As the 5th episode begins, we see the aftermath of a car crash. The vehicle has brought down a power pole. The transformer pops a few times before the electricity in town goes dark. Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) brushes her teeth before the power goes out and Drew (Izzy King) yells for her. Siobhan (Angourie Rice) comforts him until Mare joins them and they begin searching for flashlights. They make it to the kitchen where Helen (Jean Smart) admits only one flashlight works. Mare has to retrieve the turtle to stop it from crapping all over the room. Frank Sheehan (David Denman) arrives with extra batteries. Meanwhile, Lori Ross (Julianne Nicholson) overhears John (Joe Tippett) talking to Ryan about their secret. Officer Trammel (Justin Hurtt-Dunkley) arrives at the scene and has a stomach turning experience when he sees blood in the car.

Nevertheless, he opens the door and checks the driver’s pulse. Her purse falls out and he is surprised when he learns the victim’s identity. He calls it in and lets EMS know about Betty Carroll’s accident. Siobhan asks Frank how things are going with Faye. He admits they’re not going great, but he is sure they’ll figure it out. Frank admits he doesn’t ask his daughter how she is often enough and it isn’t fair that he takes it for granted that she is okay. She tells him that she met someone while Mare searches for the turtle. Mare notices the project on Siobhan’s computer so she shuts the door and watches it. The following day, Mare talks to her psychiatrist about her son and his mental health problems. When asked about Kevin’s medications, she admits he tried a bunch of drugs.

She admits to Gayle (Eisa Davis) that some of the medications helped. Mare says her dad was depressed but he was never officially diagnosed. Gayle asks Mare if she had any periods of depression. Mare admits there were periods where she was likely depressed especially when Siobhan was born and Kevin was difficult. She tried not to burden her mother with it so she dealt with it on her own. As for her father, he shot himself when she was 13. Mare wonders if suicide and depression are passed down by parents to their children. She worries that Drew might turn out like her dad and Kevin. Helen talks to John and Billy (Robbie Tann) about Betty’s crash. Mare enters and they discuss Betty having a heart attack that caused the crash.

They make Drew go change into his pajamas while Lori pays close attention to Ryan. Siobhan and Anne (Kiah McKirnan) hang out with Moira Ross (Kassie Mundhenk). Anne tells Siobhan she watched her documentary project and felt it was brave. Then, she tells her about her media lab teacher named Meg Frawley who just took the head position of Media Studies at Cal Berkeley last year. Anne encourages Siobhan to talk to her even though she has already submitted her applications. Mare and Lori talk about Moira and how excited she is to try on those dresses. Helen puts Drew to bed while Billy goes for more beers. Lori says they went to visit Kenny at Delaware County Prison and he asked if they would consider taking DJ in with them.

Mare can’t believe it but Lori says they agreed to think about it. They discuss whether Kenny ever hit Erin. John doesn’t believe so. Mare learns that Erin lived with Billy for a little while approximately three years ago. He says her mother had just died and Kenny was drinking so they didn’t want Erin around that. Billy seems a bit nervous and seems to lie about how long she was with him. He tries to make an excuse to leave in a hurry. Dylan (Jack Mulhern) talks to Brianna (Mackenzie Lansing) about DJ and meeting with Child Youth Services. His parents want to keep DJ but Dylan admits it is weird knowing DJ isn’t his. Brianna says her lawyer thinks she can plead down to a misdemeanor, but she isn’t going to college next year regardless.

She admits she might just enroll in the local beauty school. Brianna tells Dylan that she’ll always be there if he ever wants to talk about things, but he says he has other friends. He says she doesn’t have to come around if she doesn’t want to. She reminds him that she woke up that night and he wasn’t in bed, but he wasn’t out in the den feeding DJ. He suggests he might’ve been out here smoking but she refutes that too. Brianna says she walked around the house and he wasn’t there. She wants to know where he went but he tells her to get out of there and doesn’t answer. Meanwhile, Katie (Caitlin Houlahan) takes care of Missy (Sasha Frolova) and admits she has likely been there for a year.

She says the first few months were a blur and there was another girl named Hilary with them at one time. Hilary got pregnant and disappeared because he didn’t like that. They hear footsteps and get concerned, but Katie says he won’t come for them on Friday since it is his poker night. A man enters and gives them mouth gags to put on. He also puts chains around their waists and arms. After that, Mare meets with Tammy (Rosa Arredondo) for coffee. Tammy says she is a grandmother now and she does what she needs to pay the rent. Mare shows her a picture of Katie and Tammy admits talking about Katie about a year ago. Tammy is shown pictures of the other two girls. She recognizes one of them and says she saw her hanging outside the Harrah’s on the river.

She also saw her on the corner of Belmont and Caldwell from time to time. Tammy agrees to ask around and put the word out. At the school, Moira gets picked on by another student. Ryan watches as the boy throws food at her. Ryan bashes the boy with his lunch tray before Lori has to pick him up. She tries to figure out what is going on and whether it has anything to do with Ryan’s father. She asks him about the secret but Ryan gets out and runs away from the car. She follows him and asks if his father is doing it again. Lori asks if it is the same woman as before and Ryan confirms it is. Later, Mare and Helen attend an event in honor of Betty Carroll. Helen asks if she has talked to Frank lately. Then, she says Karen’s daughter works at the Springton Inn and Faye was supposed to go and check out their wedding reception hall but she never showed up.

Glen Carroll (Patrick McDade) interrupts and tells everyone he is living with guilt because he had an affair with Helen Fahey. Mare questions Helen in the car and laughs about the affair. Later, Mare gets ready so she can go out on her date. Detective Colin Zabel (Evan Peters) picks her up and they drive away moments later. He tells her about interviewing three people who messaged Erin on SideDoor and all three had solid alibis. As for the bullet they found at the park, the report should be back Monday. Colin pleads with her to talk about something else. During this time, Carrie and Helen give Drew a bath. Helen gives her advice. She admits Carrie will get custody and it’ll be selfish if she shuts everyone out of Drew’s life. Colin tells Mare how he is trying to be a more adventurous eater.

Mare thinks of something about the case and says there was a girl from Jersey who went missing a couple of years ago. Her name was Hilary Cassell. Her story was similar to Missy and Katie’s. Colin wanted to talk about something else but Mare goes on to tell him about a detective in Melville named Jimmy Miller. Colin asks why she didn’t tell him about going to Deacon Mark’s previous parish. She claims she didn’t say anything because he didn’t have anything new to say. He said he was interviewed by the archdiocese. Colin knows because he went there and question him himself. Colin isn’t happy because he is showing her all of his cards but she is hiding some of hers. She says she is there to help him but he wonders if she is only trying to help herself. He apologizes and admits his mother told him Mare was only going out with him because she wants to stay close to the case.

He hopes she’ll say otherwise, but she doesn’t and leaves. John tells Ryan it is his problem and he is going to fix it. Ryan ignores him as John leaves with his bags. Mare returns home and spends time with Drew while thinking about Kevin screaming at her. The next day, she has another session with Gayle. Then, Jess Riley (Ruby Cruz) gets into a vehicle with Dylan and his buddy. Dylan quickly asks what she said to the detective so she tells him about the journals. Then, she says she called yesterday asking about a necklace. She claims she said nothing just like Dylan told her. They visit Erin’s place and Jess shows them where something is hidden.

They find the hidden diaries and search through them. Dylan also finds an envelope containing the money for DJ’s ear surgery. He takes the money and reminds them that they weren’t going to read the diaries. As Mare drives at night, she notices the prowler again and stops. She chases after him with a flashlight. She follows them into a house and throws them down the stairs. Then, she notices that it is Dennis. Mark Burton (James McArdle) goes to the pub and picks up the order for St. Michael’s. The local kids call him a creeper and say he raped some 14-year-old girl on a class field trip. They follow him outside and harass him. Jess reads from a journal while others are burned. She gets something from the journal and sticks it in her pocket before Dylan makes her burn the journal.

Mare watches as Dennis is taken to the hospital and Chief Carter (John Douglas Thompson) talks to his wife. She says he has dementia and only an idiot would think he might be a murderer. Mare tells the Chief that he was looking through windows and she thought he might’ve been the culprit. He gets in her face and tells her to take herself home. Mark returns and washes blood from his face. Dan enters and finds him. Dan tries to help but Mark wants to be left alone. Dan suggests calling the police but Mark tells him not to do that. Then, he reveals he was with Erin the night she was killed. Mark admits he drove to Sharp’s Woods and put her bike in his trunk. He was going to drive her home until she got a message from someone asking her to go to Brandywine Park so he dropped her off there.

He tried to get her to go home but she was hysterical and stormed off. Mark says he couldn’t go to the police because of his past accusations. He threw her bike in the river to cover it up. In the morning, Colin talks to his mother about Mare and her being off of the case. She wants him to be careful. He says he has been careful his entire life and it hasn’t gotten him far. Mare waits outside and he joins her seconds later. She thanks him for coming with her. Allie says it was last April and she was out by the riverfront. She normally doesn’t go there but she needed money and her regulars canceled. A guy pulled up and he seemed normal so she got in and he parked by the stadium. When she got in the backseat to get undressed, he tried to choke her. She thought her eyes were going to pop out of her skull before everything went black.

She fought back and hit him. She opened her eyes, saw him holding his face, and ran for it. She says he was white with a beard and smoked Winstons. She thinks he was driving a blue work van. She wrote down the license plate and passes it to them. Colin calls in and gets them to run the partial license plate. It’ll take about 2 hours so they hang around outside until then. Mare apologizes for the other night but Colin says she was just being honest about how she felt. She explains herself and claims the case is still hers. Colin admits he didn’t solve the case and the girl’s parents hired a PI who was a drunk ex-cop. Colin ignored him initially but eventually dropped by and his liver had given out. Colin grabbed his files and found one marked Zabel. That pieced everything together for him. He admits he wanted to do something great.

Mare tells him about hiding the drugs in Carrie’s car to make him feel better. She says doing something great is overrated because people expect that all of the time. Colin gets a call and receives addresses for seven blue vans that match the suspect. He kisses her and reminds her she doesn’t know what he wants before they go knock on doors. They talk to a few people before reaching Wayne Potts. They step inside and we see the Bennie’s Tavern sign nearby. He confirms the car is his before they ask him to turn the music down since it is oddly loud. When he steps away, Colin notices a pack of Winston cigarettes on a table nearby and tells Mare. She tells him she doesn’t have a gun but he does. Meanwhile, Wayne turns off the music and grabs a gun of his own.

He tells them about the bar that belonged to his uncle who owned it for 20 years. Katie hears them as Wayne explains what he does for a living. She begins yanking on the pipes to get attention and Missy helps. Mare notices a camera and asks Wayne about it. Then, Wayne claims he lives alone. Wayne pulls out the gun and shoots Colin while Mare makes a run for it. She cuts herself before hiding from Wayne. Mare finds the girls and tries to get the door open. She notifies 911 while hiding. Wayne checks the camera system and finds out where she is hiding. Mare looks down and sees Colin’s body and gun below her as Wayne approaches and fires a few shots in her direction. He shoots again before she attacks him with a piece of metal from behind.

He chases her downstairs but she gets Colin’s gun and kills him. She collapses on the ground as police cars arrive outside.

 

Mare Of Easttown Review

Unfortunately, Mare of Easttown is surprisingly good at times but incredibly frustrating too. Sadly, I think the annoying side stories are too overwhelming. Although this was a better episode, it was mostly annoying and pointless until the last few minutes. Then, it was a mixture of intense action and pure stupidity.

I get that people love the show because they love Kate Winslet and Evan Peters. Still, I don’t think any actor or actress could overcome the dull pacing and silly writing. The show is roughly an hour but only 5 or 10 minutes matter in the long run.

Why do we care about Betty Carroll or her husband’s affair with Helen? How is that relevant or even necessary? Now that they’ve found Wayne Potts, I have to wonder how much any of it matters. The show is becoming a jumbled mess.

With two episodes left, I’d have to think they’re going to link Wayne to one of the other “main” characters. I put “main” in quotes because none of the characters really matter. The most interesting characters were Erin and Colin. The relationship between Mare and Colin made no sense and somewhat devalued Colin.

There was never a real spark between Kate Winslet and Evan Peters. I think it would’ve made more sense had Guy Peace been the other detective, but he wasn’t in this episode at all. Who knows if he’ll come back at some point? Perhaps he is linked to Wayne Potts?

Honestly, there is just too much going on and I care only about 5 – 10% of it. I don’t care about Drew, Moira, Siobhan, or anything else that doesn’t matter. As for the last five minutes of this episode, they were intense but cheap and cheesy. Zabel’s death was not the most realistic thing, but it didn’t help that Wayne had an entire security system linked to his phone and could access it in like two seconds.

Heck, the Ring app takes longer than that. Finally, Mare beat him in the head with a big metal plate of sorts. It is hard to believe he is going to get up from that. My biggest complaint is the pacing and writing though. There are too many irrelevant things going on during each episode so I get bored of it before anything interesting happens.

I really hate to see so many viewers lusting after these cheap thrills. Then again, this is still one of the better shows HBO has put out in a while so it is to be expected. The episode scores a 7 out of 10. Previous and future recaps of Mare of Easttown can be found here.