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The ending of HBO's Mare of Easttown exposes the killer of Erin McMenamin and provides a sense of closure. It all means as follows.
Following six gripping, twist-filled episodes, Mare of Easttown episode 7, "Sacrament," ends the HBO crime drama. Though Mare of Easttown's ending finally reveals who killed Erin McMenamin (Cailee Spaeny), a teenage single mother, it also closes the more intimate threads of the miniseries, particularly where Detective Marianne "Mare" Sheehan (Kate Winslet) is concerned. Apart from Mare of Easttown's central riddles, the show does not hold back when looking at Mare's trauma and postponed grief over the death of her own son, Kevin Sheehan (Cody Kostro), by suicide before the series's events.
Mare of Easttown, set in a small town outside of Philadelphia, has a gripping week-to-- week viewing thanks to its cast of characters and sophisticated plot. Key players in the finale are Mare's best friend Lori Ross (Julianne Nicholson) and John Ross (Joe Tippett), Erin's uncle and Lori's husband respectively. Supported by county investigator Colin Zabel (Evan Peters), Mare works to establish herself as a first-rate investigator to her traumatized small-town community while negotiating her hollowing grief, a difficult divorce, and a terrifying custody dispute for her grandson. All of this comes together in Mare of Easttown's quite riveting ending.
Starting from where Mare of Easttown episode 6, "Sore Must Be the Storm," left off, the miniseries' finale sees Mare hurrying to the Ross family's fishing retreat. Mare shows up as John, Erin's uncle, fires a gun at Billy Ross (Robbie Tann), his brother and Erin's father. No questions asked, John first intended to kill Billy so his brother could take the fall for Erin's death. John eventually tells Mare he fathered Erin's child and had an incestuous relationship with her. John claimed Erin had called him to the park threatening to shoot herself.
Mare learns that 13-year-old son of John and Lori, Ryan Ross shot his cousin. Erin threatened to expose that John was DJ's biological father, thus the two battled and John unintentionally shot and killed his niece. Mare of Easttown reveals who actually killed Erin in yet another twist while John's confession is still just minutes into the episode. Mare learns that John and Lori's 13-year-old son Ryan Ross (Cameron Mann) shot his cousin after realizing the specifics of John's confession don't match. Ryan says he stole a vintage pistol to frighten Erin, hoping she would stop seeing his dad, and the distinctive gun helped Mare find Ryan's presence.
...the camera stays on Ryan a lot when other people are talking about Erin's death. Ryan freaked and fired the gun when Erin tried to wrestle it away. Ryan feared his parents' divorce would be certain if his mother knew the truth about John and Erin since John's other extramarital affair almost led Lori to leave him. Mare of Easttown's minute observations throughout point to Ryan's role in Erin McMenamin's murder. Actually, the camera stays on Ryan quite a bit whenever other characters are talking about Erin's passing. Eventually, John goes to jail and Ryan is sent to juvenile detention, which strains Mare and Lori.
John Ross has done many horrible crimes even though he is not Mare of Easttown's killer. He began an incestuous relationship with the teenage Erin at the Ross family reunion, which leads to DJ's fathering of Erin's son. John also involves his wife, Lori, in his crimes, so adding even more unsettling element. John and Billy handle Erin's body to shield Ryan from the consequences after Ryan kills her in the park by accident. Later on, it comes out that Lori had agreed to let Billy fall for the murder and the incest so as to preserve the name of her family.
John clearly caused his family permanent damage with his actions. Mare of Easttown constantly investigates the ways in which close-knit families and isolated, small-town communities will go to great lengths to preserve their own, particularly under trying circumstances. Although that kind of solidarity has advantages, the miniseries highlight just how much damage it can inflict as well. For instance, John seems ready to confess to crimes he didn't commit to save his brother after slightly bullying Billy. Lori finally welcomes her position as DJ's mother, but it is evident that John's actions permanently harmed his family even though John and Ryan are behind bars.
Not just the Ross family were hiding startling secrets during Mare of Easttown's seven-episode run. Truth about Erin and John's relationship was known to Dylan Hinchey (Jack Mulhern), Erin's ex-boyfriend, Jess Riley (Ruby Cruz), Erin's best friend. Having agreed to assist Erin in destroying her journals, Jess finds herself clutching a picture of Erin in bed with John. Jess hid the very damning proof instead of burning it, hoping Erin would one day wish to come forward about John's abuse. Jess was trying to defend her friend, not stop Mare from looking into things.
Wanting control of DJ, Dylan kept Erin's relationship with John under wraps. Dylan, meanwhile, had been DJ's presumed father, thus he kept Erin's relationship with John under cover of silence in order to retain custody of DJ. From what the miniseries depict, being grandparents meant everything to Dylan's parents. Dylan has no real justification to keep the truth secret once John admits he is DJ's father. The reveal recontextualizes Dylan, who first seemed to be a possible murder suspect but wasn't actually leaving his own tracks. For all of his flaws, Dylan just wanted what he thought was best for DJ.
At the end of Mare of Easttown, Lori is saddled with caring for DJ after willing to lie about her husband's horrible actions and ongoing abuse of Erin. The child reminds Lori of her broken family even if DJ is clearly an innocent bystander in all the drama and crimes of the show. Though she doesn't have love left for John, Lori worries about Ryan and her own small-town standing. Lori's life collapses when Mare, her best friend, learns the truth. Lori first cannot pardon Mare for kidnapping her son, but finally the two mend their relationship.
Mare's life and relationships are clearly being stunted by her refusal to squarely face her loss over Kevin's death throughout Mare of Easttown. Mare not only buried herself in her work but also lacks the loving parent she once was before the accident. Siobhan (Angourie Rice), Mare's daughter, suggests that the family suffers greatly from the shared silence. It turns out that Mare's father, a cop as well, battled depression. Rather than helping him, Mare's mother Helen (Jean Smart) would send her husband away until he was "better." Helen's negative attitude resulted in the suicide death of Mare's father.
Mare discovers that silence used to maintain peace results in more devastation. Mare's family suffers constantly from the cycle of avoidance and deflection, but in the last scene of Kate Winslet's HBO miniseries Mare breaks the pattern. Apart from regularly attending therapy sessions in sincere manner, Mare reconciles with Lori instead of merely avoiding the brutal facts of the finale. Mare learns that keeping the peace by remaining silent leads to more destruction, which is why she addresses her strained relationships with Helen and Siobhan too. In Mare of Easttown's final shot, Mare heads to the attic — the scene of Kevin's death — and takes a small step toward healing.
While the show's ending doesn't naturally set up a second season, there have been early discussions about Mare season 2 at HBO. In fact, network executive Francesca Orsi revealed that while Mare of Easttown season 2 isn't currently in the works, a future outing already has some framework in place. For starters, a future season wouldn't necessarily take place in the immediate wake of the show's ending, but years later. Although Mare of Easttown feels like a solid standalone story, a time jump would be one way to convincingly continue the series, even if it does risk undoing Mare's growth.
Mare of Easttown is a mystery crime-drama that stars Kate Winslet as a detective attempting to solve a murder as her life crumbles around her. Marianne "Mare" Sheehan is assigned to investigate the murder of one girl while trying to tackle a cold case of another missing girl. Having recently lost her son, Mare's world is steeped in chaos as she attempts to reclaim her life in the eyes of the town - and herself.