
Carroll had indeed installed the security camera that would later provide Mare with crucial evidence, he resurfaced in the pivotal Episode 5 to confess at his wife's wake (she died in a heart-attack-induced car-crash) that he'd had an affair with Mare's mother, Helen (Jean Smart), a goofy disclosure that was overshadowed by the shocking death of Colin Zabel (Evan Peters). After a follow-up house call established in a subsequent episode that Mr. Glenn Carroll (Patrick McDade), the man whose wife, Betty, called Mare way back in Episode 1 to complain about a peeper that looked like a ferret, was always lurking in the background of the show's plot. Esther Zuckermanĭoes Glenn Carroll's missing gun timeline actually make sense? What about the bawdy graffitiing neighbor boy? Reddit fave Richard? Or does Easttown have some random perv creeping around who has gone unapprehended? Who is the ferret man?! This will plague us forever. We know that it can't be Ryan, as he wasn't outside the Carroll home until the following night.

We think it's ultimately that wandering old man with dementia who Mare tackles late one night. But we still don't know for certain who the actual ferret man is.

A week or so later, the camera is operational when Mare returns after a neighbor kid vandalizes the Carrolls' property-and months later, it helps Mare break the case by revealing that Ryan Ross had stolen Glenn's gun, the weapon used to shoot Erin. Mare, frustrated because this task is below her pay grade, listens as Betty describes the prowler as a hoodie-wearing man who looked like a "ferret," which Mare can't corroborate because the granddaughter has already left town and Betty's absent-minded husband, Glenn, hasn't set up the security camera properly. Betty Carroll calls Mare early in the morning to report a creepy dude her granddaughter saw in the backyard. The show opens with an incident that initially seems like a way to indicate just how boring Mare's job can be and how tight the Easttown community is.
