*This Review Contains Full Spoilers*

On this week’s episode of HBO’s Mare of Easttown, Sore Must Be the Storm, Mare (Kate Winslet) makes some major emotional breakthroughs as the pieces come together in Erin’s (Cailee Spaeny) case.

First and foremost, I was sadly wrong last week in thinking that Colin (Evan Peters) possibly survived his gunshot to the face. Although it seemed like he could’ve possibly survived since it looked like he just got shot in the cheek, we get instant confirmation that Colin is dead. It’s a sudden and surprising way to see him go and there isn’t much resolution yet outside of Mare visiting his mother’s house and being a little too harshly reprimanded in my opinion. To be fair, his death is sadly not too out of line for his line of work and at least Mare was able to avenge his death.

Mare and her family go through a lot of emotional moments this week as they deal with the residual feelings of Kevin’s (Cody Kostro) suicide. Although Mare isn’t required to attend therapy anymore since she’s allowed back as a detective, she goes back, and we get a horrifying glimpse into the day that Kevin killed himself. To get her to further open up about her unresolved grief, Mare’s therapist asks her to recount the day they found him and it’s genuinely heartbreaking to watch. The way this tragic re-telling is captured is incredibly effective in showing the devastating ripples Kevin’s suicide had within the family. Winslet’s performance is perfect for the moment in showing how genuinely haunted Mare is from this and her re-telling fleshes out why Siobhan (Angourie Rice) and Mare have such a fraught relationship.

Siobhan was the first person to find him since Mare had asked her to go check on him back at home and she blames Mare for making her face that trauma on her own. There’s a heartbreaking exchange between them later in the episode after Siobhan tries to heal her grief with alcohol and drugs. Nothing too drastic happens, but it’s definitely sad to see them be torn apart because of this one instance. There’s definitely some credit due to Craig Zobel’s direction as he focuses less on showing the horrific act itself and more on the devastation it causes. It gives the Sheehan family much more heart and depth and it’s easily the most emotional moment of the series.

It’s also great that we get some good resolution to Dawn (Enid Graham) finally getting Katie (Caitlin Houlahan) home. The scene between her and Mare is very heartwarming and feels like an immense weight being lifted. We also see Mare get back on Erin’s case since, as I suspected, it’s not connected to Katie’s kidnapping. Things continue to take weird turns as Deacon Mark (James McArdle) is detained for him confessing, although we know he likely didn’t do it, and Dylan (Jack Mulhern) continues to incriminate himself. Mare already suspects that he’s full of it because of Briana (Mackenzie Lasing) saying his testimony is false, but we know that he’s doing much worse. He’s still terrorizing Jess (Ruby Cruz) for some kind of information she has, and his actions are intercut with something happening with Carrie (Sosie Bacon) that will make your heart stop. To be fair, it’s easy to still feel for Carrie despite what almost happens because she’s clearly in over her head. Regardless, it doesn’t matter how much Dylan might look suspicious, the real suspicion is on the Ross family – specifically Billy (Robbie Tann).

There’s a whole mess of secrets within the Ross family that truly makes your stomach turn and its somehow worse than John (Joe Tippett) having an affair. A Ross family reunion shirt Mare finds on Freddie (Dominique Johnson) after he overdoses, which is heartbreaking in itself, blows this whole thing wide open. Billy apparently had a sexual relationship with Erin at the family reunion which makes him the father of DJ and even confesses to John that he is the one that killed Erin. This matches up given his skittish behavior lately and their father seeing him come home bloody that night, but I’m not buying it. He never delivers a reason why and John’s reaction to this by having them go up to the lake for one last fishing moment together strikes as strange – especially with him bringing a gun. As Mare races up there to slap the cuffs on Billy, Jess comes in with a photo to the police that leaves us on the cliffhanger of a lifetime. Personally, I think John is really behind this and that “affair” he had wasn’t just with this mysterious woman.

Just as it cues up its wild finale, Mare of Easttown delivers some strong emotional blows with Mare coming to terms with Kevin’s suicide and keeps you guessing with how Erin’s case is really going to come to a close.

Watch the Trailer Here: