Page 2 - MidWeek Kauai - June 9, 2021

2 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK JUNE 9, 2021
Rotten
All In With ‘Easttown’ Series
BY CHRIS MCKINNEY
PAPAYAS
For years, I’ve been a sucker for stories set in one of those Northeastern towns barely held together by high school sports, church, and lifelong friendships or grudges. Small towns where industry has vanished, property pric- es have plummeted, drug use has boomed and the people, who all know each other, are hanging on by a thread. I’ m talking Richard Russo coun- try. Give me that setting and a murder mystery, and I’m all in.
way I was not going to see this thing through the end. In other words, Winslet is so good, I don’t even care. Her obsession became mine.
I’ve seen so far is very, very good. There are shades of Elizabeth Moss in Top of the Lake and Gillian Anderson in The Fall — and that’s excel- lent company to be in.
I’m still feeling like a few too many murder mystery tropes have been thrust onto this story, perhaps by the Warner Bros. powers that be. The misdirection is frequently ham- handed. However, overall, what I’ve seen so far is very, very good.
HBO Max’s Mare of East- town is set in small-town Pennsylvania. Kate Winslet plays Mare Sheehan, a detec- tive who spent her entire life in Easttown. The star of her high school basketball team a quarter century before, Mare is now saddled with an aging mother, a resentful daughter, a 4-year-old grandson and a case she hasn’t been able to solve in over a year.
door and is about to get re- married. Like the town she polices, she’s barely holding it together.
stoic, and occasionally hot-tempered and mean. Winslet fully inhabits this vaping, cold pizza and Cheez Whiz-eating, beer-swigging cop. Her past, her present and it feels like her future are stuffed with tragedy.
Kate Winslet stars in the HBO Max series Mare of Easttown.
PHOTO BY EVAN AGOSTINI/ INVISION/AP
fear was that too many char- acters and too much forced misdirection would dilute the essence of this story. A story about a girl’s murder, and a cop who’s juggling the case along with some seri- ously heavy and razor-sharp personal baggage. However, by the end of the fourth epi- sode, I knew, like the story’s main character, there was no
The series itself looks great. It feels authentic. We see ev- ery wrinkle and varicose vein of this diminishing place. Cre- ator Brad Ingelsby is from a Catholic Pennsylvanian town like this. I’m still feeling like a few too many murder mys- tery tropes have been thrust onto this story, perhaps by the Warner Bros. powers that be. The misdirection is frequently ham-handed.
It’s been a long time since I started a series and couldn’t wait for the next episode to be released. I’ m eager to see Mare of Easttown’s series fi- nale. Not so much to find out whodunnit, but I want to see what becomes of Mare and whether she finally earns a much-deserved graceful resolution.
Her ex-husband lives next
Winslet is wonderful in this series. Her Mare Shee- han is haggard, stubborn,
Through most of the series (I haven’t seen the last epi- sode yet), you can tell that Mare’s aching to break down, but she refuses to. Shoot, she won’t even blink. Refusing to fold under adversity after adversity, Mare is the embod- iment of Easttown.
Then, when her daughter’s classmate is found murdered, and she personally knows every suspect, Mare is will- ing to dig into all leads — to expose secrets. The next thing you know, the guts of Easttown spill out for all to see. She finds enemies in people she’s known her en- tire life.
However, overall, what
chrismckinney808@gmail.com
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By the third episode, my
Fill in the blank cells using num- bers 1 to 9. Each
number can appear only once in each row, column, and
3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 11
RATING: BRONZE