Mare of Easttown

[Jellybean]

The premiere of Mare of Easttown starring Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce was shown on Sky Atlanta in the UK tonight. I found it intriguing enough to add it to my recording schedule. The premise of the show provided by Wikipedia, a review by Lucy Mangan of The Guardian and a YouTube trailer are all posted below. Based on watching the first episode, I would say it is worth giving it a try.

Mare of Easttown is an American crime drama miniseries created by Brad Ingelsby that premiered on HBO on April 18, 2021

Premise
A detective in a small Pennsylvania town investigates a local murder while trying to keep her life from falling apart.

Source: Wikipedia

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Favourable TV review from The Guardian:

TV review Kate Winslet

Mare of Easttown review – Kate Winslet triumphs in a moreish murder mystery

Alongside an able cast, the actor gives a defining performance in this perfectly conjured HBO drama set in a bleak and deprived corner of Pennsylvania

Lucy Mangan

@LucyMangan Mon 19 Apr 2021 22.10 BST

Mare of Easttown (Sky Atlantic) is a millefeuille of misery, as exquisitely layered and as moreish as the real thing. In rural Pennsylvania, we meet a small-town cop, Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet). World-weariness, the weight of professional responsibility and – we discover later, although the clues are there – family tragedy show in every line of her body, every heavy step she takes. She rarely smiles. She is not surly or grumpy – she just doesn’t have the energy for anything else, after doing her job and taking care of her family.

Life takes out of Mare more than it puts in – especially since 19-year-old Katy Bailey, the drug-addicted daughter of Mare’s high-school friend Dawn, disappeared a year ago. If you can have a defining performance this late in a career, this is surely Winslet’s. She is absolutely wonderful – and ably supported by the rest of the cast . . .

For the full article see: The Guardian

[StevieWonders]

Do the Americans understand that “silly mare” is an affectionate insult in the UK?

[arsenal]

Just watched episide 1. Like most series set in small town America it's not designed to encourage the viewer to move there. We also meet one intense character after another and are introduced to their grim lives and their equally grim relationships with each other. Winslet is compelling as the local detective while Pearce is playing it lighter, for now. Jellybean is spot on about it being intriguing. In fact I can't wait for the next episode.

[arsenal]

As this is the current telly thread. I'm watching Wild Britain, the 2018 series narrated by Hugh Bonneville. If you'd forgotten how stunning Britain is then this will remind you. Full of interesting facts. For instance did you know we've got some wild reindeer and they make a clacking sound when they move so they can follow each other in snowstorms (I didn't) or that wild boar are flourishing (I did). Beautiful.

[arsenal]

The Corrupted.

My mini Hugh Bonneville season continues with The Corrupted. Gangsters, bent coppers, gruesome violence (borrowed from Gangs of London) Briliant scenes with Bonneville and Timothy Spall, almost unrecognisable and giving a fantastic performance as Big Boss Murderous Crime Baron.

[arsenal]

Into ep 4 of Mare of Easttown. Addictively creepy in that way that small town America is often portrayed it's strumming along nicely. Enough surprises every episode to keep you on edge. Loving it.

[Jellybean]

It’s true, I really enjoyed Mare of Easttown and there’s a glimmer of hope that a second season might be on the cards. See the following comments found on Wikipedia:

Potential second season

Though intended as a limited series, Kate Winslet stated in August 2021 that she “would love to return” as the character, and that for a potential second season creator Brad Ingelsby "has shared some very cool ideas. We will see what happens. I also have to figure out if I can do it. Can I go through it again? It did cost me a lot emotionally to be her, and I have to figure out if I can summon it all up again and do it again.

Source: Wikipedia
Having noted my interest in Mare of Easttown, Google brought the following article published on Vulture to my attention. It’s about another US TV show called Mayor of Kingstown, with the Academy award nominee Jeremy Renner in the lead role. It was produced by Paramount+ and will be released in the US on November 14th. No indication as yet if it will make its way to UK TV screens, but it sure looks interesting.

TRAILER MIX Sept. 1, 2021

You’ve Heard of Mare of Easttown, Now Get Ready for Mayor of Kingstown

By Charu Sinha @charulatasinha

If there’s a prestige-TV-shaped hole in your heart where Mare of Easttown used to be, consider Mayor of Kingstown, the similarly named Paramount+ show starring Jeremy Renner that just dropped its first trailer. Per Paramount +, the ten-episode series follows the exploits of a family of power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan — a town where “the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry.” Renner and Kyle Chandler star as the powerful McLusky brothers, along with Dianne Wiest as the family’s matriarch. The show’s description continues, “Tackling themes of systemic racism, corruption, and inequality, the series provides a stark look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town that has neither.” Exposing the dark underbelly of small-town America? Check. Bringing on national treasures of stage and screen to play the stern mothers of the protagonists? Check, check. Mayor of Kingstown, which was written by Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan, drops on November 14.

Source: Vulture