Spoiler warning! If you have not yet watched the May 16 episode of Mare of Easttown, make like Kate Winslet in Titanic and just let g.
It’s official: Easttown is the saddest town in the world. Why? Well, on the HBO hit series’ fifth episode, “Illusions,” fans saw the unexpected and blink-and-you-almost-missed-it death of one of the show’s favorite characters: Detective Colin Zabel (Evan Peters). Yep, they really just killed off one of the Internet’s boyfriends.
The American Horror Story vet has been nothing short of impressive in his most grounded roles since becoming a genre TV favorite in the Ryan Murphy universe (not to mention his recent meta guest appearance as a fake Quicksilver on WandaVision), more than holding his own with Oscar winner Kate Winslet in the titular role. And so it feels oddly fitting that Colin—and Peters with him—was taken from viewers way too soon, with just two episodes remaining in the limited series.
But with his seriously sad death came not one, but two silver linings: The missing women were found and rescued as a direct result of Colin’s work on the case, though the central mystery of who murdered Erin (Cailee Spaeny) is ongoing.