Mare of Easttown

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Quijote Light said:

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. 

Spoiler

I thought Freddie's house had gone to Missy, the second absconded girl, imprisoned with Katie by evil Potter. Katie was living with her mother.  But this smiling cleaned up person looked nothing like either of the terrified, abused women we saw in the attic, so ya, I could be wrong that it wasn't Missy.  But then, if it wasn't, here's another loose end, not tied up, and yet another show merely using female abuse as a plot point as opposed to providing even a token gesture to the personhood of the victim.

 

[RhaenysBee]

2 hours ago, Quijote Light said:

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. 

Spoiler

Yes it was Freddie’s house - cleaned and at least lightly fixed up - and given to Katie by Freddie’s sister. For free, at least that’s what the scene insinuated, when Dawn explained that Katie got the house Because people loved her or cared about her or something along the lines. Since it’s clear that Freddie’s sister isn’t particularly well-off either, it opens interesting doors that instead of renting it out to someone who’d actually pay for it, she just gave it to Katie. Yet there wasn’t a single friend/group of friends/family to pay way less money (than even half a year’s rent and overheads of that house) for DJ’s surgery. In the same town. It makes the generally unlikely scenario that nobody would chip into the ear surgery even odder. 

 

[john]

Very much enjoyed, although the mostly understated drama was more interesting than the crime elements which I thought were pretty standard. The acting and the general production quality was good enough that I was happy watching anyway.

Spoiler

I guessed the culprit early on, there was a lot of tropey stuff, especially if you read crime fiction books, like the incest and the covering up for a loved one. I did think Ryan was the baby father and possibly a psychopath after the lunch tray incident, so they did manage to twist me up a bit.

Some of the conclusion was somewhat unsatisfying, I also wondered about some of the things being mentioned like what the hell Dylan thought he was doing and how long everybody needs to go to jail for (like if they all told the truth from the start they wouldn’t even get that severe a punishment although I guess it is embarrassing to be fucking your niece). The worst was Jess’ role, they just seemed to eke out her information for plot purposes without any particularly good reason for her to be doing it that way. All the stuff that wasn’t to do with the crime was great, I loved that final shot of going up to the attic with the framing of the ladder.

 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

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Yes it was Freddie’s house - cleaned and at least lightly fixed up - and given to Katie by Freddie’s sister. For free, at least that’s what the scene insinuated, when Dawn explained that Katie got the house Because people loved her or cared about her or something along the lines. Since it’s clear that Freddie’s sister isn’t particularly well-off either, it opens interesting doors that instead of renting it out to someone who’d actually pay for it, she just gave it to Katie. Yet there wasn’t a single friend/group of friends/family to pay way less money (than even half a year’s rent and overheads of that house) for DJ’s surgery. In the same town. It makes the generally unlikely scenario that nobody would chip into the ear surgery even odder. 

 

If it was Katie who was given the house, what happened to Missy?

[RhaenysBee]

12 hours ago, Zorral said:

If it was Katie who was given the house, what happened to Missy?

Spoiler

We don’t know. We also don’t know what happened to Hillary (the girl who was locked up with Katie before Missy and got pregnant - presumably because their kidnapper raped her/both of them, although we don’t actually know). In fact, we don’t know anything about the conclusion of that case, because the focus was on Erin’s murder. Still it was overall very weak writing as the disappeared girls’ case had quite an impact on many characters. It would have deserved a fuller, more detailed and refined conclusion, including what happened to the girls, how they were moving forward , why it was so unsolvable for so long, etc. the two throwaway lines/scenes that were supposed to close Katie’s story just didn’t do justice to this plot line. 

 

[Iskaral Pust]

Spoiler

I read an interview with the show-runner who described the central theme of the show is mercy, which is why there relatively few specific consequences.  So the priest’s closing sermon is meant to be the capstone message.

I guess my perception that it was about parenting and children suffering the consequences of bad parenting is my own Rohrschach test.

The show-runner seems to have a strong Catholic background.  I wonder if that’s why the victims were “fallen women”. 

 

[john]

Spoiler

Yeah, I think pastor Mark’s speech is supposed to give closure to all the elements that aren’t explicitly addressed. The ultimate message seems to be about getting on with stuff, and if you have the right attitude you’re going to do more good than harm.

@RhaenysBee, good point about them flossing over aspects of the missing girls case. Mare seemed to solve it through a tip from a woman she has presumably known all along, so how come it took so long anyway? Also, as I understood it they checked out the vans in vicinity to Erin’s murder which led them to Potts, so it was just a coincidence? But then it turned out he was away so how was his van seen in the first place?

 

[Mindwalker]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

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I read an interview with the show-runner who described the central theme of the show is mercy, which is why there relatively few specific consequences.  So the priest’s closing sermon is meant to be the capstone message.

I guess my perception that it was about parenting and children suffering the consequences of bad parenting is my own Rohrschach test.

The show-runner seems to have a strong Catholic background.  I wonder if that’s why the victims were “fallen women”. 

 

Well, I got close,

Spoiler

 

I thought it was the power (and horror) of community. The priest pretty much spelled it out for us. in the end, the good part about fogiving...

However,  I thought the message was a tad muddled when they've gone out of their way to, e.g., show Dylan as a stone-cold, violent psychopath, and apparently mean his giving money for DJ absolves him? Mercy is good and well, but who'll be his next victim? (He is also the reason I think DJ should not grow up with his parents, as Dylan would still be around.)

Also, the messenger himself may or may not have a history of sexual abuse, wwhich might make im a danger to the community. But hey, knowing the Catholic church, I'm sure hey made the right call...

Worst of all, if raising DJ is meant as an act of mercy (towards John? DJ did nothing wrong. Or did the writers think Erin needed mercy?!), I reiterate that this will be bad for pretty much everyone involved - DJ, Lori, Ryan, the sister who'll be affected by the dysfunctional family -, even if Ryan would be in jail for the next 20 years. It might be good for John, though.

Btw., I can totally see Lori taking him back after a while.

The message worked better for me with Mare and her family,

Interesting observation about the victims being "fallen" women. That would be a horrible message.

I was thinking the other day of how much they showed women as victims of the toxic men in their lives: Erin: her father, Dylan, John; Lori: John... Mare of all of this. Ryan, of course, was a victim, too; but maybe he'd have been the next generation of toxic guys, had he not been reported.

 

 

[Annara Snow]

On 6/3/2021 at 3:53 PM, 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. 

 

Spoiler

But why would Dylan's parents get DJ? They are not related to him at all, and if the main reason against the current arrangment is that he would remind Lori of her husband's infidelity and everything that happened - the same thing goes for Dylan's parents. He would be a constant reminder that Erin probably cheated on and definitely decelived Dylan and deceived his parents with a paternity fraud.

 

[Annara Snow]

11 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

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We don’t know. We also don’t know what happened to Hillary (the girl who was locked up with Katie before Missy and got pregnant - presumably because their kidnapper raped her/both of them, although we don’t actually know). In fact, we don’t know anything about the conclusion of that case, because the focus was on Erin’s murder. Still it was overall very weak writing as the disappeared girls’ case had quite an impact on many characters. It would have deserved a fuller, more detailed and refined conclusion, including what happened to the girls, how they were moving forward , why it was so unsolvable for so long, etc. the two throwaway lines/scenes that were supposed to close Katie’s story just didn’t do justice to this plot line. 

 

Spoiler

I thought what she said it meant that he killed HIllary when she got pregnant.

 

[Zorral]

22 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

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I thought what she said it meant that he killed HIllary when she got pregnant.

 

So did I.

 

[Iskaral Pust]

Spoiler

There is no suitable family for DJ within the characters we know.  Lori and Ryan represent a horrific connection that must sour the future family dynamic,Lori has absolutely no biological basis for custody in the first place, and it’s unclear whether she is ready to be a single mother to a new baby while she goes through enormous grief and upheaval. Dylan’s parents seem reasonably stable and have a strong bond with DJ, but they raised a psychopath so let’s temper that praise, and psycho Dylan would be in the long term family dynamic even if he is an adult now.

CPS should have placed DJ with adoptive parents far from this shitshow.  But the writers went for a the mawkish conclusion, however irrational.