Mare of Easttown

[Zorral]

47 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

Come on, man, spoiler tags!

We all are using spoiler tags.   Are they not coming through on your end?

[Mindwalker]

1 hour ago, Annara Snow said:

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I don't know where Jon is, but he does not live with them and I don't think he will, I can't see Lori taking him back or him trying to live in that town again where everyone knows him and his history.

Things will sure get weird one day when they try to tell DJ what happened to his mom.

 

 

Spoiler

"Look, DJ, your biological mom got murdered by your dear brother; after that, daddy, who had sex with her when she was a minor and a relative, had tried to pressure her into an abortion, then left her alone to raise you and deal with an abusive father and psychotic bf, who also raised you for a short while after decidning NOT to smother you with a cushion, and refused to pay for our important surgery, had disposed of her now undressed body.

Oh, and your granddaddy nearly shot your not-biological daddy dead. The latter also lured her into a trap to socially and publicly shame her, then watched happily as his new gf beat the shit out of her, which made her so upset she finally got murdered. Speaking of the murder, we all covered it up, but sadly, Auntie Mare wasn't fooled. That was only after Daddy had tried and failed to murder Uncle Blly and blame the murder of your mommy on him.

But isn't it great that Lori took you in so you can always remind her of her husband's repeated cheating?

Oh, and did we ever tell you who you're named after? Yes? So how was school today?"

 

[Annara Snow]

1 hour ago, Mindwalker said:

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"Look, DJ, your biological mom got murdered by your dear brother; after that, daddy, who had sex with her when she was a minor and a relative, had tried to pressure her into an abortion, then left her alone to raise you and deal with an abusive father and psychotic bf, who also raised you for a short while after decidning NOT to smother you with a cushion, and refused to pay for our important surgery, had disposed of her now undressed body.

Oh, and your granddaddy nearly shot your not-biological daddy dead. The latter also lured her into a trap to socially and publicly shame her, then watched happily as his new gf beat the shit out of her, which made her so upset she finally got murdered. Speaking of the murder, we all covered it up, but sadly, Auntie Mare wasn't fooled. That was only after Daddy had tried and failed to murder Uncle Blly and blame the murder of your mommy on him.

But isn't it great that Lori took you in so you can always remind her of her husband's repeated cheating?

Oh, and did we ever tell you who you're named after? Yes? So how was school today?"

 

At least he can't watch the show so he probably won't ever know all those details. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I totally got the "who done it" wrong. What a great show. 

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

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"Look, DJ, your biological mom got murdered by your dear brother; after that, daddy, who had sex with her when she was a minor and a relative, had tried to pressure her into an abortion, then left her alone to raise you and deal with an abusive father and psychotic bf, who also raised you for a short while after decidning NOT to smother you with a cushion, and refused to pay for our important surgery, had disposed of her now undressed body.

Oh, and your granddaddy nearly shot your not-biological daddy dead. The latter also lured her into a trap to socially and publicly shame her, then watched happily as his new gf beat the shit out of her, which made her so upset she finally got murdered. Speaking of the murder, we all covered it up, but sadly, Auntie Mare wasn't fooled. That was only after Daddy had tried and failed to murder Uncle Blly and blame the murder of your mommy on him.

But isn't it great that Lori took you in so you can always remind her of her husband's repeated cheating?

Oh, and did we ever tell you who you're named after? Yes? So how was school today?"

 

You know? That's what I was thinking.  Now if ever would be a time for child services to step in, ya think?

[ljkeane]

On 5/30/2021 at 1:52 AM, Iskaral Pust said:

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

Yeah, that was what I was thinking throughout the last episode.

Spoiler

So what was going on with Dylan? They just decided to burn potentially critical evidence in a murder case for no real reason? It's annoying that wasn't followed up on.

 

[kairparavel]

1 minute ago, ljkeane said:

Yeah, that was what I was thinking throughout the last episode.

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So what was going on with Dylan? They just decided to burn potentially critical evidence in a murder case for no real reason? It's annoying that wasn't followed up on.

 

Spoiler

He was destroying writtenevidence of who the father was so he and his parents could keep DJ. 

 

[ljkeane]

1 minute ago, kairparavel said:

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He was destroying writtenevidence of who the father was so he and his parents could keep DJ. 

 

Spoiler

And the other two just go along with that? Seems like a lot to risk, it's a pretty significant crime. Plus why would Erin's friend even want to help him?

 

[Ran]

2 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

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And the other two just go along with that? Seems like a lot to risk, it's a pretty significant crime. Plus why would Erin's friend even want to help him?

 

Spoiler

Her friend definitely was willing to go along with it to do something she felt Erin would have wanted, understanding that Dylan's parents were doting on the child and would take care of him even if Dylan wouldn't. 

Dylan's buddy, I've no clue why he cared at all.

 

[ljkeane]

9 minutes ago, Ran said:

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Her friend definitely was willing to go along with it to do something she felt Erin would have wanted, understanding that Dylan's parents were doting on the child and would take care of him even if Dylan wouldn't.

 

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I get that she stated that as a reason but he was awful to Erin. Literally the night she was murdered he'd helped set her up to be humiliated and beaten up. Maybe it's just me but I can't see helping him out being a particular priority let alone potentially covering up her murder in order to help him.

 

[Iskaral Pust]

Questionable structure for ep 7.  It was drawn out and anticlimactic.

Spoiler

The end of ep 6 made it obvious that Billy could not be the killer and a twist was in progress, but finishing John’s storyline so early in ep 7, and with relatively little emotional impact, made it obvious that another twist would happen that would hammer home the sense of tragedy.  At that point I thought it must have been John’s wife in a jealous rage.

The logistics of the murderous kid cycling around town seems far-fetched within the timeframe but I don’t know if they ever specified the geography.

As others have mentioned, the consequences here seem randomly distributed.  John appears to still be in prison eight months later as an accessory after the fact(?) and perhaps for his own attempted murder of Billy.  But his wife has been conveniently absolved as an accessory after the fact herself.  And somehow the recipient of the worst legal guardianship decision ever.  No punishment for the teenagers destroying evidence, or Dylan assaulting and menacing his co-conspirator (which was witness tampering to boot).  Mare faces no repercussions for being corrupt and abusing her role as a police officer, plus indirectly causing the death of an officer; instead she conveniently gets custody of her grandson anyway.  And Erin never gets any criticism for her paternity fraud with Dylan.

This show had a major theme of how parental fuck-ups poison the lives of their children: Mare, Siobhan, Erin, Ryan, DJ, etc.  And yet the final episode tells us that those parents should forgive themselves.  Maybe they should try a little harder to avoid those fuck-ups in the first place, not least having kids that you’re not prepared to parent.

At least Siobhan escaped to university in California, although I would guess many high school students would scoff at how easily that happened for her.  Does performing personal pain replace SAT scores? (Actually, it kind of seems like it does, if it’s the politically desirable type; at least based on recent reporting that minorities feel pressured to perform their otherness and urban poverty for admissions essays)

 

[Zorral]

Curious over here  -- I have seen many commentators on other sites insist

Spoiler

Mare should have just let Ryan's murder? manslaughter? go, for the sake of her friendship with Lori.

How do you all feel about that?

I don't think so, for several reasons, beginning with this isn't Mare's character as a person or a cop. She doesn't let things go, which makes her a good cop.

Spoiler

Then, throughout the series she's been learning the damage hiding from, denying, lying about, etc. anything does to individuals and their families, and thereby the community too (nevermind for the nonce this community is depicted in very real ways unrealistically, starting with its bred-in-the-bone racism -- settled big time by white Irish flighters from integrated schools, etc. in Philly).  So what kind of relationship finally could she and Lori have into the future, if this is the case?  It looks as though she and Lori will be hitting a much better place together now, which they never could have if Mare had let it go.  (Nevermind for the nonce all the other seemingly non-realistic situations we are in due to who lied, concealed, shifted, etc. their knowledge of Erin and John and Dylan and everything else)

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[Astromech]

You'd almost forget there was a murder investigation throughout most of the middle episodes. Erin, who? There was way too much happening in this series I had absolute no interest in.  Still I watched the entire series. I should've just binged Gomorrah.

[Annara Snow]

12 hours ago, Zorral said:

Curious over here  -- I have seen many commentators on other sites insist

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Mare should have just let Ryan's murder? manslaughter? go, for the sake of her friendship with Lori.

How do you all feel about that?

I don't think so, for several reasons, beginning with this isn't Mare's character as a person or a cop. She doesn't let things go, which makes her a good cop.

  Hide contents

Then, throughout the series she's been learning the damage hiding from, denying, lying about, etc. anything does to individuals and their families, and thereby the community too (nevermind for the nonce this community is depicted in very real ways unrealistically, starting with its bred-in-the-bone racism -- settled big time by white Irish flighters from integrated schools, etc. in Philly).  So what kind of relationship finally could she and Lori have into the future, if this is the case?  It looks as though she and Lori will be hitting a much better place together now, which they never could have if Mare had let it go.  (Nevermind for the nonce all the other seemingly non-realistic situations we are in due to who lied, concealed, shifted, etc. their knowledge of Erin and John and Dylan and everything else)

.

I couldn't disagree more with these commentators from other sites.

Spoiler

Unless Ryan is a psychopath - and he definitely is not, from what we've seen - he was definitely not going to be able to just continue a normal life while hiding the secret that he killed someone (what's worse, the mother of his little brother).

 

[Annara Snow]

21 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Questionable structure for ep 7.  It was drawn out and anticlimactic.

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 1. As others have mentioned, the consequences here seem randomly distributed.  John appears to still be in prison eight months later as an accessory after the fact(?) and perhaps for his own attempted murder of Billy.  But his wife has been conveniently absolved as an accessory after the fact herself.  

2. And somehow the recipient of the worst legal guardianship decision ever.  

3. No punishment for the teenagers destroying evidence, or Dylan assaulting and menacing his co-conspirator (which was witness tampering to boot).  

4. Mare faces no repercussions for being corrupt and abusing her role as a police officer, plus indirectly causing the death of an officer; instead she conveniently gets custody of her grandson anyway.  

5. And Erin never gets any criticism for her paternity fraud with Dylan.

 

That's a bunch of weird complaints... Let's see this, one by one:

Spoiler

Those consequences are not "randomly distributed" at all. 

Yes, John is probably in jail for attempted murder of his brother. You think he shouldn't be? And even when he gets out, I'm pretty sure Lori won't take him back, nor would be find it easy to just continue like nothing happened and like the whole town doesn't know he got his teenage second cousin-once-removed pregnant.

1. So, you actually expected Mare to report Lori for lying to protect her son? Really? Aside from Mare and John, no one else actually knows that she knew that Ryan was the killer.

2. And the better decision would, in your opinion, be...? What? His alcoholic and violent grandfather? There's no one else who could really laim claim to guardianship of DJ.

3. How do you know there was no punishment? It's been months. How long exactly would you expect them to be locked up?

4. She faced repercussions by being removed from the case because the chief didn't want to reveal that she planted the drugs. I'm not surprised that the people and police of a small town cared more about her releasing the two kidnapped girls and killing the kidnapper/murderer than the fact that she technically wasn't on the case (and I'm pretty sure there are no laws against releasing kidnap victims and killing in self-defense, so what were they going to charge her with, exactly? She wasn't even carrying a gun.)

As for "indirectly causing the death of a police officer", that's just nonsense. She did not such thing, and there's nothing to blame her for. He's an adult and a police officer who made a decision to go and investigate a suspect after talking to Mare - a suspect who, in fact, turned out to be guilty of the crime - and he got killed in the process (as the murderer turned out to be an unusually precise shooter who killed him in an instant - that wouldn't have even been different if he had been accompanied by an armed detective). Although, if you want to think she should have "suffered consequences", she did - by being slapped very hard by Colin's mother, who also had similar bizarre views on the matter (as her son as a little baby that Mare apparently took and brought with her to talk to a suspect, rather than an adult man and a cop,  who wanted to investigate said suspect), but at least she can be excused by her grief. (both for bizarre reasoning and for the fact she didn't give a damn about the fact that two victims were released and further murders prevented thanks to Mare). I assume Mare also understood her, since she lost a son too (I don't have kids, maybe that's why I found Colin's mother really obnoxious).

5. You actually expected people to criticize a murder victim  for paternity fraud, or the show to concern itself with whether people criticize a dead person/murder victim for a paternity fraud? 

 

 

[Zorral]

From the first episode my first concern was what kind of life would DJ have without his mother.  Like others, now, I too

Spoiler

wonder how they can possibly handle as a family his half brother killed his birth mother, who was half-brother's -- second cousin?  This seems more set-up for more family dysfunction in the not distant future. OTOH, maybe climate change and / or plague will wipe out the entire place in the not distant future too.

 

[l2 0 5 5]

About Erin's dad:

thought there would be more into him about being involved since they showed him coming home the morning of her murder and next episode he told Mare he was home all night. 

Also surprised there wasn't more to Dylan. Guess he did just go on a high ride.

The Guy Pearce casting was the biggest red herring of all. Maybe the guy was just looking for a job during covid times.

Enjoyed the show even though I thought the last episode was one of the weaker ones. End of ep 6 was the best IMO

[Annara Snow]

9 hours ago, l2 0 5 5 said:

About Erin's dad:

 

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thought there would be more into him about being involved since they showed him coming home the morning of her murder and next episode he told Mare he was home all night. 

Also surprised there wasn't more to Dylan. Guess he did just go on a high ride.

The Guy Pearce casting was the biggest red herring of all. Maybe the guy was just looking for a job during covid times.

Enjoyed the show even though I thought the last episode was one of the weaker ones. End of ep 6 was the best IMO

 

Guy Pearce and Kate Winslet have apparently been good friends since they started together in the miniseries Mildred Pierce 10 years ago.

[RhaenysBee]

On 5/31/2021 at 10:59 PM, Mindwalker said:

Oh well.

It had very briefly crossed my mind some episodes ago but I'd dismissed it.

Some beautiful scenes in the end.

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I think t's very unhealthy for this family to raise DJ. Particularly for Lori. And for DJ to grow up with the killer of his mum (rehabilitated, but still), and with a father who was willing to kill his own brother to cover it up.

"We had this connection!"

At least Mare is getting along better with her family and can face her demons now.

I don't think this needed 7 episodes.

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I also didn't like the use of thee overused tropes like "suspended cop keeps invesstigating and redeem themselves".

But all in all, good entertainment.

Overall it was a great Mini series with a mostly satisfying conclusion. The final solution of the murder was not out of the blue but still unexpected enough and it tied up loose ends not only related to the murder itself, but also to other smaller things one wrote off as weird/inconsistent. 

Was the story air tight? No. But was it together enough to be enjoyable? Absolutely. 

Spoiler

I think it makes sense that John wouldn’t be back in DJ’s life for quite some time as he’d be held accountable for covering up the murder case, attempting to kill his own brother and sexual relations with a minor. Also, Lori would be insane to let him move back, the best he would sensibly get is to see DJ on occasion with supervision. Then again, I have no idea who this would play out in real life by decision of a real court. 

I agree that it’s mind blowing that Lori would get custody of that child. It’s wrong on so many levels. It’s unfair to her, it’s weird for the children and it’s hardly DJ’s only option. The child should have stayed with Dylan’s parents. 

Also agree that most teenage storylines weren’t resolved - why did Dylan do what he did and what happened to him? What exactly happened to Katie and the other girl and how are they going forward? What about Jess? Did Brianna see consequences? Etc

Spoiler

It’s also curious what an unlikely spark lit this bushfire. 
I’m not trying to take it out of context, I absolutely understand that the human psyche and emotion were the main drivers of the events’ escalating. 
At the same time, I can’t help but wonder what might have happened if someone just paid for the damn ear surgery. 
I mean... the community chips in and Katie is gifted an entire house (this is an interesting choice for other reasons as well), but the town couldn’t put together $1800 for the stupid ear surgery? Mr Carroll operated a safety system on an iPad and everybody has smart phones - this suggests to me that gofundme and other donation sites also exist. I don’t think it’d have taken years for Erin to raise at least the majority of $1800 for the surgery. 
And you know, to me the number one reason I decided to hate the piece of shit John turned out to be was not that he refused to pay for that fucking surgery. We were given no indication that John’s family was struggling financially at all - in fact, the show suggested they were the “best off” in the Ross family. For crying out loud, HOW can you be a grown ass adult with two children and not find the money to pay for the surgery of a teenager’s baby in your family?
I don’t know. Was it intentional that the surgery cost $1800? Because it’s not the kind of money that’s impossible to raise. Interesting question. 

 

[Quijote Light]

51 minutes ago, RhaenysBee said:

Overall it was a great Mini series with a mostly satisfying conclusion. The final solution of the murder was not out of the blue but still unexpected enough and it tied up loose ends not only related to the murder itself, but also to other smaller things one wrote off as weird/inconsistent. 

Was the story air tight? No. But was it together enough to be enjoyable? Absolutely. 

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I think it makes sense that John wouldn’t be back in DJ’s life for quite some time as he’d be held accountable for covering up the murder case, attempting to kill his own brother and sexual relations with a minor. Also, Lori would be insane to let him move back, the best he would sensibly get is to see DJ on occasion with supervision. Then again, I have no idea who this would play out in real life by decision of a real court. 

I agree that it’s mind blowing that Lori would get custody of that child. It’s wrong on so many levels. It’s unfair to her, it’s weird for the children and it’s hardly DJ’s only option. The child should have stayed with Dylan’s parents. 

Also agree that most teenage storylines weren’t resolved - why did Dylan do what he did and what happened to him? What exactly happened to Katie and the other girl and how are they going forward? What about Jess? Did Brianna see consequences? Etc

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It’s also curious what an unlikely spark lit this bushfire. 
I’m not trying to take it out of context, I absolutely understand that the human psyche and emotion were the main drivers of the events’ escalating. 
At the same time, I can’t help but wonder what might have happened if someone just paid for the damn ear surgery. 
I mean... the community chips in and Katie is gifted an entire house (this is an interesting choice for other reasons as well), but the town couldn’t put together $1800 for the stupid ear surgery? Mr Carroll operated a safety system on an iPad and everybody has smart phones - this suggests to me that gofundme and other donation sites also exist. I don’t think it’d have taken years for Erin to raise at least the majority of $1800 for the surgery. 
And you know, to me the number one reason I decided to hate the piece of shit John turned out to be was not that he refused to pay for that fucking surgery. We were given no indication that John’s family was struggling financially at all - in fact, the show suggested they were the “best off” in the Ross family. For crying out loud, HOW can you be a grown ass adult with two children and not find the money to pay for the surgery of a teenager’s baby in your family?
I don’t know. Was it intentional that the surgery cost $1800? Because it’s not the kind of money that’s impossible to raise. Interesting question. 

 

I don’t think the community gifted Katie the house. I’m pretty sure that was Freddie’s house, which is why his sister was the one finishing up.