Recently, I was browsing through my HBO account and came across a show called "Sharp Objects." It had pretty good reviews and the plot seemed interesting, so I began to watch it. I ended up finishing the 8-episode mini-series in two days. It was that good.
Reporter Camille Preaker is assigned to cover the case of two murdered teenage girls in her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri. She had hardly spoken to her disturbed mother or her pre-teen half-sister in years. While trying to uncover the mysterious murders, Camille also rediscovers and is haunted by her troubling past in her family's Victorian home. Not only had these two girls suffered tragic deaths, but Camille soon discovers that her sister had died when she was younger. (This is not fully explained until the end of the series.) Since Camille had a lot of hardships in her life, she didn't cope very well. Constantly drinking to relieve the pain and writing words all over her body, she spent some time in a psychiatric hospital before her roommate committed suicide.
SPOILER ALERT
In the first few episodes, the audience is not quite sure who the killer could be and can only make assumptions. By the second to last episode, the audience is led to discover that Adora is the killer. She purposely makes children sick (using rat poison) so that they will rely on her, but her daughter and two other girls died of the rat poison. Although she admits to the death of the three girls by the last episode, something about the murder of the two girls isn't adding up. The bodies were left with their teeth completely pulled out, which Adora never admits to.
Because Amma's mother is now in jail, Amma goes to live with Camille in her home. She brings her beloved dollhouse with her, a replica of their mansion in Wind Gap. In the last few seconds of the last episode, called "Milk," Camille throws a milk carton into the trash. As she does, she sees something belonging to the dollhouse, so she brings it over to place in the dollhouse. She discovers a loose tooth and realizes that to replicate the mansion's ivory tusk flooring, Amma had used teeth–the teeth of the murdered girls. Camille turns around and there stands Amma, saying the line "Don't tell Mama," and ending the series.
The discovery of the teeth and the last line of the series could be interpreted in numerous ways. Many people think this means that Amma actually killed the girls and that Adora wanted to protect her. I would argue against this idea. Adora was purposely making girls sick, which is proven by the poisoning of both Amma and Camille. I think that Adora killed the girls. She was close to killing Amma and Camille, as well. I think that because these girls were getting attention before they died, Amma was jealous, and used her teenage angst to pull their teeth out after they died.
Personally, I still have not been able to stop thinking about this series. The acting is very well done. Amy Adams creates major depth for Camille as the main character. This series constantly keeps you on your toes, unprepared for what will happen next, especially in the last two episodes. The story itself is very well developed, constantly foreshadowing or alluding to things that you will soon figure out by the end, further engaging the audience. I would highly recommend this mini-series, especially to people who like murder-mysteries and enjoy thinking a lot. You can find the trailer for this HBO series here:
