Saturday Night Live was certainly an interesting show last night with Elon Musk hosting but there was one good sketch: “Murdur Durdur”. Poking fun at the new HBO series Mare of Easttown, the sketch features Kate McKinnon as a “grizzled lady detective” and calls out the show for its very specific use of foods and the dialect from Eastern Pennsylvania.
Is Mare of Easttown good or are we all just fascinated by the idea that this is how Pennsylvania really is? Who is to say but the sketch is a hilarious look at the new show and does make some pretty good points.
Mare of Easttown is an HBO series starring Kate Winslet and is set around the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. The problem with Pennsylvania is that there are very specific accents to that region that are not easy to master. I know, I’m from Pittsburgh. We have an entire accent and our own language called “Pittsburghese” because we just have our own way of explaining things. So with a show like Mare of Easttown, viewers are getting a glimpse into just how wild of a place Pennsylvania is. Well, Eastern PA. Western PA is a whole different thing.
Why the sketch works though is because the show is...so specific and its tone is so serious that we all think we’ve figured out the main mystery of the show but then we stop and remember that there are like four other storylines happening and Mare seems to know everyone and anyone in Easttown. No really, she just walks into someone’s house and they know her entire life story. But again, as someone who is from PA, that’s not really that far off. My entire hometown probably knows what I had for dinner.
McKinnon playing Winslet’s role is pretty spot on. Despite Winslet being British, she does a pretty good job with the Pennsylvania accent on the show and Alex Moffat’s portrayal of Evan Peters not knowing what is even going on in this town is...truly incredible.
Should we all be watching Mare of Easttown? Probably! It’s really good even if it’s so specific I’m not sure how anyone enjoys it as much as I do but this Saturday Night Live sketch did a good job of poking fun at it while still reminding us why we’re all so obsessed with Mare and her murder case.
Mare of Easttown airs Sundays on HBO.