Mare of Easttown creator on that cathartic Kate Winslet climax sequence: ‘What would you tell someone who’s lost a child to suicide?’| Scene Stealer

While her chase scenes and investigation bits from the miniseries are quite thrilling, it is Mare’s therapy session, which offers the audience a glimpse of the clever, lovely but deeply sad woman that resides within Mare. Kate — as has been proven by her Emmy-winning turn as well as multiple reviews since show’s release — does a stellar job of bringing that kind of balance into the part, embodying Mare with all her imperfections, making her one of the most well-written and acted characters of TV in recent history. However, when finally all things are settled and done, it is one of the show’s final sequence which offers not only Mare some closure, but her viewers as well.

After Mare tries to speak with her best friend Lori post discovering that her (Lori’s) son has done the deed, Mare gets up the next morning, resolved to take the final step in confronting her grief. We see her take up the ladder to the attic, where the horrific tragedy with her son had happened. She is ready to face life, and move on. But did you know that we almost didn’t get a chance to see that on our screens?

While speaking with Vanity Fair, series creator Brad Ingelsby said the final ending was inspired by a conversation with a grief specialist on set.

Titled Sacrament, which is the Christian service of imparting grace, the final episode sees Lori trying to forgive her best friend for what she sees as a sort of ‘betrayal’ as Mare does her duty and hands Lori’s son to the law forces, Julianne Nicholson told Vanity Fair. And in the next scene, we see Mare trying to forgive herself and her son Kevin for what happened to them by reaching up that ladder.

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“We met a therapist who dealt with grief on the set, and I had a number of conversations with her about what the sessions would look like. I remember asking her one time, ‘What would you tell someone who’s lost a child to suicide? Where would you tell them to go?’ She said: ‘I would tell them to go where it happened. I was taken aback,” creator Ingelsby said.

“It was a revelation. When we got to the end, it felt like it became so obvious. Of course it has to end with Mare going up. This whole show is a woman who refuses to confront grief. So of course it has to end with her going up and doing this thing,” he added. Lead star and producer Kate Winslet was of the same opinion as she told Variety separately, “That is for me what that moment is, I think it is the beginning of her facing what she hasn’t been able to face.”

Mare of Easttown is avaliable to stream on Disney Plus Hotstar.