This Is A Kate Winslet Appreciation Post
My god, the star of HBO’s new murder mystery ‘Mare of Easttown’ is excellent
Kate Winslet plays a self-destructive, sandwich-loving cop in the haunting new HBO murder mystery series Mare of Easttown. The show is a hit even though it's not perfect.
Mare of Easttown isn’t the most original cop drama I’ve ever seen: a teen girl is found dead and everyone is suspect in a town full of secrets. The show is set in the heart of Pennsyltucky, the hard-drinking, working-class state that exists between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, so it’s pretty gloomy. Billy Joel’s Twin Peaks.
I’ve also lost my taste for shows that romanticize law enforcement. Is it an easy job? No. Are cops incredibly powerful members of society who should be held responsible when they kill unarmed citizens? Yes. It’s that simple and the childish idea that police officers are good guys who fight bad guys just poisons any reasonable debate about how to hold incompetent or corrupt or racist cops accountable for crimes they commit while wearing a badge. Cops are just like you and me and should be treated as such.
I don’t see the sense in watching TV shows about cops and not having a grown-up conversation about the real-life police, culture, and community are inextricably linked.
