TV Review: I think Kate Winslet might be too posh to be properly grumpy in Mare of Easttown

— but here I am now, dying to see what happens next week

Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown.

I’ve fallen into Mare of Easttown (Sky Atlantic, Monday 9pm and Now). This isn’t because of Kate Winslet — it’s actually kind of despite her. Kate plays Mare, a grumpy detective in small-town America, with a falling-apart life, who is called upon to solve the murder of a young woman.

Kate Winslet is really good at a lot of things, from Titanic to The Reader. She’s just not very good at being grumpy. I’m not sure why, but she’s decided to play it as someone with a touch of lower-back pain. It’s more discomfort than a mood. I know it’s reverse snobbery to say this, but I think she might be too posh. (She’s not actually an aristocrat or anything, but you wouldn’t say she’s had a hard life.)

Her character is on screen so much in the early episodes of Mare of Easttown that it feels like the producers are trying to get value for money. In fairness, there is plenty for Mare to feel grumpy about. We learn that her son took his life, her ex-husband is about to re-marry and she is under pressure to uncover a lead for a woman who disappeared a year previously, presumed dead. 

Then another woman is murdered out in the woods. There’s no shortage of suspects, including a slightly creepy Catholic priest. It’s cookie-cutter stuff in terms of murder mystery formula. (Someone on Twitter summed it up as a detective fighting her demons, trying to solve a murder in a town where things aren’t quite what they seem. That gave me a laugh.)

Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown: "I couldn’t binge-watch Kate Winslet failing to nail grumpy"

Anyway, I lost interest after episode three. I kept thinking about the first season of True Detective with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey — that had style and mood and proper grumpy characters. Mare of Easttown felt like a cosy crime series in  comparison:  Death in Paradise or Murder, She Wrote. It doesn’t help Mare’s love interest is played by Guy Pearce, who must feel this is some comedown from LA Confidential and Memento.

My wife stuck with Mare and her small-town murder mystery. And I fell back into it. This is possibly because there isn’t a whole lot of good telly out there right now, b ut in fairness, Mare of Easttown gets better after a few episodes. Mare has a side-kick detective imposed on her, played by Evan Peters. The plot twists enough to keep you watching. It’s only on once a week so you have to wait for the latest cliff-hanger to play out. That works because I couldn’t binge-watch Kate Winslet failing to nail grumpy.

It isn’t a problem by episode four. Kate is too busy to be grumpy because she now has two murders to solve. There is a chance that her nice-guy ex-husband isn’t quite what he seems. The relationship with Guy Pearce seems real, it lets her show her vulnerable side. And we’re treated to a belter of a plot twist at the end of episode four. So here I am now, dying to see what happens next week.