Thanks for that. My point is if that was Dylan’s motive, he took it WAAAAY overboard. He risked getting arrested for murder, and pulled a gun on Erin’s friend (Brianna was a evil redhead, don’t remember him pulling a gun her). Seems very irrational.
If they are looking for a plot, they need to look no further than 30 miles north of Delaware County:
A good attorney would probably be able to get the attempted murder charge dropped for John because he pulled the gun on Billy after he found it in Billy’s tacklebox, you could make a case he freaked out because he thought he was in danger, and he never did pull the trigger. In return, do a plea deal on the statutory rape charge and obstruction of justice.
I agree, it seemed overboard for him. The kid was so young, he didn’t appear (but appearances aren’t everything) to want much to do with the kid, he wasn’t the father, the kid needed expensive surgery. After Erin was killed, he could have handed the baby to Kenny and walked away. The paternity test would have given him the legal ability to wash his hands of the kid any any responsibility for him. All other events surrounding Erin’s death, not withstanding.
That sounds more right. I remember being confused even while I was watching it why Brianna stayed with him when he treated her like shit…but I guess it’s because it wasn’t her. Was that the same girl that they handed the joint to in the back of the car (ala Dazed and Confused).
Jess…Jess was the name of the girl with the picture.
And who was the third person there? The driver? Was that just one of Dylan’s friends or someone else of importance (or not importance at all, the show is all over the place with how important everyone is).
@Ashtura hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to request a mod fix the title. The show is Mare of Easttown, not The Mare of Easttown, though sounding like ‘mayor’, I think a lot of people (or at least me) made that mistake when we first heard it. Drives me batty every time I see it.
I think this take is too cynical. If you listened to any interviews with the show’s producers you’ll know that they had one primary theme in mind for the show. Hope. Amid all the misery and struggle in this dying town, it’s ultimately hope that will save them. This character isn’t there as a lazy red-herring, though it does work that way in part, he’s there to give Mare a ray of light in all the grief and stress. He’s a symbol of her hoping for a better, happier life. He helps her character grow out of the hopelessness and ultimately make the right choices in talking to her therapist, dealing with her son’s suicide and not giving up on Lore.
You’re right that Dylan knew the kid wasn’t his. They showed him hearing about the results of the test.
There’s a scene in the finale where Jess is talking to the cops and says that the reason Dylan wanted to destroy the journals was because his parents wanted to adopt the kid. If his parentage were known they’d have no chance. Perhaps this is just him telling Jess something bogus to avoid being honest about his feelings, but we are told a motive and it’s not explicitly that he wanted to keep it himself.
This is right. I agree with most posters here that this is a flimsy excuse to justify his gun-wielding threats to Jess. That whole journal-burning subplot turned out to be a pretty lame red herring, IMO.
I still enjoyed the show immensely, though. The mystery/plot was definitely not the strong suit and the whole missing gun/found gun twist really didn’t work well, but the acting and directing were amazing throughout. As a character study, it was superb and Winslet definitely deserves some award nominations.
I totally agree that the point of the character was to help the Mare character with her growth and healing, and that the show was about more than just the kidnapping / murder mystery. So I suppose I was wrong to call it a "pointless sub-plot’.
But I think it would have been more effective and less distracting to cast a lesser-known actor in that role than someone of Guy Pierce’s caliber. It just had a stunt-casting feel to put him in a relatively minor role, and I can’t believe it didn’t cross the minds of the creators / show-runners that people would expect there was more to the character because he was being played by Pierce. It was a cast of relative unknowns or c-listers other than Pierce and Kate Winslet.
So, am I too cynical? Or just cynical enough? 
I’m of the same opinion. I enjoyed the show a lot and it felt like we finally had a prestige HBO drama for the first time in a long time. I adjusted my expectations about halfway through to treat this as more of a character study of Mare and a dying rust belt town instead of a crime drama. This wasn’t so much True Detective, it was more Euphoria. The crime was just the nudge that got Mare to finally evolve.
Also, there’s some question about the ages of the kids on the show. I can’t recall seeing any scenes in school for Jess, Dylan, Brianna or Erin. Perhaps they are all drop outs or maybe they just didn’t show them there, but I had the sense that everyone was recently graduated. Somewhere between 17-20 years old. Erin was presumably still in school when the baby was a newborn since Mare’s ex was her teacher and giving her diapers, but at this point she may be out of school.
Ben Miles was originally cast for the role. He was replaced early on, rumor has it that the COVID restrictions may have made it tough for a Brit to get stateside, but it could have just been a scheduling conflict. Guy Peirce was a late addition, and was probably chosen because he had previously co-starred with Kate on another HBO show and was available.
So in fact the original idea WAS to cast a less prominent actor for the role. But shit happens and you don’t turn down the chance to have a big name like Pierce be in a minor supporting part in your show.
Makes sense. Interesting behind-the-scenes info I hadn’t known, thanks.
I finally binged this.
Major complaint is that they provided few to no explanations for most of the false lead actions. Why did ex lie about knowing Erin? No reason. Why did Deacon lie to Father right off instead of admitting staying in some contact? No good reason. So on.
I get that they wanted red herrings but then they need to create the benign reasons for them.
Even characters. No good reason for writer to be so taken with Mare. She’s not so likable.
Some good characters and good dialogue but ended up disappointing.
Because he’d already been accused of (sexual?) misconduct with a young girl in the very recent past. If he didn’t think anyone would find out she was in the car, why bring it up. As he said ‘would you believe me?’. Granted, he probably should have told the other priest. Of course, the other priest was Mare’s cousin, so there’s a conflict on interest there.
But like Frank hiding the fact that he help Erin out financially (by way of taking her shopping, buying diapers/food etc), there wasn’t really a good reason to lie. If Frank had told Mare, right near the beginning about that. She likely wouldn’t have questioned his paternity of the baby.
I do agree the the amount of red herrings got out of hand. But I can also understand people not volunteering information that, while exculpatory in the long term, is going to put heat on them in the short term.
Having said that, if I was in the position of any of those people, I think the first thing I’d want to do, is get my side of the story to the police ASAP. Even without a verifiable alibi, it might mean someone else’s BS alibi falls apart instead of the cops trying to figure out why my alibi doesn’t jive with the first, BS, one they heard. Anchoring Bias and all that.
And, maybe not in Easttown, but my alibi that I think isn’t verifiable, may be easily verified. For example, I can tell the cops I never left my house between 9am and 1pm and have no way to prove it, but not realize the neighbor across the street with a doorbell camera and the other cameras in the area, show that I spent that time doing yard work and washing my car, but never went anywhere.
The extreme initial lie to the Father was what I was talking about. No reason to claim no contact since youth group. I can see being afraid to admit she called that night and he picked her up. Panicking. But denying that he did his job of staying in contact with troubled youth?
Exactly like with Frank. And Siobhan’s both not offering up she saw the fight and then changing her story between talking to her man and to Zabel. Why the lies? There was no reason. Other than to create suspicion in the viewers. And then not explain it otherwise.
It seemed like lying was just default. People in that town need a good reason to the truth?
This series, for all the hype, was just okay. The meme of the jaded cop with booze, family and depression issues is a really tired one, and this one showed us nothing new, and it’s been done better (see Prime Suspect, Bosch, et al). The acting was fine, and the writing was good, but in the end it was the same story lines we’ve seen done over and over again.
Got it. But I still think it’s a ‘due to my past, would you have believed me’. Of course, in the privacy of the rectory, just the two of them speaking, he could have confided in the the other priest in a ‘promise not to tell Mare?’ deal and told him the truth about what happened and asked for advice. Hell, even putting on street clothes, driving a few towns over where he won’t be recognized and having a discussion with another priest through a confessional booth curtain would have helped. Granted, the other priest almost certainly would have told him he did nothing wrong and he needs to give the police his side of the story, let them investigate him, hope the process works, and clears his name.
About the only thing that would have made the priest/Erin thing even more pointless is if we later found out he had a dashcam that recorded audio and it would have undeniably backed up everything he said. Maybe even put Kenny in the car with them just for kicks.
But, as I keep telling myself, it was a really good series, I have to stop poking holes in it.
And with that, I’ll again recommend Unbelievable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTIkUzkbzQk.
I recently binged this over three nights. Was totally into it and relatively unquestioning. Having now read this thread I have to agree with some of the criticisms but damn, the acting really carried it and as I watched I just went with it.
Season 2?
I’m in!
I thought the actor that played Mare’s best friend, Lori, was a good casting choice and did a great job.
That was Julianne Nicholson. She’s done a ton of television and movies.
The perfect example of “That Gal…Who Was In That Thing”, a successful working actress, just not famous.
Yeah, I remembered her from a Law & Order episode, like 20 years ago. She’s got a memorable look/affect.