An ode to Mare of Easttown’s Zabel – the Delco detective that deserved better

In the most stressful sequence Mare of Easttown has seen so far, Zabel and an unarmed Mare turn up at the house of a man fitting the description they'd been given by an escort who'd escaped the kidnapper and begin questioning him when a pipe in his house begins rattling furiously – the girls are trying to send an SOS message from upstairs. As Mare urgently calls, "Zabel", he whips out his gun but the kidnapper is quicker to grab his pistol and the young detective takes a bullet to the head in a gasp-worthy scene none of us saw coming.

For those of you who began furiously googling, 'Can you survive a gunshot head wound?' like I did in my shell-shocked state, I've got some bad news for you. Zabel is definitely dead – Evan Peters said so himself, telling the New York Times: "I got the scripts for episodes one through five or maybe six, and read them all. And obviously he dies in five."

Poor Colin was one of the purest characters on the show and deserved so much better. From turning up to work everyday for an initially frosty Mare armed with two cups of coffee and sitting down for dinner with his worried mum every evening, to developing a crush on his grizzled co-worker and asking her out, Zabel was Mare's adoring Robin to her aloof Batman. Hands down my favourite character in the series, the millennial cop was a heart-warming tonic to the show's regular insights into Mare's darkly complicated personal life, which is about to take an even bigger dive thanks to his death.

Evans played the role perfectly, embodying Zabel's beta male energy whilst letting Winslet take a firm lead as the constantly-vaping, hoagie-munching, straight-talking Mare with her heavy Delaware drawl and her bottled-up demeanour. A completely different Evans from the ones we've seen in American Horror Story's various seasons, Pose, X-Men and more recently WandaVision, the 34-year-old had an electric chemistry with Winslet that fans will sorely miss in the remaining two episodes.

Of course, the reason Zabel's death hit us like a Philadelphian freight train was down to the show's impressive ability to keep viewers constantly on their toes. While there've been a few nail-biting scenes earlier in the show, such as Dawn's altercation with Freddie Hanlon, Missy's abduction and the fight between Brianna and Erin, the drama has been relatively slow-paced thus far, spending a significant amount of time getting to know Zabel and cultivating a fondness for him from the viewers' point of view.

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Last night's episode also saw huge character development for Zabel, who admitted to Mare that he hadn't actually solved the case that made his career but stole a private investigator's files to do before kissing Mare and teasing a potential romantic relationship between them. Setting all of this up made Zabel's demise all the more painful and created an iconic TV moment that was a testament to just how great the drama is.

From the complex, claustrophobic feel to Easttown and its residents who are all either related or close friends, to the terrific performances from Winslet, Peters but also Julianne Nicholson as Mare's friend Lori and the legendary queen of HBO that is Jean Smart, who steals many scenes as Mare's hilarious yet multi-faceted mother Helen, the detective drama is proving to be one of 2021's best.

That being said, I'm still not over Zabel's death and it's possible I never will be. RIP my sweet Delco prince.

Mare of Easttown continues with weekly episodes on Sky and NOW. Take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage, or check out our TV Guide to find out what’s on television tonight.