Tonight is the finale Mare of Easttown, which has taken Delco by storm over the past seven weeks. We are so freakin close to finally piecing all of the pieces together and seeing who Kate Winslet should actually arrest. Because to this point, it feels as though every single person in this God forsaken town is guilty of something.
Where we left off after Episode 6, is Billy and John are fishing…right after Billy confessed to killing Erin. Instead of going directly to the policy station to confess TO A MURDER, Billy’s brother John takes him fishing at a cabin. And John brings a gun in the tackle box. Nothing suspicious there. Meanwhile, Dylan and his friend are running around town and chasing Erin’s best friend, Jess. They want her to swear to secrecy because as Dylan says, the three are connected in someway “for life”. Oh, and Jess just handed the police chief a picture that made his jaw drop.
So, if Billy is the killer, like he has admitted and he is the actual the father of the baby, like we perceive..what’s left? Why is there still this secretive behind the scenes dealing of Dylan, his friend and Jess? Why was Dylan missing the late hours of the night when Erin died?
Here is how I think the pieces of the puzzle finally connect and how the show ends:
Think about how the show begins. Erin is desperate for $1,800 for baby DJ’s ear surgery. The couple is young and has no money. Her father Kenny is tired of paying for everything. One of the first scenes is Dylan and Erin arguing of the surgery money in front of Dylan’s new girl, Brianna Del Rasso. This was staged so Brianna doesn’t realize two parents of DJ are working together. Afterwards, Mare finds the brochure with the dollar amount.
So, how would Jess and Dylan get connected by the end of the show? Because this entire time, it has been a set up gone wrong that left Erin dead. In order to get the surgery money, Erin staged a plan to shake down the actual father (a secret only she knows) which would be Billy, or possibly John. Dylan will go along with the plan because let’s face it, he is a scumbag and probably won’t even question why Erin wants to shakedown their cousin. Also, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, he does love that kid.
If you are hatching a complex plan like this, who do you enlist for help? Your best friend. Erin enlists Jess and Dylan enlists his best friend, who has been his driver these past few episodes. Erin blackmails Billy (or John) for the money and uses Dylan as an enforcer. The teenagers have Billy (and possibly John) meet up in the park under the cloak of darkness. When they get there, things go awry. We know Billy and John’s family have an older gun. We know Dylan has a gun as well, given he just pulled it on Jess. There is a shootout and Billy accidentally kills Erin in the crossfire. That is why he admits to killing her, not murdering her.
This also would explain why the teenagers went back to Erin’s house to destroy the journals. They know they would be indicated in a crime and a heist if the Easttown police ever found the journals.
Another aspect of this is the fight in the first episode. Remember that the “fight” was leaked online but what is shows is Dylan’s girlfriend beating up Erin, Dylan making a rude comment about her, and Dylan’s friend is the camera man. There is no way after watching that video you would assume that core group would two hours later ending up in a park shaking someone down for money.
The only part I am not confident in with this wild theory is WHO Erin & Co. are trying to shakedown for money. There is a scene before Billy confesses where he snaps at his brother John and proclaims, “someone needs to teach him some accountability. You made a mess of your life because you couldn’t keep your dick in your pants”. We are led to believe that comment is about John’s affair, but it could be about sleeping with Erin. John may be the one who’s being shaken down and he enlists Billy for back-up. They take the family gun to the park, Billy fires, he is the killer, and John is the dad. John is going to kill Billy because if he were to confess, the first thing they would do is give him a paternity test. And if he wasn’t the father, they would go right back to investigating and inevitably John’s secret will have been discovered.
So Erin hatches a plan to get the surgery money. She knows she can blackmail Billy/John to keep their secrets hidden. The pastor, the nice guy who is trustworthy (and unsuspecting at the time in Erin’s mind) takes her to the park. She meets with her co-conspirators. Billy and/or John won’t give the money up. Dylan shoots. Billiy shoots. Erin is dead.
I am so confident in my theory, I am ready to be letdown when it doesn’t play out exactly like this in the finale.