misery is indeed pretty much rooted in that, this is a close knit community, and family is everything and that has an inevitable dark side for many, if not most.

You've gone overboard to a degree, it feels like.

As with Drew.

Spoiler

 

He did not "almost drown." He is having swimming lessons as we saw earlier, and he was practicing holding his breath under water.  I did the same thing at his age, and like him I was proud as could be of being able to keep my face under water way longer than everybody else. The point of that scene is that his mom is trying so hard to enable herself to support her son so she can have full, sole custody.  The support for single moms (see Erin for starters!) in this very conservative community is just about zero, so this is the tragedy, that Carrie has to push herself so hard that she can hardly be a mom because she's trying so hard to get the money to be a mom.

And yes, we see social workers, and so on here, though briefly.  Indeed, the Church provides some support, supposedly, as we see, though that didn't work out so well for Deacon. But then, the Church ha more than earned that kind of distrust all over the world, hasn't it?

Ya, there are entire communities in which every family is miserable, especially in racist, tRumpist communities, which the town on which Easttown is modeled, is, and in spaces.

 

Plus, there is another episode to go. 

[Iskaral Pust]

I’m another fan of the show, and looking forward to the conclusion.

There’s nothing new here, with The Bay and Broadchurch being very similar UK shows, just for example.  But it’s really well executed, especially the acting.

I wouldn’t nitpick the many plot holes as they keep the various red herring plates spinning, but the universal self-inflicted misery has been over the top throughout. It may be unrealistic and unsympathetic but it’s just an aesthetic choice, and one that has been made plenty of times before.  It doesn’t invalidate the show.  The audience can take it or leave it.

The real twist will be if Guy Pearce really did sign up to just be a minor and inconsequential part.

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

The real twist will be if Guy Pearce really did sign up to just be a minor and inconsequential part.

We shall soon learn!  If he turns out NOW to be the killer, I myself -- Imma gonna wanna kill the gdd writers room coz how lacking are they if this is what it is.

 

[Mindwalker]

Watching the first episode. Te somehwat bleak realism makes me feel right at home, German crime shows are a lot like that...

I feel for Mare.

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Her family, even her own mother, seem to like her ex better - maybe they should go live with him?

I hate most of these people. I kinda hope it was

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Frank. Just because he's so damn happy, unlike anyone else. And because he planned his celebration on the date of his ex's. Asshole.

I have no doubt we'll soon learn that Mare has done horrible things, and

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probably the divorce and her son's death were all her fault

, but I'll root for her anyway. I hope.

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I guess horrible ex husband and his horrible gf are not the murderers, nor is the father. Too easy.  I hope it wasn't Richard, one of the few people I don't dislike!

I'm suitably depressed already. Off to episode 2.

"You're many things I hate, but..." Mommy dearest!

[Zorral]

46 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

Te somehwat bleak realism makes me feel right at home,

As earlier, I still don't see this series as that bleak, certainly not within the context of this high end, glossy, crime in a particular location and community genre.

And most of all this is, or so it appears at this point prior to the final episode, this is the slow peeling back of the layers of a particular circle of family and friends in a place where their relationships go back generationally, which is both the circle's grace, and its downfall -- at least by the later generations feeling stuck in nowherelandia.  We get many glimpses of the non-bleak 'grace' that is part and parcel of these intimacies.  Which is why Jimmy abruptly taking off from basketball and pizza night with old friends and family is such a remarked upon anomaly, noticed by his family and his friends like Mare, and by us, the viewers.  This is fun.  We drink beers, cheer and boo, and eat pizza with the people we know and we like.  They do a lot of this kind of thing, the circles and families of Easttown.  In this series we are focused on this particular circle of friends and family, and we enter these circles escorted from the start by violence and murder.

There are bits of scenes of this kind of thing going on all the time.  We have engagement announcement parties, birthday parties, even the wakes / funeral receptions are social situation where people enjoy themselves with food, drink and catching up with friends and neighbors as well as relatives.  It's how these bits are mixed into the crime mysteries that makes this thing really work for me.