With episode 3 of Mare of Easttown now upon us, it seems eerily appropriate that we have three main suspects in the Erin McMenamin case. Two of them seem a little too obvious though, and with Mare off the case now all bets are off as to how (or even if) this will get resolved. Because despite what the higher ups seem to think, Mare is a fantastic detective, but maybe a not so fantastic human being.
One of the opening shots of this episode is a "WATCH CHILDREN" sign in the town, which is an acerbic touch on the part of the show considering how many children in Easttown have suffered over the span of a few years. Katie, who disappeared, Erin, whose death is being investigated, Kevin, who killed himself, Drew, who is in the midst of a custody battle, DJ, who just lost his mom and whose bio dad is uncertain, and Dylan who was shot by his ex girlfriend's dad and is a murder suspect. So many children, so many troubles, it's becoming hard to count. Life in Easttown seems to be a special kind of hell, but it's never more apparent than for the younger generation.
But back to the main plot, DJ's other prospective (and effective, since he's raising him) biological father Dylan, miraculously survived being shot twice by Kenny, even though it's uncertain whether he'll ever be able to walk again. I suppose I should've counted Kenny as a suspect too, since technically he has time he can't account for on the night of the murder, and his relationship with Erin was shaky at best. But he confessed, or rather professed to shooting (and killing, or so he thought) Dylan so readily that if he had killed Erin, would he have hidden it? Or reacted so strongly to who he does think did it? Maybe Kenny is playing a super long game, but somehow I don't believe it (watch me eat my words when it's revealed it was him though, but I hope not). Cross-generational tensions abound in every aspect as Mare and Carrie fight over Drew's custody. Mare is not going to let go of Drew without a fight, but unfortunately the way she chooses to go about it is all wrong. I understand wanting to take matters into her own hands, because she can't trust the U.S. legal system, and Carrie is, at best, a real piece of work. She throws Mare's relationship with Kevin in her face in such a way that it makes one wonder if she and Brianna are sisters in cruelty. But Mare's plan to steal drugs from the evidence locker, and plant them in Carrie's car, is, not even arguably, even more wrong. Of course, we've seen Mare make questionable decisions in regards to how she does her job, hauling Brianna in front of the entire restaurant was one of them, deleting the footage of the neighbor's son was another. But those were still within the realm of acceptability, whereas consciously choosing to plant fake evidence is definitely not. It's unfortunately easy to understand where she's coming from though, she wants to help Drew the way she couldn't help Kevin. Leaving him in Carrie's care is not how Mare pictures Drew having a happy and safe childhood, and I don't think anyone would disagree. It's also worth nothing that this probably stems from her conversation with Richard, who mentioned not having been a part of his son's life because he wasn't ready to be a father. But I (naively) took it to mean he was encouraging Mare to let Carrie be in Drew's life, even if she shouldn't have custody. But Mare clearly placed herself as the parent who wouldn't have access until Drew could choose for himself, which is probably more realistic.
Despite this desperate lapse in judgement, it's easier to understand why she was so cold to Colin in the beginning, when we see her in pure detective action at the crime scene. She insists upon the firearm canine intervention, and finds a bullet ricochet, and then hole, where no one else had been able to, even after hours of searching in the same spot. Despite this, she's not above asking Colin how he solved his infamous case, because Mare truly loves her job and wants to do it as best as possible. In fact, we learn that she got her motivation from her father, who was a detective, and she'd have become anything he was, such was their relationship. All in all, Mare's had a long day. A couple of long days, if truth be told. Which leads her to coming across a very drunk Colin at the bar. Drunk Colin is... a lot more forthcoming than sober Colin, but in a sweet, almost sad way. His life isn't turning out how he thought it would be, and his 15 year high-school reunion isn't proving to be that much of a celebration. Almost since the beginning, it's been pretty obvious that Colin admires Mare and wants to get to know her better, but there was definite flirting here and Mare didn't rebuke him even if she didn't encourage him either. I, for one, am here for it. And since Mare's now off the case thanks to her boss finding out about her little drug ploy, I'm betting her access to still being on it will definitely be through Colin. I was not expecting the consequences to fall on Mare so swiftly though. After all, this is only episode 3! Four episodes to go and our lead detective has given back her badge, gun, and entire career. The expression on Mare's face as she realizes the full extent of what she's done and its consequences was heartbreaking. Her boss is still somewhat protecting her, but taking her off the case seems akin to taking away her will to live, and I wonder how it'll pan out.
Another fantastic episode, jam-packed as usual but since we're just about halfway done with the season, it's no surprise it would set up the second half of the season, and boy did it ever! So, what are we thinking? Did the Deacon do it? Or was he "helping" someone else? Did Jess blame an innocent man of fathering a teenager's child, or does Frank have a darker agenda that we don't know about? How will Mare cope with being off the case? And will she and Colin ever give in to that chemistry?! Sound off in the comments!