This article contains spoilers for the ending of Mare of Easttown
For the last seven weeks I have wanted to talk about Mare of Easttown ALL THE TIME. I've read so many articles about theories about who killed Erin McMenamin. I've had a lot of WhatsApp discussions. We've published pieces dedicated just tothe excellent memes that have kept us going between episodes.
But as Mare of Easttown ended, I actually didn't have a lot to discuss, or a burning desire to dig into what everyone else was thinking. Because for the first time in... I genuinely cannot remember... I felt totally satisfied by the entire series, final episode and especially the last shot of the Kate Winslet-led show.
Yes I could talk endlessly about how good it is. So, so, so good. And maybe in a few days when my tears have FINALLY dried, I'll be ready to talk about Ryan Ross, Mare's decision and the powerful thread of female friendships and motherhood that flowed effortlessly through without signposting.
The brilliance of the show was in not giving characters 20 minute monologues to explain every decision, to highlight every theme or spell everything out. Instead it left everything to your own intelligence - and of course the incredible understated acting (of especially Kate Winslet, Julianne Nicholson and Jean Smart) that felt real to the circumstances of Easttown's community. So maybe it was natural that on finally completing the story, I felt Mare-esque - taking it all in, processing my thoughts. It's also possible I was just crying too hard.
Of course, a few hours on and all anyone wants to know is 'Will there be another series of Mare Of Easttown'?
Everything in my greedy TV bones would love to see such brilliance on screen again, but the part of me who loves the show for everything that is is, the arc that it painted for us, thinks that ultimately another season of Mare Of Easttownshouldn't happen. It would probably raise the bar again, like it has episode by episode. It's not about worrying that another series could diminish the first, it's just... all there... isn't it?
The show is billed as a 'limited series', which is a phrase I've never been able to get my head around. It suggests there won't be more of Mare of Easttown to come. But then, if you google 'limited series' some suggestions are House of Cards (which ran for six series) or Mad Men. Which are limited now they've ended, but... previously weren't? So no clue there really.
In an interview with Variety after the series had ended, series creator and showrunner Brad Ingelsby was asked: 'This is a limited series so the audience won’t get to watch this play out, but where do you see Mare going from here?'
He didn't correct the interviewer or suggest a season two of Mare of Easttown was likely unfortunately, when he said: 'I’d always envisioned Mare, after the credits roll, back to work and she’s not so cavalier about the position. That’s what we always intended those slaps to be; when Mrs. Zabel slaps her it’s like, “Wake up, you can’t go through life being so cavalier about things. Yeah, you saved the girl, but my son is dead.” So, I always envisioned Mare has gone back to work with a renewed purpose and a commitment to doing things the right way.
'And also, the thing that I admire about Mare is that I feel like she has been the person to shoulder the burdens, anxieties and fears of the community and that she’s a person that everyone looks to because she’s got the strength to do it. There’s a resilience about her that I think is really admirable, so I could see her going back to work the next day being like, “I’m going to shoulder the anxieties and fears of this community again because I can do it.” And that to me is at the core of Mare: she is this person in the community that is just as messed up as everybody else, but also has this incredible ability to just keep going in life in a way that people look to in times of need and trauma and disappointment.'
He also revealed that they'd worked hard to avoid an alternative interpretation of the ending of Mare Of Easttown.
Some fans interpreted the powerful last scene of Mare finally entering the attic where her son had taken his own life as possibly her also following and considering suicide.
However, Ingelsby squashed the theory and made it clear they made several efforts to ensure Mare was in a good place at the end of the show - perhaps another reason that a series two isn't in consideration.
'It’s actually something that we talked about in the edit,'he told Variety, when they asked, 'What did you need to see happen before that moment to get [Mare] to a place where it would be obvious she was going up there to deal, not to follow in his footsteps?'
'We had to ask the question to ourselves and we had to pick the right piece of music, which I think helps because it’s more hopeful,' said Ingelsby of the Mare of Easttown ending. 'There were a couple versions where the music was a little melancholy. Ultimately we trust an audience to think Mare’s in a good place. She’s had this conversation with the therapist who asked, “Are you ready to confront what’s been haunting you?” With her saying goodbye to Siobhan, having a good relationship with Frank and Faye, [being] back on the force, we’d given her enough wins so that when you get to that place at the end, you’re like, “OK, now she’s going to go up there and this is about confronting the thing that’s been haunting her.” I think it was, “How do you have enough of healing moments where you know Mare has arrived at that next level of healing in her own life?”'
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