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Murrrdurrr Most Foul!
Jun. 1st, 2021 07:42 pmI mentioned we finally got to the finale of Mare of Easttown on Home Box, the seven-part series starring Kate Winslet as a grizzled suburban Philly detective. I've hinted at some of the twists and turns in the arc, and kept blessedly away from any giveaways before we sat down- including posting this warning the morning after its Sunday 10 p.m. too-late-for-us drop:
Anyone who spoils the end of Mare will be murrrdurred.
That homages the distinct "Delco" accent of this particularly troubled portion of the Suburbs of Brotherly Love. There's plenty of Phillies and Flyers bling around to bring the sense of overall place to us, but Delaware County has its own way of saying things. It's also insular to the point of approaching incestuous: everybody knows everyone else, most are related to everyone else, and almost everyone still standing in the final moments is in one service at one Catholic church.
We meet four generations of Sheehans: Helen, played by Jean Smart (who I viewed in a somewhat different light after watching her star in Hacks in between the penultimate and final episodes of this); Kate Winslet's title character, divorced from her still-alive ex; her daughter Siobhan, played by an Aussie actress who also nails the purrfict Delco (the loss of Mare's other child Kevin leads to much non-murderous suspense and some of the strongest scenes of the series including Mare's final one); and her Kevin's son Drew, played by an amazingly expressive kid (not twins, as often is the case) named Izzy King. There are many of the usual intergenerational conflicts and misunderstandings, but despite Easttown's blue-collar trappings, there is tolerance of Siobhan's LGTBQ sexuality, of more adultery than I'd ever be comfortable with, and of Mare's Black high school teammate being in the community. Old people do old people things, Mare is as unglam as you could picture Kate Winslet on her worst day, and the multiracial police force does a fine job of not shooting innocent people in the back for minor traffic violations....
probably because they're busy with other things since, by my count, at least four characters come to gruesome seen-onscreen ends; several others, including Mare, narrowly escape death, two more endure brutal kidnapings, various beatings are seen, and there are Phillies logos in many scenes. Ick. The death toll is so high for a small town I half expected Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley to show up. (The latter would be a neat trick because he died in 2010.)
But anyway, onto the dying. There's only one real Murrdurr Brad Wrote about, the rest being lesser or no charges of homicide, and it's the getting there that is the true beauty of this series:
( Spurlers, sweetie.... )
The show kept coming at me all day. A coworker mentioned a pizza cutter, and one of yall had a power failure, a key element a few episodes back that led us to the Bryn Maguffin section of Philly over who confessed to who over what.
I haven't heard any confirmed buzz about them revisiting the loose ends, or creating arll noo ones, to bring Mare back for a second go-round. Winslet is on record as wanting to do it, but as good as she was in both acting and production, she'd need some equally awesome writers, current or new, to get her there. I'm hoping it will not happen for at least a year or two, to let this amazing work find its place among HBO legacy series. It's already the stuff of comedy, on television and in print, and I think it will get better with time away from the accent jokes and riffs on British Kate.
Including mine.
Anyone who spoils the end of Mare will be murrrdurred.
That homages the distinct "Delco" accent of this particularly troubled portion of the Suburbs of Brotherly Love. There's plenty of Phillies and Flyers bling around to bring the sense of overall place to us, but Delaware County has its own way of saying things. It's also insular to the point of approaching incestuous: everybody knows everyone else, most are related to everyone else, and almost everyone still standing in the final moments is in one service at one Catholic church.
We meet four generations of Sheehans: Helen, played by Jean Smart (who I viewed in a somewhat different light after watching her star in Hacks in between the penultimate and final episodes of this); Kate Winslet's title character, divorced from her still-alive ex; her daughter Siobhan, played by an Aussie actress who also nails the purrfict Delco (the loss of Mare's other child Kevin leads to much non-murderous suspense and some of the strongest scenes of the series including Mare's final one); and her Kevin's son Drew, played by an amazingly expressive kid (not twins, as often is the case) named Izzy King. There are many of the usual intergenerational conflicts and misunderstandings, but despite Easttown's blue-collar trappings, there is tolerance of Siobhan's LGTBQ sexuality, of more adultery than I'd ever be comfortable with, and of Mare's Black high school teammate being in the community. Old people do old people things, Mare is as unglam as you could picture Kate Winslet on her worst day, and the multiracial police force does a fine job of not shooting innocent people in the back for minor traffic violations....
probably because they're busy with other things since, by my count, at least four characters come to gruesome seen-onscreen ends; several others, including Mare, narrowly escape death, two more endure brutal kidnapings, various beatings are seen, and there are Phillies logos in many scenes. Ick. The death toll is so high for a small town I half expected Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley to show up. (The latter would be a neat trick because he died in 2010.)
But anyway, onto the dying. There's only one real Murrdurr Brad Wrote about, the rest being lesser or no charges of homicide, and it's the getting there that is the true beauty of this series:
( Spurlers, sweetie.... )
The show kept coming at me all day. A coworker mentioned a pizza cutter, and one of yall had a power failure, a key element a few episodes back that led us to the Bryn Maguffin section of Philly over who confessed to who over what.
I haven't heard any confirmed buzz about them revisiting the loose ends, or creating arll noo ones, to bring Mare back for a second go-round. Winslet is on record as wanting to do it, but as good as she was in both acting and production, she'd need some equally awesome writers, current or new, to get her there. I'm hoping it will not happen for at least a year or two, to let this amazing work find its place among HBO legacy series. It's already the stuff of comedy, on television and in print, and I think it will get better with time away from the accent jokes and riffs on British Kate.
Including mine.