‘Mare of Easttown’ Finale Spoilers: Attic Moment Explained, Huge Twist Revealed

SPOILER ALERT – Do not continue reading if you haven’t seen the Mare of Easttown finale!

There were so many twists and turns in the series finale of Mare of Easttown and there’s one moment that has left some fans with questions. We have some details to explain the meaning of the last shot in the episode though.

We don’t want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to watch the last episode yet, so make sure to not continue reading unless you want to see those spoilers.

Click inside to check out the spoilers…

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So, in the season finale we finally learned the killer of Erin McMenamin (Cailee Spaeny).

It was revealed that John Ross (Joe Tippett), who is the husband of Mare’s best friend Lori (Julianne Nicholson), had been having an affair with Erin and he was the one who got her pregnant. He took the blame for Erin’s murder, but we later learned he wasn’t the actual killer.

John and Lori’s son Ryan (Robbie Tann) was the real killer. He learned about his father’s affair with Erin and saw text messages from her asking him to meet in the woods. He stole a gun and took it to the woods to confront Erin. He tried to just scare her by pointing the gun at her, but she tried to grab it and the gun went off. In the moment, he shot Erin and killed her. Ryan called his father John to help cover up the crime.

Mare (Kate Winslet) discovered that Ryan was the killer when a man complained about his gun and other possessions going missing. He said the only person who had access to his storage shed was Ryan Ross, who mowed his lawn. Security camera footage showed Ryan going into the shed to get the gun on the night of Erin’s murder.

In the end, Ryan wound up in a juvenile facility and John is in prison for his role in covering up the crime. Lori is now caring for John and Erin’s son DJ and she initially told Mare that she never wants to see her again, but they made amends in the end.

The final moment of the episode featured Mare going into the attic of her house as the shot faded to black.

So, why is the attic so significant?

Throughout the season, we watched as Mare was coping with the trauma of losing her son to suicide. He hung himself in the attic and she explained to a therapist that no one had ever been in the attic since that day. Mare’s ability to go into the attic again showed that she has finally been able to grieve the death of her son.

Variety chatted with series creator and showrunner Brad Ingelsby. They asked, “You had to get Mare ready to go up to the attic where her son died by suicide. What did you need to see happen before that moment to get her to a place where it would be obvious she was going up there to deal, not to follow in his footsteps?”

Brad said, “It’s actually something that we talked about in the edit. We had to ask the question to ourselves and we had to pick the right piece of music, which I think helps because it’s more hopeful. There were a couple versions where the music was a little melancholy. Ultimately we trust an audience to think Mare’s in a good place. She’s had this conversation with the therapist who asked, ‘Are you ready to confront what’s been haunting you?’ With her saying goodbye to Siobhan, having a good relationship with Frank and Faye, [being] back on the force, we’d given her enough wins so that when you get to that place at the end, you’re like, ‘OK, now she’s going to go up there and this is about confronting the thing that’s been haunting her.’ I think it was, ‘How do you have enough of healing moments where you know Mare has arrived at that next level of healing in her own life?’”

Here is more info on the possibility of a season two!