Warning: Full spoilers for the Mare of Easttown finale follow…
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Mare of Easttown went out with an emotional thunderclap, making it one of the best and most gripping crime stories in recent memory. Not based on a book like Sharp Objects or Big Little Lies before it, Mare of Easttown had a lot riding on it heading into this finale, titled “Sacrament.” Fortunately, the series deftly blended the last remaining “whodunnit?” element with Mare’s therapeutic resurgence, giving us an ending that satisfies all the particular angles one might prioritize, be they clinical or rooted in character.
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Murder dramas can be one of the trickiest planes to land, especially if the resolution comes at the end of a season or series (and not just after one episode). But Mare of Easttown wisely knew, from the start, that the best way to frame their series was around the Kate Winslet’s flawed, embattled Mare, so that if viewers didn’t like the final twist, or if they were able to predict it one or two episodes ahead of time, they’d still be invested in the show and interested in watching it all play out. It’s all in the title, right? If you continue to care about Mare then it stands to reason you’ll be there, along for the ride, for whatever direction the series takes.
Creator/writer Brad Ingelsby incorporated how we think into the finale, and so “Sacrament” was able to embrace some of the time-honored tropes of the genre and coat them with an extra layer of heartache. There wasn’t going to be anyone in that Erin McMenamin picture, which was part of last week’s cliffhanger, that was going to completely spin our heads around. No one that made sense, anyhow. So the reveal that it had been John Ross who had an affair with Eric and not his brother, got tucked away rather neatly within the first 10 minutes. The rest of the finale was sprawling, time-wise. Smartly so. Over the course of eight months, John went to prison, Mare continued to see Richard, Frank and Faye got on good terms again, Mare and Frank made peace, Siobhan decided to go to Berkeley, and a slew of other maudlin characters got a nice sprinkling of closure.
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Of course, all this time we, as viewers, are waiting for the turn. John killing Erin didn’t make sense. Not just because it didn’t line up from a police standpoint — and Mare is shown having brief flashes of doubt over these months — but also because emotionally we knew there had to be more to it all. And most of us, presumedly, also knew where this turn was going to come from. And we dreaded it. That was the best part. The series was going to give us a murderer we didn’t want to believe was the murderer. And it was once again going to traumatize Julianne Nicholson’s Lori, whose entire family had already been ripped apart.
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This is why the end worked so well. It tore us along with the characters. And Nicholson’s performance is the one people should be talking about in the wake of Mare. Winslet is obviously a force, but Nicholson had to get reduced to rubble here, and the final moments, which were about love and forgiveness, resonated louder and harder than any action sequence or chase scene. Mare holding Lori, who’d collapsed in Mare’s arms almost like a crying toddler desperately in need of sleep, was true televisual beauty.
Back in the review of the Mare of Easttown premiere, I mentioned Easttown as an entire community in need of therapy. It’s not only telling that Mare’s life, and interpersonal relationships, began to steadily improve with her sessions during the months flown over in the finale, but also how the way she buried herself in work was a stealthy cry for help. Her therapist mentioned her work as being a distraction for her, from having to face her grief about Kevin, but when you note how her job was to force the truth out into the light, how it was to make people give up their secrets in a town built brick by brick on sad people taking shadowy truths to their graves (which Lori was prepared to do), you could see it as a subconscious act of rebellion against the long-standing Easttown credo of burying feelings.
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Even though we may never see what comes next, you get the feeling that Lori’s life will become better. And, yes, Ryan’s too. All with time. Because…just imagine the two of them going forward carrying this dark secret. Their lives would unravel and dissolve. Ryan would grow into a husk of a human. As much as Lori screamed at Mare, and cursed her name, you could see the difference in her after Ryan was arrested. And as scared as Ryan was (that scene when he ran into his home and said to Lori “She knows! She Knows!” was spine-chilling), you know he desperately wanted it to be over. Before Ryan was caught, Lori was in a daze. Caring for young D.J., she was cold, distant, and barely present. Afterward, visiting Ryan with D.J. and Moira, they all seemed lighter, less burdened, and more loving. A powerful example of truth setting people free, even if it means actual loss of physical freedom.
Also — and it would have made no sense if they’d gone this direction — having Guy Pierce not only not be the killer but also not turn out to be an utter s*** in some manner, was a nice way to brighten up Mare’s life. As Red Herrings go, there’s nothing shadier than a professor who bounces from town to town, one temp teaching gig to another (and then also having that character played by a semi-famous face). Add to that the fact that Richard also sort of vanished from the past few episodes. But Richard was allowed to remain a peripheral “good” in Mare’s life, just on the outskirts, reminding her that there are other futures to consider.
