Mare of Easttown

starring Kate Winslet

If you grew up in a small town, as I did, you know what matters most in your life. They are, not in any particular order, your home, your neighbors, your place of worship, your HS buddies and above all, family. 

Family counts so much that to some, like the residents of Easttown, PA, it often matters more than the law. Should the law get in the way, you push back. Not only with words, but often with fists. Sometimes with guns.

In “Mare of Easttown,” (HBO Max), Detective Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) is the law but she’s also family to the people of her small Pennsylvania community located just outside Philly. She’s blunt (she tells a prospective BF—Guy Pearce—“you know you’re not getting laid tonight”) but underneath the brittle exterior and frumpy sweatpants, she’s a detective with a badge—and a heart—of gold. Which is problematic when she has to investigate the murder of Erin McMenamin (Cailee Spaeny), a young mother, as well as the disappearance of several other teenage girls in Easttown.

This is Kate Winslet as you’ve never seen her. Devoid of makeup, slugging down Rolling Rocks, vaping away at a cigarette, with a look that could freeze time, Mare doggedly plugs through the particulars of the case, bumping heads with long-time friends and family members, and her own bosses, to solve the mystery.

Is it Erin’s ex-husband Dylan (Jack Mulhearn) or his nasty GF Brianna (Mackenzie Lansing?) Mare’s ex-husband Frank (David Denman) who was Erin’s HS teacher and may have had an affair with her? The local parish priest (James McArdle) who has a history of sexually abusing young girls? 

Again, real clues are few and far between. Nobody’s talking much because in effect, they’re protecting each other instead of respecting the law. But they do love Mare. And she loves them back.

Mare has her own family problems (raising a 4-year-old grandson whose father has died tragically is just one of them) but I refuse to divulge much more than that. Let’s just say combined with the stress of her job, her personal life is a train wreck, one I wouldn’t wish on anybody, least of all a detective with her integrity.

Props to all the cast members who made this  terrific example of ensemble acting so watchable. But special kudos to Kate Winslet for her performance as someone who unfailingly tries to do the right thing, even though it’s usually the wrong thing for her friends and family. As someone tells her, “Mare, Easttown’s a better place because of you.” 

They’re not wrong. See for yourself on HBO Max.

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