Let me be entirely awenest, my friends: I’m still (sips Wawa coffee) not over (munches the hoagie I keep two feet from my right arm at all times) the death (flings Mike-Schmidt-era Phillies hat) of Detective Colin Zabel (switches to a Yuengling-Rolling Rock double fist, or as I call it, college.)
But life goes forward, and there’s a mystery to solve, and we’re here to help you do that as we trudge through the last hours of waiting for the seventh and final installment of HBO’s Philly-riffic, Kate Winslett-driven series Mare of Easttown (tonight, 10 p.m. ET).
Naturally there will be some spoilers here, if you aren’t current with the series. But, also, I’m not sure you’re going to understand anything I say in this article if you haven’t seen the show.
Episode 6 ended with a dastardly cliff-hanger. It was so unfair that I’m contemplating buying tickets to Delaware men’s basketball games this season so that I can throw things (a great Philly sporting tradition!) at Blue Hens coach Martin Ingelsby, whose brother Brad is the writer and producer of Mare.
The ending scene has Mare chasing after Billy Ross, who earlier that day confessed to his brother John that he, in fact, killed Erin McMenamin.
However, back at the Easttown Police HQ, Erin’s best friend Jess Riley has arrived to reveal that she retrieved a photo out of Erin’s diaries, before they were burned by ex-boyfriend Dylan Hinchey, and that it may have some bearing on the case.
Chief Carter looks at the photo and quickly tries to have Mare contacted. But we never see what’s on the photo. We only know it’s going to change the direction of the narrative.
With that being the case, let’s take a look at the possible suspects and why they do or don’t make sense. I’ll weave in some of my own observations as well as the best of many, many, many theories making the rounds on the internet.