As the 6th episode begins, Detective Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) wakes up in the hospital with Frank (David Denman), Helen (Jean Smart), and Siobhan (Angourie Rice) around her. Frank carries Drew over before Helen tells Mare she can go back to sleep. Then, we hear a news report about Katie (Caitlin Houlahan) returning home with Dawn Bailey (Enid Graham). Katie reunites with her daughter. The reporter questions whether the case had anything to do with the murder of Erin. Then, Chief Carter (John Douglas Thompson) talks during a press conference and confirms that the FBI has come to help with the investigation. Mare listens from the hospital as Carter encourages everyone not to forget they’ve lost one of their own.

Erin’s bike is pulled from the water while Mark Burton (James McArdle) is questioned at the police station. He explains that he dropped Erin off at Brandywine Park and drove back to the rectory. He is told Father Dan came in and told them that Mark was with Erin on the night of her murder. When he is shown the picture of his car on the bridge, he confirms it is his and he threw Erin’s bike into the water. He promises that he didn’t kill her. He lies about falling and hurting your face but Chief Carter doesn’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth. Mark is immediately arrested. Mare returns home with Lori and is hounded by members of the press. Once they go inside, Mare and Lori (Julianne Nicholson) talk about John sleeping with Sandra again.

Lori explains that Ryan saw her with John not too long ago. Lori says she could feel it last time he was having an affair but she was blindsided this time. Lori still loves him and he is the father of her kids so she doesn’t want to leave him. Meanwhile, John Ross (Joe Tippett) and Pat (Gordon Clapp) move John’s belongings. Once they’ve hauled the mattress upstairs, Pat tries to find out why John is moving back in with him. John says Lori thinks he is having an affair but his father doesn’t believe that so he pushes his son. John admits it and that Ryan knows. Billy (Robbie Tann) enters just in time to hear his father complain about boarding with his two grown sons. Billy gets upset and tells John that he made a mess of his life because he couldn’t keep his penis in his pants. He tells him to clean it up and he is holding him accountable because someone needs to for once in his life.

When Billy steps out, John tells his father his brother is drinking too much and he’ll talk to him about it. Mare watches Chief Carter talk about Colin once again. She grabs her keys and goes for a ride before stopping and getting out. She knocks on the door and Judy Zabel (Deborah Hedwall) steps outside. Mare tells her how sorry she is and that Colin was a wonderful detective. She says Colin saved her life before Judy slaps her twice. She asks Mare if she thinks she can go through life doing whatever she likes without any consequences. Judy says Colin would still be alive if he hadn’t followed her into that house. Mare is told not to return so she goes back home. Helen asks her how it went before Mare breaks down and cries. Helen comforts her while she sobs.

The next day, Chief Carter tells Mare that the two cases aren’t related. Wayne Potts was in Altoona so he couldn’t have killed Erin. Carter says he has a week until he has to notify the public. Then, he explains he let Hauser go this morning and he wants Mare to take the case back tomorrow morning. She gets her badge back and returns home to her mother. Richard Ryan (Guy Pearce) pays them a visit. Helen tells him Mare is fine but she has been whining a lot. He approaches Mare and tells her about the gift basket he brought. They hang out, drink, and talk about the shooting. She admits that she canceled on Richard when she went on a date with Colin. Richard doesn’t seem to mind. Mare says she can’t do this because she needs to get her stuff together.

He tells her to contact him when she is ready and ask him out. He believes the chances are good that he’ll still be available. Next, the ballistics expert talks to Chief Carter and Mare and says the gun that killed Erin is a Colt Detective Special revolver. It is an old cop carry firearm that was popular in the 80s, but production stopped in 95. They’re interrupted and learn that Brianna is on the phone for Mare. She meets with Brianna Delrasso (Mackenzie Lansing) moments later and Brianna tells her about Dylan not being in bed when she got up on the night of Erin’s death. It was 2 AM, she walked around, and Dylan was nowhere to be found. Mare warns her that it looks like she came forward because she wants help with her assault case, but Brianna denies that.

She says she is trying to do the right thing for Erin and the baby. Before Mare leaves, Tony (Eric Miller) tells her he is sorry about his behavior before. They speak to Dylan (Jack Mulhern) at the station and he already knows about Wayne Potts. Mare explains they want him to walk them through the events on the night of January the 10th. Dylan says he left the woods at 11:45 and got home around midnight. Then, he went to bed with Brianna. He fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the morning. They confront him with Brianna’s statement that he wasn’t there when she woke up at 2 in the morning. He says he couldn’t sleep so he drove around and smoked weed. Mare admits that Wayne didn’t kill Erin but she thinks Dylan already knows that. He is asked about stealing Erin’s journals.

Dylan stops and says he wants a lawyer. Mare thinks that would be wise and warns him he is the prime suspect in a murder investigation and his alibi is falling apart. Siobhan hangs out with Anne Harris (Kiah McKirnan) and tells her she talked to the professor from Berkeley this morning. She wants Siobhan to fly out and check out the campus. Anne isn’t sure what is stopping Siobhan from going so she says it might be Anne. They talk briefly until Anne says she doesn’t want to be the reason Siobhan stays. Meanwhile, Carrie’s coworker (Dana Kreitz) checks on her and finds out she is tired because she hasn’t slept much. She offers Carrie drugs but she turns them down. Mare meets with Gayle Graham (Eisa Davis) and they talk about everything that has been going on.

Mare explains she is coming back because she is feeling panic. She thinks people expect her to be something that she isn’t good enough to be. Gayle offers some insights and says she is worried that Mare hasn’t effectively grieved her son’s death. She also thinks Mare sought out an external solution to her internal pain. Mare is told she is has been hiding behind other people’s grief. Gayle warns her that the grief will still be there when these cases are solved. She asks Mare if she could walk her through the day Kevin died but Mare seems hesitant to do so. She says a neighbor called and told her she saw Kevin go into the back of the house. He had been living with them so the neighbors knew to call if they saw him because he had stolen stuff from them before.

Mare thought he was there for drug money. Frank wasn’t home that day and Siobhan was right around the corner at a friend’s place. Instead of going home, Mare sent Siobhan to check on Kevin. A hysterical Siobhan called her while she was out running errands. We watch a flashback of Mare returning home and running inside. She goes upstairs and finds Kevin hanging in the attic. He was hanging from one of the beams with a tow rope he had gotten from the garage. He was heavy and Mare held him in her arms until the paramedics came. When asked, Mare admits they still live in the same house and she hasn’t been able to go back up to the attic yet. Later, Beth (Chinasa Ogbuagu) stops Mare as she drives down the road to tell her Freddie isn’t answering his phone.

He hasn’t answered for three days and the doors are locked. Mare agrees to check it out for her. She steps inside and finds Freddie (Dominique Johnson) with a needle stuck in his arm. It appears that he is gone. Mare checks around the room and finds a shirt with Erin’s last name on the back. She searches the bag and finds a shirt with Ross Family Reunion on it. Beth wants to know what is going on so Mare puts the shift back and tells her she is coming. She approaches Beth and lets her know that Freddie is gone. Beth sits down and Mare tries to comfort her. Meanwhile, Siobhan stays at home and works on her video documentary. She calls Anne and tells her she has decided to skip the concert. She also says she would like to see her.

She has a letter from the University of California at Berkeley on her desk and decides to use drugs. She calls and tells someone to call her back before drinking. She gets upset when she doesn’t get a call back from Anne. Lori and Mare hang out at the party for Beth. Lori admits she thinks a part of Beth is relieved now that Freddie is gone. Mare asks her about the family reunion at Lake Harmony. She learns it was a few months after Erin’s mother died. They wanted to do something nice for her to lift her spirits so they took her. Mare learns that Lori, John, Billy, Pat, and Kenny attended the event. Dawn interrupts seconds later and asks to talk to Mare alone so Lori steps away. Mare learns that Katie is having trouble sleeping at night and often wakes up kicking and screaming.

Dawn doesn’t want to sound ungrateful but she doesn’t think Katie will ever be herself again. She tells Mare she is thankful several times. Later that night, Siobhan’s friends bring her hole and Mare finds out about her daughter’s antics. When her friends leave, her mother checks on her. Siobhan tells Mare it should’ve been her that day and that she hates her for making her find her brother dead. She gets upset because they never talk about him anymore. Siobhan freaks out until her mother comforts her. John returns home and learns that Bill just went off to work. He finds out that his dad looks terrible so he offers to call Dr. Morgan but Pat tells him not to do that. Pat hastily tells him to sit down because there is something he needs to tell him. Pat asks him if he remembers the night he went to Frank’s engagement party.

He says Billy came home late around 3 or 4 AM and he wandered downstairs to check on him. In a flashback, we watch as Pat finds him in the laundry room with blood all over him. Pat explains that they found Erin the next morning out at Creedham Creek. Pat isn’t sure if Billy killed Erin and he hasn’t mentioned it since that night. Pat wonders what they’re going to do. Next, Mare and Chief Carter talk to Kenny (Patrick Murney) about Freddie having Erin’s clothes. Kenny admits he told Freddie he could take them because he didn’t have money and missed his daughter’s birthday. He wanted to give her a gift. He is asked about the family reunion shirt and he recalls spending the weekend together in the Poconos. He is shown a piece of jewelry they found where Erin kept her journals and is asked if he remembers it.

Mare believes it might’ve meant something to her and says there is a date on it. The date matches the reunion. He says it rained a bunch so they spent most of the time in the cabin. Erin stayed with him and Billy. That night, Mare drops Drew off with Carrie. Mare leaves and visits Frank seconds later. Faye has gone to her mother’s house and has been gone for a couple of days. They talk about Drew hanging out with Carrie. Frank spoke to the custody lawyer and it isn’t looking good for them. They’ll likely lose Drew by summer. Frank can’t believe she is giving up so easy but Mare says they have to give her a chance to be his mother. During this time, Carrie and Drew hang out in the bathtub and play with toys. Then, Jess Riley (Ruby Cruz) is confronted by Dylan for telling the detective about them stealing the journals.

She tells him to leave her alone but he says they’re joined together forever. Jess tries to run back inside before the car chases after her. Carrie goes to sleep near the tub while Drew keeps playing. He falls headfirst in the water as Dylan and Sean search for Jess on foot. Dylan drags her out from under a car and puts a gun to her face. He threatens to kill her like Erin if she says anything else. The bathtub overflows and Carrie wakes up to find the boy face down in the water. He is just fine though. John finishes visiting the kids and thanks Lori for letting him see them. He promises he is going to work his way back to her. She changes the subject and asks if anything happened to Erin during the family reunion. She asks if he’ll talk to Bill and he agrees to do so.

Mare looks at pictures from the family reunion while John talks to Billy about Pat seeing him. John tries to get Billy to say that he killed Erin. Billy cries and says he killed her. The next day, John tells Lori about it and admits he doesn’t know what will happen to Billy now. He says they need to do everything they can to keep this from Mare. He asks Lori if she can do that for their family. John checks on Billy who says he is ready to confess. John has other ideas and asks Billy to go with him to their dad’s cabin one last time. Billy agrees to go with him. Mare goes to a store and tries to learn more about Erin’s pendant. The man confirms it is one of theirs and a young girl coming in trying to sell it back. The clerk agrees to find out who bought it while Billy packs gear and finds a gun in the tackle box.

He hides it quickly and says nothing about it. Mare finds out that the pendant was purchased on June 15, 2017 by someone with the name Ross which likely means Billy. John dried himself and his brother to their destination. When they arrive, John asks Billy to pass him the tackle box but Billy keeps it and says he is good. Mare goes searching for Billy so she approaches Lori. She explains that something happened between Billy and Erin during the family reunion. Lori has something to tell. She says John came over this morning and said Billy came home covered in blood on the night Erin was killed. She says Billy shot Erin and he is DJ’s father. Allegedly, Erin threatened to tell everyone but Billy killed her because she was a kid and it was incestuous.

Mare tried to find out where he is now. Lori tells her they went up to Pat’s fishing spot. Mare tells her she did the right thing before leaving. Along the way, she contacts Carter and tells him about Billy’s confession. He tells her not to go there alone but she doesn’t listen. Officer Trammel tells the Chief that Jess just walked in the lobby and said she had information about Erin. Carter tells him to send her in before Mare arrives at the fishing cabin. Jess tells the Chief about burning the journals. Trisha tells her to show him so Jess pulls something out of her pocket. Carter looks at the picture and tells Trammel to get Mare on the phone. Billy fishes while keeping a close eye on the tackle box. Mare approaches them before the episode ends.

 

Mare Of Easttown Review

As this show has gone on and on, I feel like I’ve lost my way a bit. Although it has had some interesting moments, it has also been lackluster more often than not. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve appreciated Kate Winslet’s performance as much as everyone else and I also appreciate the introduction to Angourice Rice and Cailee Spaeny.

However, the writing and pacing haven’t been able to keep up. Each episode is overloaded with so much filler that I generally stop caring midway through and just generally lose interest. I don’t find half of it interesting at all. I am not really interested in the stuff with Moira, Kevin, Siobhan, or even Carrie for that matter. With six episodes over, I, unfortunately, haven’t developed a relationship with many of the characters so I have no empathy for them.

I think that ultimately hindered my ability to appreciate the show. The first episode did an excellent job of creating a sympathetic victim in Erin but her case was quickly overshadowed by Mare’s past, her dating life, and two missing girls. It was honestly just too much to digest and Mare rescuing the two missing girls holds no significance. The major revelations, if you could call them that, this episode weren’t all that shocking.

I am sure the finale will try to flip things on their head in hopes of making this show worthwhile, but it is hard to ignore the agonizing pain and suffering the viewer has sat through. Sadly, I sincerely think this show would’ve been great had it been maybe 3 or 4 episodes. Instead, it has been a bloated mess that will likely win a few awards because of HBO and Kate Winslet when in reality it is just boring, convoluted, and uncharismatic.

The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Previous and future episode recaps of Mare of Easttown will be available on Reel Mockery here.