S01.E01: The Mill

[Pallas]

In a small rust belt town in southwest Pennsylvania, Chief of Police Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) investigates after a dead body turns up in an abandoned steel mill. 

[The Pretender]

Good start. Jeff Daniels & Maura Tierney are both really class acts. Even if this goes down the drain I will probably keep watching just for them two. But so far so good. I like the pace, the grittiness. The rest of the cast is okay, I'm hoping some actors/characters (hard to know just yet which it is) will grow on me. I did not even recognize Dallas Roberts at first. Wowsa. And my fave from The Deuce was behind the bar, I hope we see her again (she's only listed in one episode over at IMDB so far). 

I like that they have chosen to go a slightly different route than the book. By keeping what went down inside the mill a secret (for now). I wonder if we will get bits and pieces with every new episode and if they will go with the plot in the book or not. Time will tell. 

[Lily H]

What exactly was Jeff Daniels doing with the drugs? It looked like he took the pills, ground them up, weighed the powder, separated it into smaller piles, weighed it again, and then flicked some of it away. It didn't make any sense to me.

This show reminded me a little of Mare of Easttown, except this place (can't remember the name) kind of makes Easttown look upscale.

[sheetmoss]

12 minutes ago, Lily H said:

 

This show reminded me a little of Mare of Easttown, except this place (can't remember the name) kind of makes Easttown look upscale.

Yes, same kind of pacing, - you'll probably get to know  everybody in town  too

      Represented feeling trapped and hopelessness  quite well 

[The Wild Sow]

2 hours ago, Lily H said:

What exactly was Jeff Daniels doing with the drugs? It looked like he took the pills, ground them up, weighed the powder, separated it into smaller piles, weighed it again, and then flicked some of it away. It didn't make any sense to me.

This show reminded me a little of Mare of Easttown, except this place (can't remember the name) kind of makes Easttown look upscale.

He was titrating the dosage down - slowly weaning himself from the meds.  At 2% a week (as discussed w/ his pharmacist friend), it will take around a year to stop completely.

[MBayGal]

But at the end, it looked to me like he took the excess that he should have gotten rid of and took it, rubbed it on his gums.  So the weaning off seems about to fail.

[T Summer]

I got that he wiped the residue  left in the vessel on his gums, so as to get every bit  of his lessened dose of the "PTS cocktail".

...but I could be wrong.

When Billy and Isaac were talking (prior to Isaac  going out onto the ice), at one point Isaac moved towards Billy and Billy said "Isaac don't". It was after Billy answered Isaac's question about why he's  still his friend by saying because you're the only one left in this town that makes me feel like I'm worth anything (paraphrasing). What was Billy trying to stop Isaac doing?

Re:  the significance of the jacket that bore the  #51 that Sheriff Dell hid? The Kid that fought Billy said  #51 Linebacker...  we played you  at county, senior year...  So it looks like someone was trying to frame Billy for killing whoever was laying there [at The mill] dead. Damn that kid has some bad luck.

 

ETA: The dead body is apparently  the Officer Sheriff Dell fired, Pete Novick.

Edited September 14, 2021 by T Summer
added info

[Lily H]

31 minutes ago, T Summer said:

at one point Isaac moved towards Billy and Billy said "Isaac don't". It was after Billy answered Isaac's question about why he's  still his friend by saying because you're the only one left in this town that makes me feel like I'm worth anything (paraphrasing). What was Billy trying to stop Isaac doing?

I had the impression that Isaac was about to kiss him.

[T Summer]

4 minutes ago, Lily H said:

I had the impression that Isaac was about to kiss him.

Thanks. That's what came to my mind too... but I thought it must be a wrong interpretation because a love interest probably wouldn't ask why are you still my friend?

[Medicine Crow]

Based on tonight's show, I'm in!!!

[Bluesky]

On 9/14/2021 at 2:53 AM, T Summer said:

I got that he wiped the residue  left in the vessel on his gums, so as to get every bit  of his lessened dose of the "PTS cocktail".

...but I could be wrong.

ETA: The dead body is apparently  the Officer Sheriff Dell fired, Pete Novick.

I think he’s starting to up the dose instead of weaning off.    

[T Summer]

22 hours ago, Bluesky said:

I think he’s starting to up the dose instead of weaning off.    

You may be right. 🤔They sure are showing us Sheriff Dell in the act of grinding, weighing and consuming his meds  a lot!

[One Imaginary Girl]

I didn't read the original novel but see that it got a lot of glowing reviews, yet so far this just seems like all of the cliches about economically declining towns and working-class people smushed together. I'll give another episode or so a try to see if it gets any more interesting.

[12catcrazy]

I'll keep watching this because I like murder mysteries but seems like a lower rent Mare of Easttown.  The town where this is set makes Easttown look like East Hampton.   I can't put my finger on it, but something is kind of lacking with this show compared with the other one.  It has some great talent involved but it is just cliched grim.