Who Killed Erin & Who Is The Baby Daddy? That Twisted ‘Mare Of Easttown’ Ending Explained
I can’t recall the last fictional crime show that has gripped me as much as Mare of Easttown.
Sure, I watch a hell of a lot of true crime shows, but this Kate Winslet-led series is truly something to behold. Set in the suburbs of a small town in Philadelphia, Winslet plays a detective who tries to solve a series of murders and missing girls, while grappling with recent traumas that have affected her family. The seven-episode HBO miniseries came to an end this week and the two big questions that have loomed over the show were finally answered: who killed Erin and who is Erin’s actual baby daddy?
This post contains major series spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the last episode of Mare of Easttown and don’t want to know what happens, then get outta here!
Who is the baby’s father?
Erin’s baby daddy is her married blood relative, John Ross — not Billy, who was implicated in episode 6. Their affair was revealed to Chief Carter when Erin’s bestie Jess presented him with a photo she stole from Erin’s diaries, showing John and Erin in bed together. Ugh, yuck!
John admitted to Mare that they started sleeping together after meeting at an err, family reunion. Erin got pregnant with DJ, and while John recommended an abortion, Erin decided to have the baby and tell her current boyfriend, Dylan, that the baby was his — as he had a supportive family that could give DJ a better life.
Later John confessed to murdering Erin, revealing his motive was that he was worried she would reveal their affair. This all came out at the beginning of the final episode, and it seemed like the killer’s reveal came to a rather anti-climatic conclusion, but of course, this was all a red herring. This leads us to…
Who killed Erin?
Not John!! John took the blame for the murder, but the actual killer was his son, Ryan. Huh, why?? Ryan found out that his father was cheating on his mother Lori. He confronted his dad and while John initially denied the accusation, Ryan later saw texts that confirmed it. John then told Ryan that he had ended it but on the night of Frank’s engagement party (and Erin’s murder), Ryan saw his father speaking to Erin on the phone. Ryan then stole his dad’s phone and texted Erin to meet up with him, pretending to be John.
Ryan went to Mr. Carroll’s house, where he knew a gun was stored in the shed. He then met up with Erin, where Ryan pointed the gun at her and told her to stay away from his family, but as she tried to grab the gun off him, he ended up shooting her. John and his brother Billy came to help Ryan hide the body, and they agreed to not tell another soul about what they did.
Mare joined the dots that the murderer was Ryan and not John when she spoke to Mr. Carroll, who told her that his gun went missing on the night of Erin’s murder and the only other person who knew where his gun was kept was Ryan, as he mowed his lawn. Mr. Carroll added that two rounds were gone, which coincides with the two bullet marks found on Erin’s body. Mare checked the old man’s security footage from the night, which clearly showed Ryan creeping in to take the gun and returning it.
What are the clues that lead us here?
I was a little shooketh to learn that Ryan was the killer all along. What about Erin’s shitty ex, Dylan? He had the motivation to kill Erin AND he was an awful and violent person. Then there’s Richard (aka Guy Pearce), who just happened to pop up in town right before Erin’s murder? However, it turns out that the killer was right in front of us all along, and tbh, it does make sense.
There were scenes included in the series involving Ryan that didn’t really need to be there — other than hinting at something sinister. Ryan studying on a Friday night was a red flag — this suggests he’s a reclusive type, without much of a social life. Then there was perhaps the most damning scene, where Ryan’s reaction to his sister being bullied resulted in him bashing a boy with his lunch tray. This was portrayed as a heroic gesture, but it showed that Ryan was capable of violence in order to protect his family. Finally, the scene where Ryan runs off and then cries on Lori’s shoulder just seemed overdramatic, suggesting Ryan was guarding a darker secret than just his dad cheating on his mum again.
There were quite a few scenes dedicated to Ryan which in retrospect, were super suss. Why should we care about this random boy? There was also an underlying narrative in the series of mothers blaming themselves (or other women) for their son’s or husband’s actions — like Mare making excuses for her son’s abusive behaviour before his death — so this ending plays into that theme, with Lori protecting Ryan’s secret and later telling police she would have taken it to her grave.
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