When I watched the *absolutely* shocking ending of Episode 5 of Mare of Easttown, I thought I had stumbled across HBO's latest one-hit-wonder in the vein of True Detective Season 1. The emotional twists and turns in the subsequent Episode 6 debatably hit me even harder and set up arcs that I didn't even see coming. Mare's acceptance of Carrie taking a serious shot at being a mom and essentially giving her the chance that she never got with Kevin was an emotional turning point that I completely welcomed. It felt like a huge opportunity for growth that was unexpectedly being taken. The episode then ended on one of the most heavily paced and intense cliffhangers I've seen in recent memory. I was hooked and ready to go.
After watching Sacrament, I couldn't help but feel like the show just fell short. Before anything, I just want to state that I'd give the show as a whole a solid 8/10, which easily could have been a 9/10 or higher with a different finale. The show in its entirety really dived in on the extremely dark and heavy themes of human weakness and psyche, sociopathy, motherhood, manipulation and subterfuge. Yes there were light-hearted moments of course, but the light-hearted moments really felt like moments of comic relief or glimmers of light in an otherwise bleak world. This show was undeniably DARK, and it seemed to have a solid understanding of that.
The finale of Mare of Easttown seems to forget its own themes and takes a turn for the light. However, the unforeseen consequence is that this turn for the light now creates a plethora of plot holes and issues that really open discussion to false character development and further inconsistencies disguised by "acceptance". A lot of arcs that have been set up have now been completely abandoned. Starting with:
It felt like Mare just gave up being detective towards the end and decided to understand as a mother. Which is heartfelt and all, but when you're a detective you're supposed to do your job. Lori wasn't even questioned. In what world of law would that ever happen? Again, this was supposed to be a show that really dives into the human psyche. In the finale, it failed to dive into mine long enough to leave a lasting impression.
And last but not least...
It's nonsensical to try to believe that Ryan's first instinct after shooting Erin would NOT be to drop the gun in a panic, thus leaving it in the park and running off. Then having perhaps having an hour or two of panicking / contemplation before finally mustering up the 13-year-old courage to call his dad and tell him what really happened. Wouldn't that sound more realistic?
During the entire explanation of Ryan's flashback, I was in a state of disbelief, thinking that it was so unbelievable that the writers were planning a third twist or explanation. They did not. That was what we got.
The show ended on a surprisingly "wholesome" note and I'm just not sure that it was for the better based on the themes this show has introduced to us. The threat of Easttown is still very much alive. Just because Mare grows throughout the show means nothing in actuality. True Detective Season 1 was completely aware of the massive, looming evil that hung over it even down to its final minute. The 'acceptance' is accepting that the dark is equally as prevalent as the light, not ignoring it entirely.
This show introduced to us one of the seediest little towns we have ever seen in an HBO series. The entire equation of the town is left unsolved which I believe is the biggest misfortune of the show hands down. I thought the first episode's message was extremely clear. It wasn't Ryan that killed Erin. It was the TOWN (Mare included).
Mare of Easttown took the aforementioned 'light-heartedness' and solidified it into the finale which swerved the show's steering wheel into the family drama territory. Unfortunately, the result honestly felt like taking a bite of True Detective Season 1 but somehow you were left with the strange aftertaste of Golden Girls. Not sure if I would rewatch due to the finale. It certainly wasn't a Game of Thrones but I must express my disappointment in HBO once again. To simply "level up" and wrap up the titular character is just not satisfying enough of a show ending for me.
TL;DR: SHOW 8/10 FINALE 5/10.
After watching Sacrament, I couldn't help but feel like the show just fell short. Before anything, I just want to state that I'd give the show as a whole a solid 8/10, which easily could have been a 9/10 or higher with a different finale. The show in its entirety really dived in on the extremely dark and heavy themes of human weakness and psyche, sociopathy, motherhood, manipulation and subterfuge. Yes there were light-hearted moments of course, but the light-hearted moments really felt like moments of comic relief or glimmers of light in an otherwise bleak world. This show was undeniably DARK, and it seemed to have a solid understanding of that.
The finale of Mare of Easttown seems to forget its own themes and takes a turn for the light. However, the unforeseen consequence is that this turn for the light now creates a plethora of plot holes and issues that really open discussion to false character development and further inconsistencies disguised by "acceptance". A lot of arcs that have been set up have now been completely abandoned. Starting with:
- Siobhan's documentary?? Anne?? I mean, Siobhan's character just basically amounts to almost nothing by the end of the show. There is no closure for her, and her closure seemed to be one of the most important arcs looming over everything. Just because she leaves solves nothing. What about her demons?
- Poor, poor Deacon Mark. Again, with the dark and heavy themes of Easttown suddenly being redeemed towards the light, you'd expect Deacon Mark to have at least some kind of closure as well in terms of his accusations at the parish? Nothing. Mare just apologizes on the town's behalf for "wronging" him. How do they even know he can be trusted still? He still obstructed justice, hid evidence, lied to authorities and potentially had an inappropriate relationship with Erin. And if he WAS innocent, he literally just got his life messed up yet again for no good reason at all.
- Why did Dylan stick the gun in Jess' face and threaten her with death? Dylan wanting to conceal the identity of the true father seems to be a far-fetched reason for this kind of behaviour, especially for him to suddenly come up and become a "good guy" out of nowhere in the finale. By giving Lori the money that he stole from Erin, he's suddenly redeemed? How did he even come to this conclusion? He just felt bad? And what of his shoddy alibi and his insane sketchiness towards Brianna? Again, nothing?
- Where is any mention of Zabel? The finale seems to be an episode about acceptance. Not even a quick funeral scene for him? He was without a doubt a humongous part of the show. It seems like the writers had completely forgotten about the lasting effects of his death.
- Carrie just suddenly fails as a mother again and relapses and Mare gets to keep Drew again? Wut? What on earth was the point of Mare accepting losing Drew to Carrie? So basically, nobody grows in this show except Mare? Everybody else just has a poop life while Mare wins?
- The ferret kid? Was it really just Ryan? If it wasn't Ryan, why did the ferret kid even matter? They said he worked in the garden in the summer, that's all they was needed. They flashed the drawing an awful lot throughout the show. Why. It literally lead nowhere.
- Why did Guy Pearce even leave? If his character truly was unsuspicious the entire time and was there only to serve Mare's character and arc, then why not just keep him in...? Seemed pointless to have him go right after basically confirming that it wasn't him to the audience.
- Why did they decide to go with John / Ryan as the ones responsible? It honestly just felt cheap. The entirety of the show, I was thinking that it couldn't have been them because of their blatant absence from the show in general. I thought "if it ends up being John or Ryan then I won't even care because they're so irrelevant". And that's exactly how I felt when it was revealed. Wouldn't it have been 20x more shocking to have been somebody like Lori manipulating John or Ryan? She had already manipulated Mare and was literally right under our noses the entire time. Mare was in full trust of her and even leaned her head on her shoulder in comfort in the previous episode. It felt like a wasted twist that could have been way better.
- Seriously, what was up with Lori? Again, the show seemed to really capitalize on each character's weakness throughout the show. Lori turned out to be a massive liar and manipulator towards the ending of Episode 6. Suddenly, she's just innocent at the finale? Not even a charge for obstruction of justice? Why did she act so sociopathic along with Ryan during the interview scene when they clearly show remorse for their actions when alone? A lot of inconsistencies in acting or writing or both?
It felt like Mare just gave up being detective towards the end and decided to understand as a mother. Which is heartfelt and all, but when you're a detective you're supposed to do your job. Lori wasn't even questioned. In what world of law would that ever happen? Again, this was supposed to be a show that really dives into the human psyche. In the finale, it failed to dive into mine long enough to leave a lasting impression.
- DJ is just going to proceed to live with Lori? JOHN SEXUALLY MOLESTED HIS MOM AND RYAN MURDERED HER. Who in the right mind approved of this idea?! The circulated online "Kevin being the father" idea literally would have been better, seeing as how the baby randomly has red hair and that DJ's birthday being 9 months away from Kevin's death meant nothing? Also that would have wrapped up both Mare and Carrie's arc perfectly? Because each of them would have a son of Kevin's? How does Lori even legally get to keep the baby DJ??? This might just be the biggest oof (besides the next one).
And last but not least...
- How on earth did RYAN, the emotionally reckless CHILD who beat a kid with a lunch tray in front of everybody with no care for getting caught, suddenly develop the multi-faceted Ted Bundy-like brain in order to drag her body like Agent 47, call his dad to act as clean-up crew, bike back to Old Man Carroll's and drop the gun back off?
It's nonsensical to try to believe that Ryan's first instinct after shooting Erin would NOT be to drop the gun in a panic, thus leaving it in the park and running off. Then having perhaps having an hour or two of panicking / contemplation before finally mustering up the 13-year-old courage to call his dad and tell him what really happened. Wouldn't that sound more realistic?
During the entire explanation of Ryan's flashback, I was in a state of disbelief, thinking that it was so unbelievable that the writers were planning a third twist or explanation. They did not. That was what we got.
The show ended on a surprisingly "wholesome" note and I'm just not sure that it was for the better based on the themes this show has introduced to us. The threat of Easttown is still very much alive. Just because Mare grows throughout the show means nothing in actuality. True Detective Season 1 was completely aware of the massive, looming evil that hung over it even down to its final minute. The 'acceptance' is accepting that the dark is equally as prevalent as the light, not ignoring it entirely.
This show introduced to us one of the seediest little towns we have ever seen in an HBO series. The entire equation of the town is left unsolved which I believe is the biggest misfortune of the show hands down. I thought the first episode's message was extremely clear. It wasn't Ryan that killed Erin. It was the TOWN (Mare included).
Mare of Easttown took the aforementioned 'light-heartedness' and solidified it into the finale which swerved the show's steering wheel into the family drama territory. Unfortunately, the result honestly felt like taking a bite of True Detective Season 1 but somehow you were left with the strange aftertaste of Golden Girls. Not sure if I would rewatch due to the finale. It certainly wasn't a Game of Thrones but I must express my disappointment in HBO once again. To simply "level up" and wrap up the titular character is just not satisfying enough of a show ending for me.
TL;DR: SHOW 8/10 FINALE 5/10.