Mare of Easttown

[unique1986]

Crime Drama starring Kate Winslet

9pm Monday 19th April Sky Atlantic

I'm so looking forward to another dark drama.

Does anyone else think the killer might be Lori? I wonder if John's the father of Erins Baby, and Erin was blackmailing her for money?

I just binged the first 6 episodes in 3 days and am anxiously awaiting the last one.

Some random thoughts:

There is so much about this series that reminds me so much of home. I grew up one state over from Pennsylvania and there are so many communities just like Easttown that are this grim and incestuous (figuratively if not as literally as Easttown). I left well before the opioid problems got so out of control but otherwise a lot of the dynamics (families in and out of each other’s houses, the relationships with local priests in church youth groups, the high school glories, I even had a high school friend named Mary Ann whom we all called Mare!) totally ring true. The accents sound spot on to me and the houses and furnishings all make sense.

I must say though I was saddened to see so many 40something grandparents!

The scene where Mare breaks down in her mom’s arms after returning from Mrs Zabel’s actually had me in tears. The scenes where she was describing what happened to Kevin, first in the paediatrician’s office and then the therapist’s were both very powerful and brilliantly acted but it was the breakdown with Helen that really got to me.

I agree that all signs are pointing to John being the real killer and DJ’s father. Which makes me wonder if it’s too obvious. When I typed out my comment about 40something grandparents I realised that Lori and John are not - their kids are younger than everyone else’s, and Moira having Down’s may mean Lori had her quite old. Wonder if there is anything to that?

I had thought Guy Pearce’s role would be to be the one person Mare would know COULD NOT have killed Erin because at her time of death he was with Mare. But I’d have expected an actor like him to have a bigger role generally. (And I could totally see his and Kate Winslet’s roles reversed, with him playing the bitter, hardened cop with a troubled family and her playing the writing professor love interest.)

I am 99.9% certain the Carrolls’ security camera will play a role in identifying Erin’s killer.

Roll on Monday!

So we know that the Deacon was the last person to be in contact with Erin. We still don’t know where and when though .... or why. Or why he took her bike and where he dropped her off?

What about the gun - an old police gun - who would have that?

Was it Mare?

Erins mate?

Moira having Down’s may mean Lori had her quite old. Wonder if there is anything to that?

I don't think Lori was all that old when she had Moira. Lori and Mare are about 43-ish (if they were 18 during the championship basketball season which was 25 years ago.)

I thought the security camera showed the next door neighbour taunting them after he tagged the wall (he gave their house the finger) and Mare deleted it to defuse the situation?
That's how I saw the scene. Betty was annoyed enough and fixated on the neighbour so Mare didn't want more aggro.

Sssloou I think Erin called the deacon after the fight with Brianna, she was upset and wanted to talk to him about it. He was going to give her a lift home, but on the way she got a message (presumably from the killer) and he ended up dropping her off in the park where she was killed. He still had her bike in the boot of the car and got rid of it in a panic when she was found dead.

I did wonder about the old police gun - assuming either John or Billy is the killer, could their father be a retired cop maybe, and it's his old gun?

Mare's father was a cop...

The gun - could be Helen (Mare’s adulterous farting Mum) !

Also interested in all of the Irish names surnames of the characters Fahey, Sheehan, Hanlon, Ryan, Riley, McMenamin, Carroll, Boyle, Kelly - and first names Siobhan, Erin, Moira, Sean - might be typical of that area.

Something irrationally grates me about the Siobhan character - not sure what.

The Irish identification would be big in that part of Pennsylvania, like it is (still) in large parts of the American Northeast. It’s the area of the country Joe Biden is from, and he never misses a chance to bring his “Irishness” into conversation.

Theres not going to be a Season 2. I dont think they usually go back on that do they?

Frank's fiancée went to stay with her mother.
I guess she found Mare accusing him of being the father of Erin's baby difficult to deal with...

Can you imagine being engaged to a guy whose ex wife has a house at the bottom of your garden and drops in as she pleases? Tough.

I just watched this this week and I'm loving it.
I love Helen in it . Is there a reason that the houses have the living rooms upstairs?

@Cocolapew

I just watched this this week and I'm loving it. I love Helen in it . Is there a reason that the houses have the living rooms upstairs?

Those are "split-level" houses, a style that was popular in lots of areas of the US during the 1960s and 70s. So in the series it's an indication that many of the families are living in houses from that era.

My dad and stepmother had a house like that when we were teenagers. Our bedrooms and a "rec room" were on the lower level. Days would go by when they only saw us for meals.

Thanks

@Graffittiunderpass

Does anyone else think the killer might be Lori? I wonder if John's the father of Erins Baby, and Erin was blackmailing her for money?

darn ... my Daughter also likes this theory ... it's possible 😱

My husband floated it too! It would sort of fit 😩 when you look at the reactions we saw at the time. Also she is the only one who said Frank was cheating with Sandra, we have no other evidence.

John not Frank!

Split level houses are very common in that part of the US, and to me it marked out Mare (and Frank, with whom she’d have bought the house) as solidly middle class.

@banivani

My husband floated it too! It would sort of fit 😩 when you look at the reactions we saw at the time. Also she is the only one who said Frank was cheating with Sandra, we have no other evidence.

Oh gosh I'd not even contemplated that. I hope not.

I can’t really fit the whole scenario where Billy thinks it’s him into this though so I’m still hoping it’s not Lori

Totally missed the storyline about Frank cheating, I thought they split up after their son died?
Who's Sandra??

Frank wasn’t cheating, I wrote the wrong name.

@Battytwatty

I’m pretty sure there was a warning at the beginning saying the programme contain upsetting scenes

Yeah, there was. But upsetting scenes could be a million things and not be that, I mostly thought that would be to do with the bath scene! Think they should've been more specific personally but oh well.

@DouzePoints thank you 

A couple of random thoughts in the run up to the finale:

In support of the theory John is Erin’s baby’s father: as far as I’m aware we have never been told the baby’s name - he has always been referred to as DJ, which are likely just his initials. What does that stand for? D is easy: Dylan, the one she stated was the father. J could be for the “real” father. Giving a boy the middle name John would be completely unremarkable as it is still such a common name. But it would allow Erin to have a little laugh to herself every time she thought of it.

Carrie is probably going to start using again: the episode in the bathtub will convince her she is justified in doing whatever she needs to to keep herself awake when she is with Drew.