Mare of Easttown: Season 1

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Universal acclaim based on 42 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 80 Ratings

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8.4

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8.4	User Score Universal acclaim based on 80 Ratings

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Mare Of Easttown: Official Teaser

Now Playing: Mare Of Easttown: Official Teaser

Season Details & Credits

HBO | Season Premiere Date: April 18, 2021

Summary: Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet), a small-town Pennsylvania detective, investigates a murder even as her personal life is falling apart in this limited series created by Brad Ingelsby.

Genre(s): Drama, Movie/Mini-Series, Suspense

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E7. Sacrament
Air Date: May 30, 2021
tbd
S1:E6. Sore Must Be the Storm
Air Date: May 23, 2021

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Radio Times Brian McIver

Dec 2, 2021

Winslet is in stunning form as the put-upon but never downtrodden cop and matriarch. ... This is high-end telly at its best, packed with intrigue, suspicion, horror and reluctant heroics. Read full review

100

The Playlist Rodrigo Perez

Apr 7, 2021

Winslet is phenomenal at carrying the spirit and theme of the show on her shoulders too. ... This poignant and human drama—compelling as all get out with its murder mystery too—suggests for all the L’s we take in life, we can still choose to live as if the past is the past and small, but meaningful victories are always within reach. Read full review

Judy Berman

Apr 16, 2021

In fact, deceptively stodgy title notwithstanding, it is a poignant, richly observed, if occasionally over-the-top HBO crime drama. ... Easttown is not an ideal place. Mare is not an ideal detective or mom. But both have something more compelling than perfection going for them: they’re real. Read full review

Daniel D'Addario

Apr 5, 2021

The achievement of Winslet’s performance is that for as much as Mare may seem like a victim, we come to believe she has it in her, perhaps more than ever before in her life, to be great. Read full review

The Independent Ed Cumming

Apr 19, 2021

Mare of Easttown is much easier to watch than I Know This Much Is True, Mark Ruffalo’s joyless HBO miniseries from last year, and much of that is down to its star. Mare’s undimmable despite the encompassing gloom. Thanks to her, Easttown feels surprisingly warm for a town full of dead teenagers. Read full review

Brian Lowry

Apr 15, 2021

Small towns harbor big secrets in prestige TV, and so it is in Mare of Easttown, a showcase for Kate Winslet that resembles "Broadchurch" in the broad strokes, before establishing its own distinct personality. Slow to start, the limited series gains momentum while mostly providing Winslet a fine star vehicle a decade after her Emmy-winning turn in HBO's "Mildred Pierce." Read full review

Mike Hale

Apr 15, 2021

Some style in the direction or honest feeling in the screenplay could have mitigated the dreariness, but “Mare” doesn’t offer much beyond Ben Richardson’s burnished cinematography. ... The script doesn’t give Winslet enough to do beyond suffering and lashing out ... [Later episodes] may give Winslet more room to operate, but it probably won’t make “Mare of Easttown” any less obvious or colorless. Read full review

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User Score

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User Reviews

marsha_brightly

Apr 20, 2021

Winslet is phenomenal here.....it really brings you to small town scene and feel like you live there natively

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

Matchbox

Aug 27, 2021

Simply one of the best works of TV or film that I've seen in the past five years. Absolutely loved it.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GuaireGlas

Apr 30, 2021

Kudos to Kate Winslet. I seldom get through dramatic series but Mare of Easttown has grabbed me and won't let go. Can't wait for the next episode.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

ClariseSamuels

Jun 3, 2021

The plot is a bit uneven, and I almost lost interest after Episode 1, but I came back to watch Kate Winslet play an American detective with a Pennsylvania accent. Winslet is a cop in Easttown, PA, a small town where everyone knows each other and where her character, detective Mare Sheehan,The plot is a bit uneven, and I almost lost interest after Episode 1, but I came back to watch Kate Winslet play an American detective with a Pennsylvania accent. Winslet is a cop in Easttown, PA, a small town where everyone knows each other and where her character, detective Mare Sheehan, has to both solve murders and take care of trivial complaints. She is a divorced mom who has a rebellious teenaged daughter, a drug-addicted son who committed suicide, and a grandson whom she is raising. The grandson’s mother, also drug addicted, has been through rehab and now wants to regain custody of the child that Mare adores. As Mare explains to her date (Guy Pearce), "My life is a sh*t show."

Winslet breaks new ground with this role where she is neither British nor beautiful. She has to work hard to look middle-aged and plain, which she achieves with no make-up, hair with dark roots that needed a fresh dye long ago, and by making her voluptuous curves look shapeless under worn jeans and Walmart hoodies. Even then, some of her luminescent beauty still shines through.

Mare is emotionally exhausted, taking solace from family, a few close friends, and her work as a detective. She is tough on the outside, fragile on the inside. She is relentless and driven when she is seeking truth and justice. She has some nervous eccentricities that connect the outer and inner Mare so that occasionally she is a whole person, but never for very long. Her performance as a dedicated but jaded detective reminds me of Israeli actress Yael Sharoni, who also plays a detective in the series When Heroes Fly.

Two young women in Easttown are missing, and a third has been found shot dead in the woods. The whodunit in a small town plays out like a game of Clue. No one really trusts each other, and there are ancient grudges and petty hostilities. Every suspect rings true until it is clear that everyone, including Mare, was barking up the wrong tree. When the two girls are eventually found, it is a bit too pat. They have been locked up in a room for some time, but they are relatively unscathed. It is the murder mystery that provides the most tension, along with the dramatic conflict between Mare's personal and professional life, which she navigates like a drunken sailor who swears a lot. In the end, however, the resolution of the major conflicts gives her some peace, and you know that she's going to nervously puff on her e-cigarette, purse her lips, and somehow manage to stop being haunted by the past as she resolutely walks toward the future.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MarcDoyle

Apr 18, 2021

Outstanding first episode with a tremendous cast. Winslet's accent is a little "odd", but for the most part, I'm very excited to see where the season goes. It's a little unfortunate, however, that every good, cutting-edge show on Premium cable has to be about people being cruel to eachOutstanding first episode with a tremendous cast. Winslet's accent is a little "odd", but for the most part, I'm very excited to see where the season goes. It's a little unfortunate, however, that every good, cutting-edge show on Premium cable has to be about people being cruel to each other. Absolutely brutal.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

geewah

Jun 20, 2021

Winslet is fantastic in this series which is much more than a murder mystery. It's also a touching human drama on loss, secrets and connections within a small community.
One of 2021's best tv shows.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

fj007

Jun 5, 2021

After watching the whole season: Kate Winslet is great, and most other actors are at least very well too. But what starts out as a story showing a very interesting character stuck in some personal hell becomes at the end total kitsch, basically implying there is nothing a bit of therapy andAfter watching the whole season: Kate Winslet is great, and most other actors are at least very well too. But what starts out as a story showing a very interesting character stuck in some personal hell becomes at the end total kitsch, basically implying there is nothing a bit of therapy and a good hug cannot fix. So looking back the grim and realistic beginning looks like an avoidable choice. Thus the writers betrayed the world and the characters they invented in the first episodes to give the audience a warm and fuzzy feeling at the end.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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Seasons & Episodes

81

Series Overview
Season 1

81
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: April 18, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E7. Sacrament
  Air Date: May 30, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E6. Sore Must Be the Storm
  Air Date: May 23, 2021