[SPOILERS] HBO's MARE OF EASTTOWN: "Teenage Girls Are Fucking Sneaky"

Here's HBO's plot summary for Mare of Easttown:

As her life crumbles around her, a small-town Pennsylvania detective Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) investigates a local murder [of Erin]. The series explores the dark side of a close community and provides an authentic examination of how family and past tragedies can define our present.

Mare of Easttown is unique in its use of the allure of a (dead) nymphet to make a hit streaming series. For example, near the beginning of episode 2, Erin's 17-year-old topless corpse was on display. 

Erin's 17-year-old Topless Corpse

And very interestingly, the series did not consider Erin a victim in her attempt at teen prostitution via Sidedoor's escort service, and the series did not imply that Erin was groomed into her age-gap sexual affair with John Ross.  

Of Erin, Mare said:

"If you're a teenage girl, baby at home and a [strict] dad like Kenny, you're not gonna open an account on Sidedoor with pictures like this on your own computer. Trust me. Teenage girls are fucking sneaky."

Detective Colin Zabel, Mare's partner, may have been naive about nubile nymphets, but not Mare.  Erin may not have considered teen prostitution for a Prada bag, but nonetheless, 17-year-old Erin seriously contemplated teen prostitution to earn money for your child's ear surgery.

Of his relationship with Erin, John Ross shared with Mare:

"It wasn't just sex, okay? Yes, there was sex. It was. We were both having a hard time. I mean, she was having problems at home, and then things between Lor [my wife] and me weren't great. We could confide in each other in a way that we couldn't with other people. I mean, we had this connection." [Emphasis mine]

Erin's Sidedoor Escort Account

Thus, John stressed that his age-gap affair with Erin was consensual. Erin even hid a photograph in her bedroom of the age-gap couple - postcoital. But more interestingly, not once did Mare accuse John of grooming and victimizing Erin.

Uncle John & Erin Postcoital

Erin didn't want to end her age-gap affair with John, because she came to the realization or was convinced that she was groomed and/or a victimized. It turns out that she was simply tired of the lies (i.e., hiding her age-gap affair) and wanted to go public. To which John replied:

"Are you fucking crazy! You're a fucking child!"

And John's son did not confront his father about having an affair with Erin. On the contrary - he scolded Erin. 

"Stay away from my family! Why would you do this?" [Emphasis mine] 

Wait, although it wasn't stressed in the series, did I mention that John was Erin's uncle?! 

Let's review Erin's "sneaky" behavior:

Erin made an account of Sidedoor, an online escort service

Erin had an consensual incestuous affair with her uncle 

Erin took a postcoital selfie (with her uncle in the background) 

Erin told her boyfriend that John's baby was his son. (Yes. Erin had a teen boyfriend too whom shared that, in terms of his parent's attic, "That's where she'd suck my dick.") 

Mare of Easttown and Mare's comment about "fucking sneaky" teens reminded me of Betsy Karasik's Washington Post Op-Ed (August 30, 2013) where she opined that consensual sex between teachers and high school students should not be criminalized:

"When it comes to having sex on the brain, teenage boys got nothin’ on us. When I was growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, the sexual boundaries between teachers and students were much fuzzier. Throughout high school, college and law school, I knew students who had sexual relations with teachers. To the best of my knowledge, these situations were all consensual in every honest meaning of the word..."

15-year-old Winslet in Dark Season

And talk about art imitating life. Per Kate Winslet's Wikipedia page, 15-year-old Winslet had an age-gap affair with 27-year-old actor-writer Stephen Tredre:

While filming Dark Season, 15-year-old Winslet began a romantic relationship with actor-writer Stephen Tredre, twelve years her senior.[14][200] She considered him a major influence in her life and they lived together in London.[7][24][222] They broke up in 1995, but remained close until he died of bone cancer two years later.[14][223] Winslet skipped the premiere of Titanic to attend his funeral.[224] In a 2008 interview, she admitted to having never got over his death.[7]