HBO's Sharp Objects

[Theda Baratheon]

I think that was handled well - when I first saw how long the episode was I was dubious. And especially with 5 minutes to go I was thinking HOW!!!! Are they going to wrap this up!!!! Very creepy without once tipping into melodrama. I liked that it felt kinda understated - it’s gonna linger and creep up on people. 

[Mexal]

5 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

There's also now the question whether

  Reveal hidden contents

has Amma killed again?  New friend Mae's whereabouts being unknown is worrisome.

 

 

Spoiler

Amma still has to finish her floor...

 

[Cas Stark]

I liked it, although it was really abrupt, and I already knew she was the killer.  I was expecting to see a little more convo on Amma's motivation.

[RumHam]

I knew something was up by the dinner scene at the editor's place cause why hadn't the show ended. Then once the new friend's mom came I realized what was going on. At first I was a little annoyed by the abrupt ending but I've been thinking about it all day. Does the book also just sort of end or is there more of an explanation?

[Cas Stark]

1 hour ago, RumHam said:

I knew something was up by the dinner scene at the editor's place cause why hadn't the show ended. Then once the new friend's mom came I realized what was going on. At first I was a little annoyed by the abrupt ending but I've been thinking about it all day. Does the book also just sort of end or is there more of an explanation?

Little bit more explanation, Amma was jealous of the attention her mother gave the other girls....and she ends up in juvie, that's all I can remember.

[Theda Baratheon]

2 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

I liked it, although it was really abrupt, and I already knew she was the killer.  I was expecting to see a little more convo on Amma's motivation.

Although I knew she was the killer I think they did reveal it in an interesting way that I enjoyed. It was very abrubt though but I think the novel is as well. 

[Isis]

Aw, I so wanted it to be a happier ending than the book. I am such a sap. Obviously it wasn't going to be happy. 

[unJon]

36 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:

Little bit more explanation, Amma was jealous of the attention her mother gave the other girls....and she ends up in juvie, that's all I can remember.

In the book the Mum gets convicted for killing Marian also. Amma’s Roller skating friends flip on her for reduced juvie sentences. 

[Ramsay B.]

Does the book go into graphic details about Amma’s murders, or is it just briefly mentioned. My mom wants to read the book, but not if it gets too bad. 

[Annara Snow]

On 8/7/2018 at 2:26 PM, dbunting said:

So another layer of the onion that is Camille and her mothers relationship gets peeled back and makes you want to cry. First the humiliation at the store by exposing Camilles' secret, then just coldly telling her, "that is why I never loved you".... I keep thinking that Camille was the result of her mother being violated in some way and that is why the mother has disdain for her and her father and why she never told her anything about him.

I was quite behind on this show - which is why I wasn't posting in this thread. I got caught up last night and finished the show this morning.

People who have read the book could add more details, but on the show, they mentioned that, 1) Adora was 'married into the Preakers' - Camille's last name is Preaker, and 2) she was very young when she had Camille.

So, my impression based on this info is: Adora was married to Camille's father - but she was very young. A child bride, just like the woman in the Calhoun day re-enactment? 
She clearly wasn't happy, and calls her (probably quite older?) husband "cold".

She is probably a widow, as I imagine if she were divorced, there would be a lot of gossip about it in town. They're very old-fashioned. And there's no mention of the Preaker dude - Camille's father - being around. He probably died a long time ago, and Camille never got to know him, and her mother doesn't want to talk about him. Another sign she wasn't happy (no surprise, if she was a child bride).

On 8/22/2018 at 2:05 AM, Tears of Lys said:

 

And @Martini Sigil:  You're SUPPOSED to be clueless at this point.  That's what makes it so much fun! 

 

LOL, I guess in that case, it failed for me. I figured out who the killer was after the first episode.

As you can see it here:

https://disq.us/url?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spoilertv.com%2F2018%2F07%2Fsharp-objects-vanish-review-emmy-for.html%3APKWJILRrxoJhkt-Jh85GBh-UJus&cuid=247272

I immediately thought - dead girls who look a lot like Marian/Amma, Amma living in the shadow of a dead sister and forced to pretend to be a "good girl" all the time to get her mother's love, and Amma being so creepy and double-faced from the start, it made me think - Amma is the most obvious person who'd have issues and maybe jealousy as well and want to kill those girls. The many hints that it was all about the family dynamic and that a female may be the killer certainly helped.

Later episodes just seemed to pile up more and more hints and confirm my suspicion:

- Amma's creepiness level increased

- her hanging out at the pig slaughterhouse

- "They would do anything I ask them to"

- the fact that Adora was mentoring and taking interest in 'bad girls' Ann and Natalie - more reasons for jealousy on Amma's part

-  the way she reacted to Bob Nash attacking John

- "Would you rather than John dies or that I die?"...

There was also that line by the sheriff in one episode, "One of her daughters is dangerous, and the other is in danger"... I thought: yes, but I think he is wrong on which one is which.

I was waiting for her to be revealed as the killer throughout the last episode.

Does the fact the show didn't manage to surprise me make it better or worse? I didn't mind it. I prefer things make sense on the narrative and emotional level than to have a surprise that doesn't make sense. And it feels good to be right.

I also always saw it more as a drama than a murder mystery. As a drama, it was one of the best I've seen: the characterization, the atmosphere, the dark depths of psyche it goes into... The murder mystery is kind of just a catalyst.

5 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

I liked it, although it was really abrupt, and I already knew she was the killer.  I was expecting to see a little more convo on Amma's motivation.

I don't think we need more explanation. She's been raised under the shadow of one dead "good girl" sister and one missing "bad girl" sister. She's had to live a double life and pretend to be something she's not to win her mother's love and attention. It's all messed her up very deeply. Adora killed one daughter and damaged both of her surviving daughters so much - but while Camille takes it out on herself, Amma took it out on others. Girls who were kind of like her/Marian/Camille, and girls that Adora took interest in and tried to mother, even though they were 'bad', while Amma was trying to hard to win her mother's love and keep her attention by being 'good' in front of her. While Natalie and Ann were able to be openly 'bad', and Adora didn't hate or reject them for it - which probably made Amma even more jealous.

Amma's new friend, on the other hand, seems to have had a loving, caring, normal mother - and she was now trying to get Camille's attention. More reason for jealousy on Amma's part.

BTW, I think Amma's obsession with Camille is weird and quite creepy and feels a bit incestuous at times.

ETA: It just struck me - Amma absorbed all of Adora's poison over the years and didn't die from it like Marian, but became tolerant to it - which is such a fitting metaphor. The poison became a part of her.

[Annara Snow]

18 minutes ago, Triskjavikson said:

Pardon my ignorance, but did they reference missing teeth in the victims a bit during the whole season?  I kind of missed that if they did, and when Camille was examining the tooth at the end I was struggling to figure out just what I was seeing.  That's quite a note to end on though now that I understand.  The actress who plays Amma has to be getting all kinds of attention from the industry now.  

Two pretty badass largely female-led miniseries in short order from HBO with this and Big Little Lies.  Fool who directed both of these is winning at life right now.  

They made a big deal throughout out of the fact that the teeth had been pulled out from the victims' mouths by garden shears. This was used as evidence by the police chief - and even ended up convincing Richard (the detective) - that the killer must be a man, because, supposedly, you need a lot of strength to pull teeth like that. Which I never bought. And three teenage girls together would certainly have enough strength for it.

It was also one of the things that caused Camille and the detective to suspect Adora - the fact that one of the traits of the Munchhausen Syndrome was feeding the child through a tube, as if they're helpless and can't use their teeth.

In the finale, the crucial evidence for Adora supposedly being the killer is when they found in her house the garden shears that matched - IIRC, with blood on them from one of the victims (?). 

The director of Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, Jean-Marc Vallee, certainly has a very characteristic style. It's the first time, I think, outside of David Lynch, that a director is seen as important in a TV show (and a rare case of one director doing an entire series). Usually it's the writers that are considered important on TV.

[unJon]

25 minutes ago, Triskjavikson said:

Pardon my ignorance, but did they reference missing teeth in the victims a bit during the whole season?  I kind of missed that if they did, and when Camille was examining the tooth at the end I was struggling to figure out just what I was seeing.  That's quite a note to end on though now that I understand.  The actress who plays Amma has to be getting all kinds of attention from the industry now.  

Two pretty badass largely female-led miniseries in short order from HBO with this and Big Little Lies.  Fool who directed both of these is winning at life right now.  

Yes the missing teeth were brought up in several episodes. Including the detective buying a pig’s head to see how hard it would be to remove teeth. Large part of the misdirection about the killer being male. 

5 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Does the book go into graphic details about Amma’s murders, or is it just briefly mentioned. My mom wants to read the book, but not if it gets too bad. 

It’s very brief in the last chapter or epilogue. The show hews very closely to books. 

[Nictarion]

6 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

They made a big deal throughout out of the fact that the teeth had been pulled out from the victims' mouths by garden shears. This was used as evidence by the police chief - and even ended up convincing Richard (the detective) - that the killer must be a man, because, supposedly, you need a lot of strength to pull teeth like that. Which I never bought. And three teenage girls together would certainly have enough strength for it.

It was also one of the things that caused Camille and the detective to suspect Adora - the fact that one of the traits of the Munchhausen Syndrome was feeding the child through a tube, as if they're helpless and can't use their teeth.

In the finale, the crucial evidence for Adora supposedly being the killer is when they found in her house the garden shears that matched - IIRC, with blood on them from one of the victims (?). 

The director of Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, Jean-Marc Vallee, certainly has a very characteristic style. It's the first time, I think, outside of David Lynch, that a director is seen as important in a TV show (and a rare case of one director doing an entire series). Usually it's the writers that are considered important on TV.

I’d say Cary Fukunaga was extremely important to the quality of True Detective season 1. 

[Annara Snow]

8 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

I’d say Cary Fukunaga was extremely important to the quality of True Detective season 1. 

Well, I haven't seen True Detective.

[Nictarion]

2 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

Well, I haven't seen True Detective.

The first season is excellent, and had the same director for all 8 episodes. I highly recommend it. 

[Isis]

4 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

In the finale, the crucial evidence for Adora supposedly being the killer is when they found in her house the garden shears that matched - IIRC, with blood on them from one of the victims (?).

They looked like pliers to me in the finale. I assumed they were always talking about pliers. I don't recall any mention of garden shears.

But yes, they went on about the teeth pulling quite a lot in the earlier episodes, saying that it took a lot of strength to do it so therefore it 'obviously' couldn't have been done by a woman.

The more I think about it, the more I think that the conclusion was really well done. Subtle is a good thing.

[Theda Baratheon]

I liked the ending because it keeps you thinking “what happens to Camille now??” when she was finally looking much more healthy and happy 

[Annara Snow]

2 hours ago, Isis said:

They looked like pliers to me in the finale. I assumed they were always talking about pliers. I don't recall any mention of garden shears.

But yes, they went on about the teeth pulling quite a lot in the earlier episodes, saying that it took a lot of strength to do it so therefore it 'obviously' couldn't have been done by a woman.

The more I think about it, the more I think that the conclusion was really well done. Subtle is a good thing.

You're right, pliers. I couldn't remember what it was, so I came up with the first thing that resembled t.

[Annara Snow]

1 hour ago, Theda Baratheon said:

I liked the ending because it keeps you thinking “what happens to Camille now??” when she was finally looking much more healthy and happy 

Is that really a good thing? It would have been more interesting to see how she deals with it. And they're saying that there won't be a season 2 (which they may change their minds on - but then they would have to add some new plot, not just Camille turning Amma in and what happens later and how Camille deals with it.)

[Isis]

Absolutely no need for a second season! It works great as it is and it's finished now.