What I’m Not Watching: Mare of Easttown

Kate Winslet is no longer a Heavenly Creature, nor a Titanic starlet, but a disappointed middle-aged detective in the rust belt with a broken family and a cold case she can’t really cope with. She starts dating a writer passing through, played by Guy Pearce (Shotgun Ed in L.A. Confidential). A local girl with another broken home is murdered, and a much, much younger, fetus-like even, detective played by Evan Peters (a bunch of American Horror Story series) joins her to investigate.

I bother mentioning the actors here because that’s often the only entertainment. The plot is glacial, not helped by HoboMax releasing these one a week like some old-timey 20th C TV series. I don’t care about “Mare” or her family, she’s a sullen, bad-tempered, constantly-vaping wench who supposedly made a basketball shot 25 years ago. Kate’s made no attempt to control her ever-expanding hips and ass, which, I’m not judging her much on that, but it makes her role less plausible. She’s about in shape for a 60-year-old near retirement, not a 45-year-old active-duty cop.

The family stuff is really dire, ex-husband is remarrying, and Kate shows up to annoy him or accuse him of various crimes. Cousin is a priest, and so he’s dirty in some way. Her mother-in-law is just the worst. The victim’s ex-boyfriend, father, and friends are all awful, she’s better off out of the script.

On ep 3, and I’m not making it thru this. I watch an ep and feel like someone living in the rust belt, like life is pointless and ugly. Is there any payoff possible that’d make it worth going on? This is what happens when someone decides they need an Oscar, so they make some misery porn for a few hours and hope the tired old men of the Academy remember when she wasn’t old.

★☆☆☆☆ This just sucks.