HBO, 2021It comes as little surprise that, since Mare took steps toward forgiving herself in the final episode of “Mare of Easttown,” fans have been anticipating a Season 2. Mare, consumed by roiling emotion that she hid behind a tough attitude and draws on her vape, felt so rounded, complex and real that it seems painful to leave her behind for good. A has-been high school athlete whose life since graduation had been a mix of a few ups and a lot of downs, Mare forced herself through each day on her police-detective beat, until the possibility of solving a complex and knotty case — and the new friendship of a county cop (Evan Peters) — brought her to life. “Mare of Easttown” was a portrait of grief that somehow never quite felt heavy, in part because Winslet lent Mare a let’s-get-through-this gumption. You believed that she was in pain; you also, somehow, believed that she would be OK.
