Mare of Easttown viewers are reeling after the thriller’s season finale aired on Monday night (31 May), with many calling for Kate Winslet to win awards for her performance.
The HBO crime drama starred Winslet as a small-town Pennsylvania detective, Mare Sheehan, who was investigating the murder of a local teenage mother, Erin McMenamin (Cailee Spaeny).
***Spoilers follow! You have been warned!***
The final episode of the whodunnit series contained a number of twists. Lori’s (Julianne Nicholson) husband John Ross (Joe Tippett) was revealed to be the father of Erin McMenamin’s child, DJ, and he confessed to murdering her.
However, in the final act it emerged that both Lori and John were covering for the real killer, their young son Ryan (Cameron Mann).
Fans took to Twitter after the episode to praise the cast’s performances, with one writing: “The horror on Mare’s face when she figured it out. Give Kate Winslet all the awards.”
The series also attracted celebrity fans, including Zach Braff and Sue Perkins.
Many fans highlighted Jean Smart’s performance as Mare’s mother Helen Fahey who, with her penchant for cocktails and no-nonsense attitude, became the thriller’s unlikely comedy hero.
In a five-star review of the finale, The Independent’s Ed Cumming wrote of Winslet’s performance: “They’re going to fill her awards cabinet like Oliver Reed’s recycling bin... whenever she’s in a scene, which is most of them, it’s hard to look at anything else.
“The technical aspects are all there: the drawly accent, the heavy walk, the happy guzzling of greasy sandwiches. Harder to quantify is the energy she brings to her dogged, headstrong, heartbroken detective. It’s a star performance that’s true to the word. She’s the sun in a dark system, by turns harsh, bright, nurturing, illuminating and cleansing.”
Mare of Easttown is available in its entirety on Now.
