Peak Good

Mare of Easttown is good. With exceptional acting, an interesting, layered story, and a solid production, it’s a worth a watch.

A focused story about a woman and her job, a town and its people, and the shared experience of struggle, there is a lot to like. But while there are many parts where it excels, there are also several places it falters. And although these flaws hold it back from being a great show, its strengths outweigh its weaker moments, which makes it a ‘good’ show. And being just ‘good’ is a great accomplishment for any creative medium.

Especially with works of imaginative expression, ‘good’ means you fulfilled your role as a creator. You had an idea, you formed it into a tangible product, and had real effect, be it big or small, in the world and on the people who experience it.

While I didn’t connect with every moment or choice of Mare, it's underlying themes and relationships were genuine, and I very much related to and was pulled into it.

With the current media landscape, the networks and streaming services are looking for the next great show that will set them apart. The buzz and cultural awareness of a great show can carry a these companies, and their bottom line, a long way, by bringing people in.

But in in-order to get us to stay, they mostly take the approach of more. More shows, more movies, more content. All available directly to you, that will hopefully grab your attention. Or at the very least keep you subscribing because you don’t want to miss out on the next big hit that could be available in their ever-growing library.

But whether it is a big hit or not, the discovery of a great show or movie is an exhilarating experience. Finding that inspired or visionary story that connects with you on a personal level can feel like it made just for you. For me, this experience is one of the main reasons I search out all types of content.

And in the search for great, we inevitably get a steady dose of mediocre content, but more importantly, we get a whole lot of good.

Now, in this environment of heightened expectations, realizing that you are only watching something ‘good’ but not ‘great’ is a strange feeling at first. I think this is one of the strangest feelings after investing time and energy into a series or film. You are left mostly satisfied, but are aware that it didn’t grab you and take you along for a ride.

But what starts as me realizing, then accepting that the show I’m watching won’t create an all-encompassing personal connection, leads to me to question why. I will observe what I did and didn’t like about the story construction and the connections made (or not made).

‘Why does it do some things right, but still have something missing? It’s on the cusp, having several moments that are reeling me in, but then seemingly cut me loose. What are the earned moments and what is forced?’

But while breaking down its shortcomings, it’s difficult, inevitable really, to not become overly critical of the whole show. You pull on that one thread and it’s hard to stop. Soon you are bashing every aspect of the show, that you were still seemingly enjoying, wondering how it even made it to air.

The inner cynic is a powerful beast once awoken and our current culture promotes it, antagonizes it. It’s important to realize though, that just because something isn’t great, or doesn’t quite nail the landing, doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort to make or the time to experience it. While they may not connect with overwhelming joy or hurt, they have their moments and overall successfully convey their intention.

Good shows are everywhere. In the constant search for great, the more good shows I find. Most of the shows I watch are ‘only’ good. They should be appreciated for workmen like pedigree.

They are the mark of a confident, professional team of creators. There are hundreds of variables and choices that go into making a show that can cause it to sink or swim. In a great show, most of these variables go the best way possible, resulting from both deft decision-making but also a lot of luck.

In a good show, some of those variables don’t work out. But the important ones do, which holds it all together, producing a product still worth your time.

This era of choice has both positives — underrepresented voices given a platform — and negatives — shows lost in a flood of choice. But today, because of the excess of content choices, there is more good in the world. And that’s great for everyone.