Sharp Objects: Pain, Resilience, & the Rise of the Limited Series

Sharp Objects:

Pain, Resilience, & the Rise of the Limited Series

By Matti Thornton

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If you haven’t seen Sharp Objects yet, the eight-part limited series on HBO, then beware of spoilers. Readers should also note that serious and possibly triggering subjects are discussed, such as violence, self-harm, suicide, and substance abuse.

Amma, Camille, and Adora

Set in the sticky, frozen-in-time town of Wind Gap, Missouri, Sharp Objects follows Camille Preaker (Amy Adams), a St. Louis reporter recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital. She is sent back to her hometown to report on the murder of a 13-year old girl, and the current disappearance of another. But as Camille delves deeper into the crimes, she comes face-to-face with old demons, and begins dealing with ones that she never knew existed.

Originally the 2006 debut novel by Gillian Flynn (writer of Gone Girl and Dark Places), it took several years for Sharp Objects to actually make it to the screen. In this case, it was the small screen, and the adaptation would be an eight-part limited series. Many offers were made before it found its home at HBO, but almost all of them involved turning the novel into a horror film. Flynn felt that it would be a disservice to the complexity of the narrative, as well as belittle the experience and story of protagonist Camille Preaker. But with Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as its creator, Jason Blum (Get Out) producing, Jean-Marc Vallée (Big Little Lies) directing, and Amy Adams acting in the lead role, I think almost everyone is glad that Flynn waited and fought for this story to be told the right way. It is a unique, disturbing tale, that at face-value might be perceived as just another domestic thriller. But beneath the surface, Sharp Objects is a revelation of a story, centered on pain, resilience, and a critique of the complexity of women and how they are portrayed.

Sharp Objects as a whole is being praised by critics, and by the time the Emmys roll around in September, it’s sure to garner a ton of nominations. Both Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson have received critical acclaim for their performances already, with Clarkson winning both a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award, and Adams winning a Critics Choice Award as well. Eliza Scanlen, who played the role of Amma, is one to watch, and is also slated to star in the new Little Women adaptation (written and directed by Greta Gerwig), set to come out later this year.

Camille Preaker

As stated before, Camille Preaker had just returned to work in St. Louis following a stint at a psychiatric hospital, when she was asked by her editor to report on the murders in her hometown of Wind Gap. She suffers from alcoholism, as well as self-harm, cutting specifically. But Camille doesn’t simply cut— she carves words into her body, a startling fact very crucial to understanding her as a character. The reveal of her scars at the end of the first episode is quite jarring for the viewer, and the focus is then centered on one the word specifically on her arm. That word is “vanish,” which is also the title of the first episode.

The trip home forces Camille back into the life of her aloof stepfather Alan (Matt Cravan), and her mother Adora (Patricia Clarkson), of whom she has had a strained relationship with since childhood. As she hasn’t been home in several years, Camille is introduced to her 14-year-old half-sister Amma (Eliza Scanlen). At home, Amma is an innocent, child-like doll for their mother. She dresses in delicate pink nightgowns and plays with a replica dollhouse of their southern-style mansion, complete with the ivory floor of Adora’s bedroom.

Adora, Amma, and Camille

However, away from home and more privately around Camille, Amma is an alluring, rebellious young girl, who wreaks havoc on the town with her friends, parties with older teens, and acts very promiscuously for a 14-year-old. Like Amma, Camille too had a rebellious nature as a young girl, though she was not as good at hiding it. She was known as the most beautiful girl in Wind Gap, the oldest child of the richest and most revered family in the county. But despite her wild and devious nature, Amma seems to be quite taken with Camille, and the two even discuss their other sister Marian, who died when Camille was in high school and before Amma was born. Marian was a sickly child, and although she has been dead for a long time, the loss of her is very present in everyone’s lives. The audience can see that although Camille is a little wary of Amma and her seemingly manipulative ways, there is also a part of her that longs to have a loving connection with her sister, as she lost Marian, and never really received much love from their mother.

Amma Crellin

For the murder-mystery plot, the two girls, Anne Nash and Natalie Keene, were both found strangled with all of their teeth pulled out. Anne was found in the woods several months before the story begins, and Natalie is discovered during the first episode in an alleyway in the middle of town— propped up against a building as if on display. Camille and Amma are among the first to discover the gruesome scene.

Amma’s friends, Amma, and Camille

It’s important to note that there was no further tampering with the bodies, and the girls were not assaulted sexually in any way. Camille and Richard Willis (Chris Messina), a detective sent to Wind Gap to investigate the murders, develop a relationship, and it is discovered that the investigation is centered on Anne Nash’s father Bob, and Natalie Keen’s older teenage brother John. Other stories pertaining to children seeing a “woman in white” are told, but no one puts any stalk into them, as it is a famous Wind Gap legend. The entire town is ripe with gossip, conspiring that Bob Nash’s coarse behavior and John Keene’s over-emotional reaction at the funeral makes both of them prime suspects for the murders. No one can settle on either of the men for certain, but it is clear that they are the sole focus of the local police’s investigation. Camille, however, does not share the same opinions about Bob Nash and John Keene, and it’s apparent after some conversations and insights provided by Detective Willis, that neither does he.

Camille Preaker and Detective Richard Willis

Throughout the series, we flash back to different memories in Camille’s past as she reports on and investigates the murders. Being in her childhood home causes her to think about her dead sister Marian, and she often envisions her walking through the halls, and is haunted by memories and dreams of her when they were children. It is also revealed that during Camille’s stay in the psychiatric hospital, her young roommate, who was the same age as Marian, Amma, and the other murdered girls, committed suicide. It severely impacted Camille, and she often recalls on memories of her as well. We also learn that during her early teen years, Camille was sexually assaulted in the woods by a group of football players.

One of the most important aspects of Camille’s story is her relationship with her mother. During the flashbacks, it is revealed that Adora was more concerned with Marian’s sickly nature, and doted on her relentlessly, virtually leaving Camille out in the cold. At one point, when Camille comes back home after a late night out investigating, Adora tells her that she is sorry that she never loved her. She keeps Marian’s room pristine and untouched, almost like a shrine, and Camille often stumbles across her crying over her dead sister’s bed. Adora is also very distraught over the murders of the little girls, as they are both Amma’s age, as well as the age of Marian when she died. We discover that Adora used to tutor both Anne and Natalie, and said that one of them reminded her of Camille. During at outing to a dress store with both Amma and Adora, the extent of Camille’s scars are finally revealed. Adora claims that Camille did it all to spite her.

Adora, Amma, and Camille

Pertaining to the investigation, it fully comes to a head when Anne Nash’s bike is discovered in the pond where John Keene formerly worked, and his sister Natalie’s blood is found on the carpet of his apartment. They take John into custody, though he is adamant about his innocence. Meanwhile, Detective Willis does some investigating of his own, as the more he gets to know Camille, the more he is curious about her and her family. He questions some old family friends and digs through hospital records. The mystery starts to unravel after he purposely places the file folder into Camille’s car.

As Camille reads through the file, the pieces finally fall into place. Adora is suspected to have Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a parenting disorder where one purposely makes their child ill so that they can coddle and take care of them. Camille begins to recount the circumstances of her sister Marian’s death, and the memories of Adora caring for her. It is through those memories and the evidence from the files that she comes to understand that their mother poisoned Marian to death, and that she also has been doing the same thing to Amma. Camille remembers the story of “the woman in white,” and how her mother used to tutor both Anne and Natalie. The revelation that her mother is behind the murders hits her full-force, and Camille rushes back to the house, where Amma has been trapped by Adora so that she can “take care of her.” At first, Amma resists Camille’s claims, at one point saying that her favorite part about being sick was that “Momma” took care of her afterwards. But after some persisting, Amma agrees to resist, their newly formed bond seeming to hold them together. Camille herself fakes being sick so that Amma might be spared until help arrived, and Adora is all too happy finally take care of Camille, as Amma and Marian were always so willing, but she was always the one to resist. It becomes clear that this was always the source of her contention for Camille, as her oldest daughter was never willing to be coddled or “taken care of,” and so to Adora, she was never able to properly love her.

Camille and Adora

Finally, Detective Willis and the sheriff arrive, and Adora is taken into custody for the murder of Marian Crellin, the poisoning of Camille and Amma, as well as under suspicion for the murders of both Anne Nash and Natalie Keene. It is a thrilling scene with Camille, weakened and sick, crawling across the ivory floor of her mother’s room, while the red and blue police lights flash outside. A vision of Marian appears at Camille’s side and she lies down beside her, as if to let her know that everything would finally be okay. They find the pliers used to pry out the murdered girls’ teeth in the kitchen, and Amma cries “Momma!” as Adora is taken away in handcuffs. The mystery, as well as Camille’s cause for pain, finally seems to have come to an end.

Amma goes back to St. Louis with Camille, and all seems to be well. She even makes a friend in their apartment complex, and invites her over to help update the dollhouse. One night at dinner, Amma’s friend Mae mentions that she wants to be a writer. Camille, a reporter herself, admires Mae’s interest, as well as the fact that Amma seemed to have made such a nice friend. Not soon after, Mae’s body is found a block away from their apartment complex, strangled, and with her teeth pulled out. Camille, obviously distraught, runs back to Amma’s room and lifts the dollhouse roof. Underneath, in place of the ivory floor, she finds the teeth of Anne Nash, Natalie Keene, and Mae. She turns around at the sound of someone in the doorway, and there stands Amma, whose only reply is “don’t tell Momma.”

Camille Preaker

The look on Camille’s face is heartbreaking, as she realizes what her sister has done. The series ends there, and a haunting, silent, after-credits scene portrays the deaths of Anne, Natalie, and Mae at the hands of Amma.

Amma Crellin

Overall, this is a startling limited series, and could be described as a character profile hidden within a murder-mystery. It’s just as much about Camille as it is about who has been killing little girls in Wind Gap. It’s dark, disturbing, but also surprisingly heartbreaking. You can’t help but feel for Camille as she navigates through the trauma, and especially afterward, as her seemingly happy ending gets ripped out from under her when Amma is revealed to be the true killer.

One of the larger themes of Sharp Objects is pain, and how the women in this story, specifically Camille and her family, deal with it. There is a particularly unsettling scene in episode 5 “Closer,” when the town is celebrating Calhoun Day. It is a celebration of one of Camille’s family ancestors, who would not give up her confederate husband to union soldiers, and was thus tied to a tree and tortured. Amma and her friends reenact the story as a play for the entire town, and there is something very eerie about watching a 14-year-old girl pretend to be tortured and assaulted by a group of teenage boys dressed as union soldiers. The scene is a memorable one, and it’s worth considering as to whether or not this pain has been passed down through generations, and is the cause for the darkness in their family. Camille’s stepfather reveals to her at one point that when Adora was younger, Camille’s grandmother would often sneak into her room in the middle of the night and pinch her for no reason. Adora even recounts one evening that as a little girl, her mother woke her from sleep, drove her into the woods and dropped her off, making her walk the entire way home. But despite all of this, even the idea of pain and darkness being passed down by the women of a family is completely unthinkable to the people of Wind Gap. From the beginning, the killer was automatically assumed to be a man.

Amma Crellin

It’s interesting to note that every woman in Camille’s family has dealt with pain and trauma in a different way. For Adora, and in a way described best by Camille, she literally nurtured her children to death. For Marian, the darkness that was passed down to her ended her life. In Amma’s case, this pain manifested itself into jealousy. Envious of the attention her mother was giving to Anne and Natalie when she tutored them, and then the attention Camille gave to her friend Mae in St. Louis, she killed them. But Camille deals with her trauma differently than the rest. Instead of hurting others, Camille hurts herself. She carves words into her skin, words that have hurt her and affected her deeply.

Camille is an anti-hero, and is extremely flawed, with characteristics that some might deem “unlikable” for a woman to display. But in the age of modern entertainment and the exploration of female characters and femininity, Camille is, in my opinion, an exceptional protagonist, albeit obviously unconventional. Her ability to persevere, to go through the pain and trauma of her life and still come out of it, is inspiring. Her resilience is truly to be admired, and it’s very harrowing to watch as Camille recollects on the various traumas that have shaped her throughout her life. Her longing for love, connection, and intimacy is apparent— which is why it’s so heartbreaking to watch her realize that Amma, of whom she so very desperately wanted a loving relationship with, is the one responsible for the murders. Even the portrayal of calculated female violence has never really been represented or explored in media as something to be taken seriously, which is also part of what makes Sharp Objects so unique.

Amma and Camille

There is something to be said for Camille, whose quiet strength, resilience, and self-sacrificing nature should be admired and celebrated. She is a complex female protagonist, and a celebration of women being flawed and dark— yet still noble, relatable, and inspiring. It’s obvious through similar works to Sharp Objects such as Big Little Lies, Handmaid’s Tale, and Killing Eve, that audiences want to see depictions of dark, honest, and sometimes deliciously flawed women that don’t always display the same common, trivial female characteristics we've all seen before. These characters are still relatable, despite their supposed damning flaws, and shows like Sharp Objects are shifting the paradigm on what deems a female character “likable.”

The limited series format seems to be the preferred and premiere avenue for these stories to be told, as the audience is able to get to know the characters more intimately and over a long period of time. This prolonged narrative appears most compatible when it comes to the versatility of these female characters, which is why I’d be hard pressed to believe that we wouldn’t see more start to develop soon. The second season of Big Little Lies (also directed by Jean-Marc Vallée) is set to come out this year, as well as season two of Killing Eve, which recently saw one of its stars Sandra Oh win both a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for her performance. The rise of the limited series is upon us, and with the quality work and performances displayed in shows like Sharp Objects, it’s hard not to be excited about it.

If you haven’t had the privilege of watching Sharp Objects yet, the eight-part limited series is currently available to stream on HBO.