'Sharp Objects' finished up this week in what was a gripping season finale that came with a final act twist to punch you right in the gut. Gillian Flynn has referred to her novel that this show was adapted from as a "feminist fairytale", but she clearly meant that in a Brothers Grimm way because there was nothing happy about that ending.
The episode began with Camille, now aware of what her mother had done to her sister, arriving home to a family dinner, but instead of confronting Adora, she decided to take the heat off Amma but feigning sickness herself. A risky plan that's success was ultimately relied upon her boss Curry coming to the rescue. In fairness Camille did seem to be making this plan up as she went along and almost seemed happy at first to be finally getting the loving attention she so often craved from her mother, however she soon found herself in over her head with Adora's poisonous concoctions.
Detective Willis was also on the case however and it was only when he called to the door of the Crellins and Alan lied to his face about where Camille was, we realised just how complicit Mr. Crellin was. He knew what Adora was doing, he knew! Yet chose to say nothing. How Camille made it out of that house alive the first time around is the biggest mystery in that show.
Thankfully, help was at hand just as we thought Camille couldn't go on any longer, and Adora was cuffed and led away along with the smoking gun for the Windgap murders; the bloody pliers in the kitchen. A saccharine montage soon set in showing Camille and Amma beginning their life together in St Louis, happy sisters bonding over their traumatic childhoods, but this bleak show could hardly end on such a high note... could it?
Nope.
Amma was the mother truckin' killer, you guys.
Yep, with only seconds to go in the final episode, it was revealed who was really the Windgap murderer when Camille finds a tooth in her sister's doll house. Amma walks in and as the sisters stare in shock at one another, Amma's child-like whisper of "Don't tell mama" is all we get before the credits roll into Led Zeppelin's 'In the Evening'.
However that wasn't really the end. 'Sharp' Objects' went all Marvel movie on us and had a post-credits scene that showed Amma killing the girls, and even her most recent friend Mae. More credits followed then we saw a glimpse of Amma as the much talked about "Woman in White" walking into the forest.
Now it's not that we had never considered Amma to be the killer, she certainly displayed a darker side to her on many occasion, but as we looked past Adora's behaviour as grief, it was easy to do the same with Amma and assume she was acting out down to her over-bearing mother. Full praise to director Jean-Marc Vallée for taking the risk of hitting us with the most shocking scenes of the series just as the credits rolled and we were catching our breath.
In the book, Amma's motives are explained as jealousy but it was decided that the show would not see her trying to explain herself to her sister from prison, with Gillian Flynn telling Vulture: "The feel felt very different from how it does in the book. It just felt like too much. We felt like we had included enough in there of seeing her getting jealous and seeding her neediness that people could put their debates together. And we like it because nobody really knows why sociopaths do anything. You could have a young child explain why she thinks she did it, but you’re never going to have the whole picture."
And so we are left with the knowledge that Camille's entire family were disturbed on levels we could never have imagined, thank God she has Curry and his wife, that's all I'm saying.
Overall, 'Sharp Objects' was worth sticking with. As storytelling goes, it was always likely that one of Camille's family members was the killer but this slow-burn of a show was in no rush to spell anything out for us and blended the final pieces of the puzzle together in a satisfactory conclusion that sticks with you long after the final credits roll.
Review: 'Sharp Objects', season 1 episode 1 - 'Vanish'
Review: 'Sharp Objects', season 1 episode 2 - 'Dirt'
Review: 'Sharp Objects', season 1 episode 3 - 'Fix'
Review: Sharp Objects' season 1 episode 4 - 'Ripe'
Review: Sharp Objects episode 5 - 'Closer'
Review: 'Sharp Objects' episode 6 - 'Cherry'
Review: Sharp Objects episode 7 - 'Falling'
