Sharp Objects TV TALK

I'll start by admitting (okay, confessing...) that I haven't read Sharp Objects so had no idea what I was going into when starting this series. Well, I actually knew a little bit because I've read and watched Gone Girl which was written by the same author so I knew this show would be full of twists, disturbing situations and mystery. And that's exactly what I got.
The whole production of this show was stunning. The acting was flawless and the entire cinematography was beautiful in a creepy and eerie way that created the perfect aesthetic for the show.
Like many HBO shows (Westworld, Game of Thrones), Sharp Objects is definitely not a passive watch, and has satisfying complexity and detail within the story and characters.
I will say there's a massive trigger warning with this show because it does involve many different topics that viewers might find distressing eg. self-harm, graphic violence and suicide. 
Other than that, it's a fairly chipper show...

TRAILER

AMAZON

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
Honestly, I feel like I should judge the first six episodes and the last two separately because they're so different in terms of pace, excitement and intrigue.
The first six episodes really focused on discovering and exploring the characters and secrets within Wind Gap. For me, these initial episodes were a little confusing- especially when we kept cutting to flashbacks of Camille's past. I don't feel like much happened in these first episodes and my mind was a little scrambled as I tried to figure everything out.
And yet, for some reason, I just couldn't stop watching.

HBO is particularly good at creating shows that are complex and require actual thought to understand instead of just spoon-feeding the audience. Like shows such as Westworld and Game of Thrones, Sharp Objects has that kind of complexity and undeniable intrigue that just means you can't stop watching. The subtlety and detail in HBO shows is what sets them apart from the rest.
And then the final two episodes blew my expectations out of the water.

The seventh episode was the first time when I truly felt invested in the characters and was gasping out loud at everything that happened.
From the very beginning, Camille is presented as a troubled character who often gets lost in her past and, considering the things she's been through, I don't blame her. I'd always liked her relationship with Richard because I'm a sucker for 'true love prevails' and everything but when she changed gears and got with John Keene... I actually quite like it. And, don't get me wrong, I was totally screaming at the TV because of course they were gonna get caught (!!!) but I actually think Camille and John were more suited to each other.
They had a bit of banter between them and they truly understood what each other were going through. So much so that Camille let him see her scars. John comforted her about them and the whole scene was really sweet and tender. I really liked seeing the early growth of a relationship between them. Too bad it was short lived.
But, by the end of the seventh episode, Camille had finally figured out that Adora was responsible for the two murders (or so we thought) and, I'll admit, I was feeling pretty smug at this point because I'd always had my suspicions about Adora. I couldn't quite come up with a motivation behind why she'd kill the two girls but I hated Adora from the very beginning and so that instantly made her a suspect in my eyes.

I don't think I've ever hated a character as much as Adora in my life. She was a constant bitch, selfish, arrogant and cruel. I was constantly hurling insults her way (I got pretty creative), especially when she told Camille that she never loved her. What kind of person says that?!?! I did find her condition super interesting to learn about because I'd never heard about it before. Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome being a condition where a caregiver deliberately makes someone sick so they can feel needed in taking care of them. This condition obviously led to Adora killing her own daughter, Marian, and nearly killing Camille and Amma as well. This revelation didn't really make me feel any sympathy towards Adora because this condition in no way caused her to be a bitchy, cruel and arrogant person with a superiority complex.
In the finale, Camille allows Adora to make her ill to try and prove her theory that Adora was behind the murders. This test works really well but almost too freaking well. Camille gets ridiculously sick and almost dies because, as we learn later, she hasn't built up the tolerance to the rat poison that Amma has. Camille orders Amma to go get Richard to help and I was on edge through this entire section!
Richard shows up but is quickly shunned away by Adora and her husband and man. I was screaming at the screen at this point. How dare they lie about where Camille is and even put the music volume up so we can't hear her calling for help?! There's something inherently wrong with that!
In the end, Richard and Mr Curry (Camille's boss) come in and save the day. Adora is arrested for the murders of the two girls as well as Marian, and Amma goes to live with Camille in St Louis.

Richard and Camille go their separate ways which I quite liked as an ending for them. Sometimes things don't work out in life and people aren't suited together and that's okay. Fiction so often creates a rose-tinted ending where the couple overcome all their problems but that doesn't always happen in real life.
It was nice to see the focus on Amma and Camille getting closer as they live together and I almost believed the ending would be cheerful.
But there was still another ten minutes or so left of the episode and I got this really uneasy feeling about what else was gonna happen. Because there's this nice section near the end showing how great their lives are now and how Camille and Amma are growing really close. And that was all fun and well but I kept wondering why they were showing us this when the happy ending could just be cut there.

And then the plot twist slapped me in the face.
Camille finds teeth in Amma's dollhouse and I was stunned into silence! And it's brilliant because, you wait for the explanation and aftermath and it just cuts to the credits! Through the mid-credit and end-credit scenes, we physically see Amma and her friends committing the murders as well as Amma dressing up as the Woman in White and luring the girls away.
My understanding is that Amma was jealous of the attention the two girls received from Adora. Amma gets angry because she's sacrificed so much- allowed herself to be poisoned- just to let Adora take care of her and these girls are taking Adora's attention away from Amma. Obviously, Amma's got issues because her solution is to kill them.
It's also implied that Amma has killed the new friend she's made in St Louis because she thinks Camille likes the girl better.

This whole twist took me completely by surprise. I'd never been a massive fan of Amma- she was spoilt, bratty, self-centred and wasted half the time- but I never could've predicted she was the killer. And that is a mystery done right.
I'm desperate to know what happens next! Does Amma end up in jail? Does Adora get a shorter sentence because she only killed Marian? Did Adora know that Amma was the killer?!? So many questions!!!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts. Stay amazing!
Chloe