[Editor’s note: The following containsspoilersthrough the series finale ofMare of Easttown, “Sacrament."]
It’s been a long sad journey already withMare of Easttown, so no surprise that the finale (what we’re calling the series finale, though after firstBig Little Liesand thenPerry Masonended up getting second seasons, who knows what could happen?) delivered similar vibes. Like so many other sad murder shows, the finale began with a pretty clear suspect, followed by the reveal of the true killer, resulting in an even greater tragedy. But full credit toMarefor finding a way to make that feel fresh, thanks to the depth of this little community that’s been developed over the previous six episodes.
We pick up right where we left off with the last episode — Mare in the woods, trying to find Billy and John Ross, while the Chief back at the station deals with a shocking photograph that changeseverything. Now, however, the show doesn’t dilly-dally in disclosing the contents of that photograph: A selfie taken by Erin, with a shirtless sleeping John Ross in bed behind her. As many guessed, Billy’s “confession” from last week was really him covering for his brother, who was actually the one committing statutory rape with his cousin’s daughter and thus the real father of D.J. Shitty move, John Ross!
Also shitty: John Ross pulling out the gun as Billy gets his fishing on; when Billy figures out that John Ross is planning to shoot him, he doesn’t seem too shocked, even at one point begging John to just do it, because “no one will miss a fuckup like me.” John aims but can’t bring himself to pull the trigger, at least at first, but when he winds up to do it for real, Mare arrives on the scene. For a moment John switches to pointing the gun at his own head, but Billy tackles him into the water and Mare’s able to bring them both in.
At the station, John confesses to everything: having sex with Erin, meeting up at the park that night, trying to wrestle the gun she’d brought away from her, her getting shot, and then him moving the body. “Boy, that was easy!” said anyone watching who a) has never seen a sad murder show before and b) isn’t paying attention to the fact that there’s still at least 45 minutes left in the episode.
John Ross is swiftly arraigned and sent to jail — during a brief interlude at the courthouse with Lori, he asks her to take in baby DJ and give him a good life. Lori is understandably devastated but agrees; she and Mare make eye contact but don’t speak. There’s anger on both sides of their friendship, to be clear, as Mare feels betrayed by her best friend lying to her.
But, following John Ross’s conviction, life in Easttown begins to move on. A no-longer-lost Katie Bailey is presented with a new home all her own. Baby DJ, at long last, gets the ear surgery he needs. As I predictedin the Episode 6 recap, Carrie relapses, and goes to rehab instead of continuing to fight for custody of her son Drew, leaving him in the care of Mare and her family. Frank and Faye have what appears to be a very nice wedding, and even Mare has a pretty good time, either because of “the three Bloody Marys I crushed before noon” or her dateGuy PearceRichard. Richard also leaves Easttown, for a new teaching job, but he and Mare seem resolved to at least stay close.
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And Mare’s still getting early morning calls from the locals. One morning, after getting such a summons, she turns up at Mr. Carroll’s house, which is a bit of a wreck given his new status as a widower. Mare’s kind to him as they talk about loss, and how hard it can be to get through the day while you’re living with grief. “But after a while you learn to live with the unacceptable,” is how Mare puts it, in one of the show’s best moments of understated eloquence. Then, however, Mr. Carroll reveals exactly why he called her — he’s been noticing things going missing, like his Eagles championship mug (truly, a precious relic), a really good pizza slicer, and oh, a gun that matches the exact model of gun that killed Erin McMenamin. Double “oh”: Mr. Carroll kept that gun in a shed to which only two people had access. Him, and Lori’s 13-year-old son Ryan Ross.
Earlier, Mare had been expressing some doubts about the role of the gun in John Ross’s confession; something clearly wasn’t sitting right with her about his story, and this proves to be the key she needed to unlock the actual truth. She goes to Ryan’s school, and when her eyes meet his he immediately knows that she knows, running home to his mother; it’s a tense scene as Mare leads her fellow officers to the Ross house to make the arrest, but Ryan comes along quietly.
He also confesses quietly too, just wanting to “get it over with” — not wanting his family to splinter apart again thanks to one of John Ross’s indiscretions, Ryan admits that he took Mr. Carroll’s gun to go meet Erin the night of her death, claiming he only ever wanted to scare her. Unfortunately, when she tried to take the gun from him, it went off twice, the second shot killing her, and Ryan then called his father, who along with Billy moved the body to Sharpe’s Woods, hoping that the partying teenagers nearby would be blamed for the killing.
Lori had known the truth since the day Billy and John Ross went on the worst fishing trip ever, and she’s furious with Mare for not being able to leave things alone — after all, John’s already in prison, so now, in Lori’s eyes, “my whole family’s gone because of you.” It’s something Mare actually talks about with her therapist, as well as the way she acknowledges that she has been using cases like Erin’s to delay grieving over her own lost son.
Once again, life moves on. Pastor Mark, having been freed from prison, preaches to his flock about finding a way to come back from the tragedies that have befallen the community. Lori and her other kids visit Ryan in detention, where he says he’s taking a writing class he likes a lot. Siobhan decides to go to Berkeley, and her family sends her off with tears. And Mare summons up the nerve to go visit Lori after a long period of her calls and texts being ignored. Lori lets her in, even going to make the two of them tea… and then, in a beautifully acted, nearly wordless scene, collapses into Mare’s arms, her grief pouring out of her.
Maybe it’s that reconnection with her friend which helps Mare take her own next step towards healing: She wakes up one morning, and for the first time in what must feel like forever, unfolds the steps to the attic of her house, climbing up into the space where she lost her son. Finally able to face it.
And that’s whereMare of Easttownleaves us, after an emotional journey that proved to be far less about whodunnit and far more about families, and loss, and learning to live with it.
Mare of Easttownis streaming now on HBO Max.
KEEP READING:‘Mare of Easttown’: Who Killed Erin McMenamin? Every Suspect, Ranked
