As the finale of Mare of Easttown begins, Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) approaches the fishing spot while John (Joe Tippett) and Billy (Robbie Tann) pretend nothing is going on. Chief Carter (John Douglas Thompson) learns from Officer Trammel (Justin Hurtt-Dunkley) that they haven’t been able to get through to Mare. Trammel is told to contact the local police station and have them send some cars over to check the cabin. Then, the chief returns to Jess Riley (Ruby Cruz) and her mother. He looks at the picture in his hand and we see that it is John in bed with Erin. Jess is asked if Dylan knows that John Ross is DJ’s real father but she says no and that she hid the picture from him. When asked about burning the journals, Jess admits it was her idea because she was afraid the police might find something about DJ’s real father in there.

Jess says it would break the hearts of Dylan’s parents if DJ was taken away from them and she thought Erin would’ve wanted them to take care of DJ too. This is why she recommended burning the journals. John opens the tackle box and finds the gun at the bottom. He gets up and creeps slowly toward Billy who doesn’t notice right away. When Billy looks to the side, he sees the gun and asks if John brought him out there to make it look like he blew his brains out. Billy encourages him to end his life since everyone thinks he killed Erin anyway. As Mare gets closer, she hears Billy plead with John to pull the trigger and kill him. Mare climbs down, gets closer, and points her gun at John from a distance. She screams for him to put the gun down but he tries to shoot himself. Billy attacks him and tries to stop him from killing himself. Mare tries to cross the water while the two men fight for the handgun.

She manages to wrestle John’s arms behind his back before Billy tells her he didn’t do it. John tells Mare to kill him. We return to the police station where Mare blow dries her arm bandage. She says the bandage can’t be saved before the chief tells her about Jess’s statement and the photograph. Carter explains that John wanted his brother to take the fall for him. Then, he asks Mare how she is doing and tells her she is going to survive. Seconds later, the pair interviews John who seems willing to talk. He reveals his sexual relationship with Erin started late one night at the family reunion at Lake Harmony. He walks them through the events leading up to what he says wasn’t just sex. John says they were both going through difficult times and had a real connection. When Erin got pregnant, John asked her to get an abortion but she wouldn’t.

Since she was dating Dylan at the time, they decided to let him believe he was the baby’s father. On the night of January the 10th, John says he was at the Forest Lodge for Frank’s engagement party. Erin called him a bunch of times and they used prepaid phones to talk without Lori finding out. However, Erin was upset so she called him on his regular line and threatened to tell Lori everything if he didn’t meet with her. As a result, he left the party and drove to Brandywine Park where he met an angry Erin who wanted him to pay for DJ’s ear surgery. He tried to reason with her, but she wasn’t having it. John claims she had a gun and was waving it around screaming how he ruined her life. He says Erin said she was going to shoot herself. He tried to wrestle the gun away from her when it went off and hit her in the hand. He panicked and shot her in the face. He dragged the body into the woods, cleaned up, and drove back to Forest Lodge.

He took Frank and Faye home so he’d have an alibi. After that, he called Billy and met him at the park so they could get rid of the body today. They drove the body back to Sharp’s Woods because Erin said she had been out there earlier and he wanted it to look like one of the kids might’ve killed her. When asked about Lori, John admits he convinced her to lie to Mare for him and say it was Billy. Mare leaves and goes home for a shower. Next, she goes to the jail and tells Mark Burton (James McArdle) about John’s confession and that she requested the DA withdraw his charges. She explains that the only crime he committed was lying about Erin’s bike. Mark says he should’ve stopped her and forced her back into his go. Mare tells Mark she hopes wherever he goes that they’ll treat him better than Easttown did.

He says he doesn’t have anywhere to go and that Easttown is his home. John is hounded by journalists as he is led into the courthouse. Once inside, the judge reads the charge against him. Moments later, John is given the opportunity to speak to Lori (Julianne Nicholson) and he thanks her for seeing him. Although he knows he doesn’t have a right, he asks Lori to take DJ in with her and raise him. She doesn’t answer before John is led away. We see a news report about John’s arraignment as Helen (Jean Smart) watches it from home. She talks about it with Father Dan Hastings (Neal Huff). She hears Mare and tries to turn it off before she hears it but ends up falling onto the floor. Mare tells them she has had better days before they discuss Lori. Mare is still angry with her for lying to her and accuses her mother of taking her side. Dan learns about Mark being released and Mare goes to bed after that.

She checks on Drew before Siobhan (Angourie Rice) checks on her. Mare tells her a bit about her day before asking her daughter when she was going to tell her about Berkeley. She isn’t sure she is going to go. She asks Mare to be her mom for a second to give her advice so Mare says she should go. As for Mare, she needs a vacation but Siobhan doesn’t believe that since her mother loves Easttown. Mare returns to work. Beth (Chinasa Ogbuagu) and Dawn (Enid Graham) surprise Katie with the keys to her new home. Jess looks at pictures of herself with Erin while Mare hangs out with Drew and her mother. Lori takes DJ to the clinic for a check-up and says he is her son. The doctor in charge says they’re going to get his ears fixed right up. Mare and Frank (David Denman) attend mediation but Carrie (Sosie Bacon) doesn’t enter the room.

Mare finds her outside of the room and asks what is going on. Carrie says she can’t take him because she has been using for a few months. It started as a way to stay awake but only got worse since then. When asked, Mare says she is happy just to know Drew is going to be taken care of. Mare sits down and Carrie says she can’t do anything right. Mare suggests otherwise. Mare knows she tried this time. Carrie wants her to tell Drew she is sick. Mare agrees to do so before Carrie says she has already got everything set up and will be driving right to the facility from here. Mare says she knows Carrie loves him. Carrie gives Mare a new galaxy star projector since Drew said his broke. Later, Mare hangs out with the family as Frank tries to pick out a tux for his wedding. They all have a good laugh at Frank’s expense. The woman who John was having an affair with enters.

Sandra Elliot (Julianna Zinkel) enters with her family and grabs a table. When asked, Frank admits he hasn’t seen John and says it bothers him that John drove them home the night he killed Erin. He drove them after the murder and was laughing and telling stories. When Drew comes, Frank and Faye agree to play with him. Mare mentions her mother fixing Drew’s band-aid when she wouldn’t do that for her when she was young. Helen admits she was angry at her father back then because he wasn’t the person she thought she had married and she couldn’t fix him. Mare forgives her mother. Helen says she forgave herself a long time ago before crying. She tells Mare that she wishes she could forgive herself for Kevin because it wasn’t her fault. Mare goes to the bathroom to straighten herself. When she leaves, Sandra says hello but Mare tells her to screw off.

She soon confronts Sandra about her affair with John but Sandra acts like she knows nothing about it. She says she made a mistake with John five years ago but went back to her husband and has been with him every day since. Next, Mare watches John’s interview about the gun. He claims he can’t remember what it looked like since it happened so far. She learns from Carter that Billy is going to be paroled next June because he cooperated fully. Mare asks him about the ballistics guy who told them that the gun that killed Erin was a Colt Special. Carter says he is the best and he’d use him every time if he could. When asked why, Mare says someone from Marple called for a recommendation. Dylan (Jack Mulhern) visits the Ross house and tells Ryan (Cameron Mann) he wants to speak to his mother. Dylan wants to know if Lori knew DJ wasn’t his.

Lori says no before they discuss DJ’s ear surgery. Dylan gives her the money that Erin had been saving for the boy’s ear surgery and money from him too. Next, Siobhan sings during Frank’s wedding. Richard Ryan (Guy Pearce) tries to get Mare to dance even though her feet are killing her already. They dance and talk about the night. When she wakes up in the morning, she finds Ryan loading his vehicle. She approaches and says she has never heard of Bates College. He promises to call once he settles in and finds a good place to get a beer. She wonders why he has to leave when things are just starting to feel good but he reminds her it is only a year’s contract. He says he doesn’t want to lose her. A bit later, Mare gets a call from Mr. Carroll and visits him. Mare notices plates on the kitchen table and asks if everything is okay. Glen (Patrick McDade) says no because he can’t keep anything together since his wife passed.

He asks her about losing her son and if it gets any easier. She says no but you learn to live with the unacceptable after a while. She explains that you have to find a way to live. Then, they talk about his affair with Helen and Mare says Helen doesn’t hold grudges. He can say hi if he sees her in the grocery store. He reveals that things have gone missing around the house since Betty passed. One of the things that has gone missing was his gun, but it isn’t missing anymore. He says he knew he had it on the day Mare came over for the prowler call. That night, he heard a noise in the shed and went to get the gun but it was gone. It is back now though. When asked, he confirms it is a Colt Detective Special from his time with the Ridley police force. He agrees to let Mare look at the gun so they head outside to the shed. She opens the case and finds the gun inside while Glen explains that two rounds went missing.

Glen says only he and the kid who cuts the lawn have access to the gun. When asked who that kid is, Glen says it is Ryan Ross. Mare runs inside to check his surveillance footage and sees Ryan go in and out of the shed. She tracks down Ryan and he tries to run away from her. She calls in a description of Ryan and says he is wanted in a murder investigation. Ryan makes it home to his mother and tells her that Mare knows. Lori hugs Ryan as the cops stop outside and Mare tells them that nobody gets in front of her. Mare steps inside and finds Lori comforting her son. He is soon taken to the station and interviewed. Mare tells him he doesn’t have to talk to them but he says he wants to get this over with. Ryan says he found texts on his dad’s phone about Erin and confronted him about it. His dad said it was a mistake so Ryan promised to hide the secret if he ended the relationship.

He explains he wanted to keep his family together after what happened during the previous affair. Lori tells them about the affair with Sandra. He thought the affair was over until he heard his dad talking to Erin on the phone at Frank’s house. Ryan checked his phone later and found that Erin wanted to meet at Brandywine Park. Ryan texted her back and said he’ll be there. He went home and took his bike to Carroll’s house to get the gun. He arrived just in time to see Deacon Mark drop Erin off at the park. Ryan watched her sit down and cry. He says he wanted to scare her and tell her to stay away from his family. Ryan approaches her with the gun and tells her to stay away from his family. She tried to grab the gun away from him and they fought over it. Ryan ended up shooting her before returning the gun to Mr. Carroll’s place because he thought nobody would realize it went missing. He got scared, called his dad, and told him what happened.

John told him that he and Billy would sort everything out. They agreed it was a secret that they could never tell anyone and it had nothing to do with Sandra Elliot. Lori admits she found out from John the morning Mare came over. She confesses she agreed to lie to protect her son and she would’ve taken it to her grave with her. Ryan says he is sorry for everything he did. He is taken away in a police car moments later. Before he goes, Mare tells him what will happen at the juvenile facility. Mare joins a sobbing Lori in her car and is asked why she couldn’t just leave this one thing alone. She says her whole family is gone now and she blames Mare for that.

Lori tells her to get away from her and that she never wants to see her again. Mare gets out and Lori speeds away. Next, Mare sits down with Gayle (Eisa Davis) who asks if she has talked to Lori since Ryan’s arrest. Mare admits she has called and texted but she doesn’t want to talk to her. Gayle wonders if Mare is now ready to face what she has been avoiding. Lori visits Ryan and learns he is attending a writing class that he likes a lot. Moira brings him a card for his birthday and he thanks her for it. Ryan talks to DJ. Meanwhile, Siobhan leaves so she can go to Berkeley. Mark speaks to the congregation about everything that has happened. Back at home, Helen watches television with Drew and Mare decides she wants to go out for some air. She goes to Lori’s place and is greeted by Moira. They make up and hug. Lori drops to the ground and Mare comforts her.

Mare wakes up in Drew’s bed next to the boy. When she gets out of bed, she climbs into the attic and the episode ends.

 

Mare Of Easttown Review

If you loved every episode of Mare of Easttown, I’d say you loved the finale. You were likely invested in the characters and the storyline enough to ignore any minor hiccups here and there. Unfortunately, I wasn’t and was never really able to develop a relationship with any of the characters. I am pleased that the series wrapped up most everything in the finale so there are few unanswered questions.

I particularly didn’t like the show because it never focused on Erin’s murder. The finale itself was the only episode that focused at least half of its time on the investigation. I figured all of the side stories wouldn’t matter at all in the end and they didn’t. Siobhan’s relationship and Frank and Faye’s wedding were small blips on the radar.

I expected to see more of Officer Trammel after the first episode but the character didn’t play a major role at all. Brianna, Dylan, and so many others just didn’t seem to matter when all was said and done. Don’t get me started on Zabel. I can appreciate the writers at least trying to give us a few twists but we’ve seen this before and it wasn’t as realistic as it could’ve been. I don’t know. It really just fell flat for me.

When I first watched the trailer for Mare of Easttown, I was hoping I’d finally found something good to watch. God knows there hasn’t been anything worthwhile in many months. Unfortunately, this show didn’t live up to the hype or the critics’ scores. Maybe my expectations were too high? Personally, the show just felt dull and lifeless most of the time. Sure, Kate Winslet is wonderful and it is always nice to see Evan Peters doing something different.

Nevertheless, the good was overshadowed by the bad. The show never established its purpose and struggled because it wanted to be so many different things but it was, unfortunately, nothing in the end. It was aimless and unauthentic at many points yet it’ll likely win some awards soon enough. While I personally don’t think it should because it wasn’t good enough, it most likely will and there isn’t anything better right now. Where is the quality television? It sure feels like the pandemic killed it.

The show just didn’t do it for me and I didn’t get anything from the finale. No satisfaction, no adrenaline rush, no tears, and no feel-good moment. The finale scores a 6 out of 10 and that is likely being generous as I have been throughout the season. Previous recaps of Mare of Easttown can be found on Reel Mockery here.