Judy Zabel

Judy Zabel is the mother of Colin Zabel, the eager young detective sent to help Mare crack the case. Glimpsed at home, she is warm, watchful, and quietly proud of her son, the kind of presence who grounds him outside the pressure of the investigation.

Deborah Hedwall gets only a sliver of screen time, but she uses it to sketch a whole ordinary life behind Colin's ambition — a mother's easy affection that makes him more than a partner for Mare, a person with a home to return to. It's a small, humane grace note in a show built on grief.