Easttown is a weathered Pennsylvanian nook, the kind of place that presses its community together without much room for trees. It has sturdy houses built by great-grandfathers that people in the 90s would’ve said will last forever, but are just now falling apart. Crime dramas often rely on the claustrophobia of tight-knit neighbourhoods to force interaction between suspects, but even so, the people of Easttown are unusually close.

This is just one of the many ways Mare of Easttown over-feeds our gluttonous expectations, only to poke at our bellies when we’re full. In the first episode we are taken to a seedy bar and introduced to an out-of-towner named Richard Ryan, played by Guy Pearce, a Hollywood name with a Hollywood face who will surely play a big role in the drama that’s about to unfold. He is our first real suspect, before we’re even privy to a crime.