[astrohip]

New series on HBO, starring Kate Winslet. Wiki says it best:

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

I thought the premiere started a little slow, but it picked up speed as it went. By the end of the hour, I liked it. I think part of what made it somewhat plodding at the beginning was watching all these incredibly depressing lives unfold. But as is typical HBO, by the end it all started fitting together.

I could watch Jean Smart read a phonebook.

 

[dthmj]

Just watched it tonight. It was slow, but good, and I'm invested in the story, so I'll keep watching. My it did take a while to introduce characters and figure out how they all were related to each other.

Seems like Mare really doesn't like her life right now.

 

[dwells]

We liked this A LOT. I guess you could consider it "slow" but I liked everything about it. Did a great job of setting up the dynamics of her family and the whole (small) town. Great acting and everything felt very real and authentic.

One of the reviews I read compared it to the BBC show "Happy Valley" and I completely agree. If you haven't watched it I highly recommend it- if this show winds up being half as good as Happy Valley it will be well worth watching.

 

[cheesesteak]

Apparently, Easttown is located close to Philadelphia and I'd never heard of it in my 62 years of living in the area.

This article makes a big deal out of the use of Philadelphia accent but I never would have noticed it in the show if I hadn't read the article. Can 'Mare of Easttown' Help Bring the Philadelphia Accent Mainstream?

(I asked the mods to delete the other show thread that I created by mistake. I originally did a search for "Mare FROM Easttown")

 

[Steveknj]

Apparently, Easttown is located close to Philadelphia and I'd never heard of it in my 62 years of living in the area.

This article makes a big deal out of the use of Philadelphia accent but I never would have noticed it in the show if I hadn't read the article. Can 'Mare of Easttown' Help Bring the Philadelphia Accent Mainstream?

(I asked the mods to delete the other show thread that I created by mistake. I originally did a search for "Mare FROM Easttown")

It's funny because I read that article the other day and never realized that actors found it difficult to master. I've been "imitating" it for years, calling a Bagel a Beggal, and instead of saying ON, saying AWN. I used to work with someone who had a REAL thick accent and we used to needle her a lot about it, so I'm cognizant of it when I hear it.

 

[kaszeta]

Apparently, Easttown is located close to Philadelphia and I'd never heard of it in my 62 years of living in the area.

I know Easttown, but that's from several years of living in northern Delaware, where you get a lot of exposure to the broader Chester County area (Chadds Ford, Longwood Gardens, Media, etc).

 

[Steveknj]

Just watched it tonight. It was slow, but good, and I'm invested in the story, so I'll keep watching. My it did take a while to introduce characters and figure out how they all were related to each other.

Seems like Mare really doesn't like her life right now.

I got to this this morning over coffee. I enjoyed it and I don't mind it being slow as this was clearly a character intro episode, thought I'm still not connecting the dots between all of the characters yet (that's probably on me, I always have this problem!). I knew that the girl who was going to be the center of the murder mystery would be the teen mom. They already set up a bunch of suspects so that's natural assumption. Not sure where the missing girl is going to play in yet. It reminds me in pace to the Mark Rufallo series last year that was REALLY good.

Oh and I'm digging the Philly accents!! When Kate said Wootah (water) I smiled.

 

[cheesesteak]

I had a bad feeling about the teen mom throughout the episode. I was hoping that the murder mystery would be about the missing girl but no. When her friend was telling her to not go to the woods that night I was like "Don't go in the woods, girl!" This should be an easy murder for Mare to solve since her daughter was right there and witnessed the assault. However, my guess is that something happened after we saw her leave the assault scene and that's who killed her. Just a guess unless the show ends up just being about the personal drama between the town folks. Either way, I'm in.

 

[Steveknj]

I had a bad feeling about the teen mom throughout the episode. I was hoping that the murder mystery would be about the missing girl but no. When her friend was telling her to not go to the woods that night I was like "Don't go in the woods, girl!" This should be an easy murder for Mare to solve since her daughter was right there and witnessed the assault. However, my guess is that something happened after we saw her leave the assault scene and that's who killed her. Just a guess unless the show ends up just being about the personal drama between the town folks. Either way, I'm in.

That's my thought. It's too easy to pin this on baby daddy or baby daddy's girl friend, unless that's not where this story is going.

 

[madscientist]

I'm definitely in; I'm always sucker for good acting and there's a lot of it here.

The murdered girl definitely wasn't killed by any of the kids, I don't think. We saw her wander off into the woods, alone, after she was beat up. I doubt any of the other kids would be able to "get away" from their other friends to follow her. I guess it could turn out to be a group of them. But, it seems like it must somehow be related to the other girl who's been missing for 10 years.

Also it doesn't seem that the possible love interest / bar hookup can actually be either the killer of the girl or the creepy peeper, since Mare was with him. Which is a bit different right away .

I'm very interested to learn more about Kevin. At first I thought Drew must be the son of an older daughter, but no, apparently an older son! And apparently dead. That will be interesting... where's Drew's mom? Dead as well? And the mom's mom?

 

[Jstkiddn]

Watched this last night and I'm in. A bit confused, but definitely wanting to know what happens next.

 

[gossamer88]

I thought this was a great first episode. Great cast too. Was surprised to see Pierce and Jean Smart. Did not know they were in this. Was hoping to see a second episode...oh well...

 

[astrohip]

Was hoping to see a second episode...oh well...

I'm pretty sure it was renewed for a second episode.

 

[gossamer88]

I'm pretty sure it was renewed for a second episode.

HA! I'm gettin' too used to binging. At least with Apple TV+ shows you get three when it premieres.

 

[eddyj]

I'm very interested to learn more about Kevin. At first I thought Drew must be the son of an older daughter, but no, apparently an older son! And apparently dead. That will be interesting... where's Drew's mom? Dead as well? And the mom's mom?

Do we know Kevim is her son? Could it be he is the father and an older daughter the mother?

 

[madscientist]

Well, we're pretty sure Kevin is the father of the grandson, as I said. The question is whether he's Mare's son or not.

I can't remember details now but I thought there was a reference to her son at some point after that in the show. Something, anyway, convinced me that he was her son and not an older daughter's baby daddy. I remember I wasn't sure at first.

 

[eddyj]

The question is whether he's Mare's son or not.

Right. I don't remember anything to indicate this one way or another, but I may have missed something.

 

[eddyj]

OK, here is the explanation, but I am not sure this was shown in the first episode or not, so it may be a spoiler.

Spoiler: Who is Kevin?

Who is Kevin?
Mare and Mark's son who took his own life four years ago and left behind a young son. Siobhan is working on a documentary project in which she explains how Kevin, who was once diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, was a point of embarrassment for her mom. Mare is still struggling to process her grief and guilt about his death. She prefers not to talk about him with her family when the series begins.

 

[madscientist]

At least 95% of that information was not shown on the episode, so it's definitely a spoiler

 

[efilippi]

Boy, episode two sure upped the ante. Wonderful show.

Mare's antics with the duck liver pate really grossed me out. Why would anyone do that, what was she trying to say?

I like the county detective and think/hope he and Mare get along as time goes by. Loved his "have a good night, Mare" oops not nightmare, night mare...