KATE WINSLET IS MAGNETIC as cop Mare Sheehan

Starring Hollywood actor Kate Winslet in the lead role, ‘Mare of Easttown’ was recently released as an HBO miniseries. Written and created by Brad Ingelsby and directed by Craig Zobel, the story is set in a Pennsylvania town.

The series presents both a murder mystery and an intimate portrait of small-town life through the eyes of Winslet’s world-weary detective character named Mare Sheehan.

A no-nonsense cop, Mare is tough and knows how to deal with difficult situations and unruly people. Her son died by suicide years ago. She is seen caring for his toddler son as the mother is recovering from drug addiction in rehabilitation. A divorcee, her ex-husband is getting engaged and to rub salt into the metaphorical wound, his new place is right behind hers.

Easttown is small enough to be an ‘everybody-knows-everybody’ kind of place. The townspeople were shocked by the disappearance of a girl a year earlier. Now the girl’s mother, desperate for some sort of closure, speaks uncharitably about the laxity of law enforcement to the media. The case is reopened to Mare’s dismay who, having chased every lead, believes the girl will never be found.

Soon enough, a teen mother is found dead with a gunshot wound to her head one morning. The night before, she was the victim of an assault by the jealous girlfriend of her ex and the father of her child. The whole thing is on video. The audience later sees Mare saddling with a county detective to assist her in the case that is suspected to be related to the disappearance a year before.

Kate is magnetic as Mare. The ‘Titanic’ star has shown herself to be not averse to take up difficult and unglamorous roles if they are challenging enough and Mare is as challenging as it gets. The character is written with immense depth and with complex motivations.