Weekend Buff

Mare of Easttown (2021)

Mare of Easttown (2021)

This week we are taking a look at the HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown.  This gritty crime drama brings a lot to the table.  A good detective mystery, a family drama, and a portrait of a small town. 

“Mare” is Marianne Sheehan, a detective in a small-town police department with a few tough cases and a world of personal problems.  The show highlights all the challenges facing a small American town, but this town is a suburb of Philadelphia, so everything is worse.

Mare is played by Kate Winslet, who really brings a great performance to this emotional drama.  Winslet doesn’t quite give you the typical cop feel, but there is much more to this character, and she gives a great performance.

Mare is well known as the town detective, but even more famous, to her chagrin, as the hero of the high school state champion basketball team 25 years ago.   She is forever trying to escape her past.  Family drama, the drug addiction and suicide of her son, divorce, depression and other problems cloud her day as she works a years old unsolved missing/possible homicide.  It’s another failure for Mare at this point in the case and it is eating at her.  It is not easy trying to run from the past when the present isn’t going so well either.

Soon she has another homicide to handle as a young girl is found shot to death in the woods outside of town.  This case seems cold before she gets it, and as Mare is battling her own demons, she is working relentlessly to solve it. 

This show highlights the interpersonal relationships of Easttown.  Everyone knows each other, but everyone has their secrets too. The homicide investigation is well done - suspects come and go and there are plot twists that keep the audience guessing.  But the personal drama is so emotional, it overshadows the investigation.  As stated, Winslet is fantastic.  She has a supporting cast that includes Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, Guy Pearce, and Evan Peters.  Not all household names, but all give great performances. 

Writer Brad Ingelsby and Director Craig Zobel turn in a masterful series.  There is a lot going on here and they piece it together perfectly.  Not a bit of dialogue is wasted, and the plot is well laid out.  They capture the small town and its problems impeccably.  Mare of Easttown is not a feel-good movie, quite the opposite, but it draws you in and keeps you entertained and engaged.  They nail the finale as well. 

Mare of Easttown consists of 7 episodes.  Each runs about an hour, so you will have to do some serious binging to finish it in a weekend.  But you might.  It’s the TV equivalent of a page-turner.  This is definitely a show that you have to pay attention to – put the phone away while watching.  You can catch it on HBO on demand or rent it on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.  It’s not your typical cop flick, but a very well-done series.  Enjoy!

Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!