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But the reason “Dark Side” became a blockbuster is that Pink Floyd’s music — the full band, with Richard Wright’s self-effacing but fundamental keyboards, Waters on bass, Nick Mason’s steadfast drumming and Gilmour’s probing, slashing, keening guitar — defies all that miserabilism.

This has to be so because “Mare of Easttown,” which was created and written by Brad Ingelsby and directed by Craig Zobel, is in the tradition of Middle American miserabilism, a genre HBO has cultivated before in “I Know This Much Is True” and other series.

He had the sadism of the Joker we know, but there was none of the gleeful absurdity, which would have been welcome after 90 minutes of miserabilism.

And Freeman, never the most animated of performers, gives his specific brand of passive British miserabilism free rein.

Nevertheless, it’s still stirring to see pools of blood staining the snow red, and it was a smart move, particularly in an episode as grim as “Winterfell,” to reassure the audience that the series isn’t going to spend the entire season wallowing in miserabilism.