Mare of Easttown (Craig Zobel, 2021)

Yes, it was gripping. Yes, the acting was superb. Yes yes yes. But if writers/directors continue to indulge in the pitfalls of serial television narratives, then I should be able to review them with a rubber stamp. Mare of Easttown (to paraphrase what I wrote about Breaking Bad) builds up the intensity of single scenes but ignores how those events (especially the violence) impact the characters over the entire story arc. They just absorb the blows and move on. (Mild spoilers ahead but I'll keep it vague.) 

Take the scene in which Becca flies into a rage after seeing her ex-girlfriend Siobhan kiss Anne. Becca storms out of the house, knocking down Helen, Siobhan's grandmother (!), in the process. Helen goes to the hospital despite Mare claiming she suffered just a bump on the head. Mare checks in on Helen for one brief moment and then...the. incident. is. never. discussed. again! Becca completely disappears and it's as if the event never took place. It merely takes up (or, in an unkinder cut, wastes) time. 

And if that scene isn't monumental enough to ponder, then how about the death of a major character in episode 5? Sure, there's a bit of mourning. But by the end of episode six, it's as if that character had never existed. More time has been taken up such that every scene starts to feel like arbitrary filler, e.g., a mother sent on a wild goose chase to retrieve her kidnapped daughter. So then why was Mare of Easttown seven episodes? Why not 70? Why not 70 minutes? Can I get 7 minutes? Great television should be more than taking up time. No? Ok.

Grade (and it's quickly dropping so I better get this in now): B-minus