By now you've read the headline and you're either judging me or you get it. It's a question I've been thinking about since the Mare of Easttown finale, where it was revealed that Trash John didn't actually kill Erin; instead, his 13-year-old son Ryan did. Trash John, his wife Lori (Mare's only friend) and Ryan all let Trash take the fall for Erin's murder because, shocker, John is Trash. He is the father of Erin's baby, DJ, and Trash is Erin's first cousin once removed, let's not forget. Also, Trash tried to get his brother Billy to confess to the murder, and was maybe gonna kill Billy if he didn't take the fall.
But Mare sniffed this all out, and now Ryan is in juvie jail (which looks like the kids' corner of a Barnes and Noble) for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ amount of time, and Trashy is in jail, too, leaving Lori alone to care for her now imprisoned tween son, her daughter Moira and baby DJ, who still needs his goddamn ear surgery!
I'm not asking for a reminder of the moral code. Murder is bad. I know. I'm just asking for you to close your eyes and picture this: Your name is Mare, and the law is your life. You're the detective in a small town near Philly, and you only really have a handful of people in your social circle, and most of your relationships are frail, at best. You love to layer coats and only buy neutrals. You, yourself, are willing to plant drugs on your grandson's mother so you can get custody. You're not exactly the most law-abiding citizen either, Mare. You dream of going on a cruise when this case is closed. (That was a Titanic joke if you didn't get it.)
When you realize your best friend's 13-year-old son accidentally killed Erin after being traumatized from the first time his Garbage Dad cheated on his mom — your bestie since you were four years old — you arrest him. And now he's gonna be wearing that navy jumpsuit for some time and Lori — your BEST FRIEND, MARIANNE — has to live with that.
Considering all this, one must ask: Should Mare — you, in our make believe scenario — have arrested Ryan? Or could you have maybe gone over to Lori's house and been like, "We're gonna get through this together." Or better yet, "Hey, I know what's up, but I know that he's not a sociopath and this was a horrendous accident, and you've already lost so much in your life, I'm not going to tell anyone. Puff, puff, pass the vape."
If I thought Ryan was a threat to society, I'd say that Mare made the right choice. But Ryan is just a 13-year-old boy who is way too embedded in his parents' marriage and protective of his sister, who is being bullied at school (that kid in the cafeteria was asking for it), and needs one thing and one thing only: therapy. Not the trauma of having Rose from Titanic show up to his basketball game.
So let's keep Trash in jail, let's find Ryan a therapist, and let's get DJ his ear surgery, STAT. That's what the final line of the show should have been.
Thoughts? Comments? Concerns that I'm convinced Mare should have just let this one slide? Hit that green button and let us know if Mare should have arrested Ryan or not.
Images: HBO