Winslet leads stellar cast in gripping ‘Mare of Easttown’

The plot of “Mare of Easttown” (April-May, HBO) is nothing we haven’t seen before. Nor is its moody vibe of a small, troubled community wracked by kidnappings and a murder. This seven-episode miniseries in particular reminded me of the Anna Paquin-fronted Canadian series “Bellevue” from a few years ago.

Crammed with characters

So creator/writer Brad Ingelsby (writer of “The Way Back”) doesn’t earn any originality points for plotting or for “wow” casting, as Kate Winslet has the title role here. But “Mare” earns all the points for doing this familiar type of mystery in a way where we feel the impact on police detective Mare and the people around her in small-town Pennsylvania (where the series was shot).

It’s amazing how much character development is crammed into seven episodes. Ingelsby achieves a shortcut of sorts by making many key players related. Mare’s ex-husband Frank (David Denman) even lives one house over. Three of Frank’s cousins factor heavily into the plot; the teen daughter of one is found naked and dead in a river in episode one.

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And everyone knows Mare because she was a high school basketball hero a quarter-century earlier. Heck, a mother (Enid Graham) who blames the police department for not doing enough to find her missing daughter was Mare’s teammate. Can you say “Awkward”?

(Light spoilers follow.)

Winslet wins me over

I hadn’t jumped on the Winslet bandwagon before “Mare,” but she wins me over here, and should win awards. In the finale, when Mare puts together the pieces that point to the killer – someone she, of course, knows – we can practically see her stomach falling into her shoes and her heart simultaneously breaking.

I could nitpick “Mare” and say she should not be working this case. Indeed, she does something at one point that should – in a more just world — get her a prison sentence and permanent removal from the force. Instead, she gets only a short suspension.

But so many shocking things happen after that – including a tense fifth-episode showdown in a rundown building that calls to mind “The Silence of the Lambs” – that I couldn’t begrudge Mare getting back on the case.

Mare is horrible at work-life balance, but how can she not be? The case involves everyone from her personal life.

So she takes every blow personally. And Winslet dresses down so much for this role that she goes from the hot celebrity list to plain all the way down to ugly. Makeup can do amazing things, and so can a total lack of makeup.

When silver fox Richard (Guy Pearce) and younger detective Zabel (Evan Peters, Quicksilver in “X-Men”) call Mare “beautiful,” I feel like the show is reminding us that Mare is considered physically attractive even though we can’t see it on screen.

A deep bench

This cast is so absurdly loaded that it gives “Big Little Lies” Season 2 a run for its money. Any lingering doubt about television not being on the same level as film in talent, budget or overall quality should be put to rest at this point.

Along with the aforementioned stars, a nod goes to:

• Julianne Nicholson, who I’ve admired since 2000’s “Tully” but who is somehow still an “Oh, that gal” actress, as Mare’s bestie;
• Jean Smart (“Watchmen”), providing both an adversary and warmth as Mare’s live-in mother;
• and Angourie Rice, who broke through in “The Nice Guys” and continues to be great, as Mare’s college-bound daughter.

Did you guess whodunit?

Setting aside “Mare’s” sheer quality, one other thing sets it apart from other murder-mystery minis in my book: Going into the final episode, I correctly guessed whodunit. I’d never accomplished that before.

It gave me a fresh perspective on the finale, as what played as suspense for a viewer who didn’t guess it played extremely slowly for me. For the first time, I was ahead of the writers of a great piece of programming.

I’m not sure if this is a point for or against “Mare.” I loved guessing right, but does that mean Ingelsby overplayed his hand? Did he put too much of a flashing light on certain clues?

More likely, it’s at my end. I now have tons of practice at watching shows in this genre. So the fact that “Mare of Easttown” could thoroughly engage me for seven episodes of something I’d generally seen before is certainly to its credit.

IMDb Top 250 trivia

• “Mare of Easttown” ranks No. 196 among IMDb’s Top 250 TV Shows with an 8.5 rating. While there may be recency bias in play, I think it has a chance to stay on the chart.
• It’s one of four shows from this calendar year on the list, and the one with the most name recognition. The others are “Aspirants” (No. 52), “Invincible” (No. 63) and “It’s a Sin” (No. 91).
• Winslet’s only film in the Top 250 Movies is “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (No. 100), with an 8.3 rating. Surprisingly, “Titanic,” at 7.8, does not make the list.