The mysterious HBO series stars Amy Adams, Eliza Scanlen, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, Matt Craven, Henry Czerny, and Sophia Lillis. Sharp Objects follows Camille Preaker (Adams) who returns to her small hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri to investigate the town’s strange unsolved crimes. In Wind Gap, Camille is forced to reunite with the family she has been estranged from over the years including her mother, stepfather, and half-sister. Along the way, Camille is compelled to confront her own traumas in a town that is partly responsible and continues to refuse to offer assistance.
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Flynn’s novels often deal with women confronting the demons of their past in order to make peace with their place in the world. Like Sharp Objects, Gone Girl and Dark Places have women confronting a traumatic experience in order to escape from the abuse they have encountered in their lives. In Sharp Objects, Camille is clearly battling with herself. She drinks excessively, prompting her to make impulsive decisions that she often finds herself regretting. Her mother’s overbearing personality that insists on being involved in the many details of her life only drives her further into the problems Camille is working hard to forget.
Within the first few glimpses of the small town of Wind Gap and the way her family operates, it isn’t hard to see why Camille decided to move away. While there are traumatic reasons that ultimately led to Camille’s decision, there is certainly something unsettling about her mother, Adora (Clarkson), stepfather Alan (Czerny), and half-sister Amma (Scanlen). Adora’s harsh treatment toward Camille is a stark contrast to the loving attention she drowns Amma in. The doting love between Adora and Amma triggers painful memories for Camille. She finds herself reminded of her late sister, Marian, who Adora treated in the same manner. As Camille revisits those hurtful memories of Marian, it becomes clear that Marian was the golden member of the family. Without her, Amma assumes the role of the innocent daughter within the elaborate Crellin home. Outside, Amma fills the role of Wind Gap’s resident mean girl.
Amma’s duality helps to fuel the psychologically thrilling plot of Sharp Objects. Paired with Camille’s compulsive drinking and unhealthy coping mechanisms, the puzzling premise of Sharp Objects is never abandoned. The cases Camille works tirelessly to solve thrust her further into her unhealthy mindset. Investigating the cases of the two girls who appear to have been murdered, Camille begins to wonder if Marian’s death is in any way related. Revisiting Camille’s memories of Marian, it’s evident the young girl was always being taken to the hospital due to her ailments. Because of her frequent illness, it’s no wonder Adora kept such a close eye on her. With Camille’s determination to get to the bottom of the young girl’s cases, her often drunken stupors drive the mind-bending adventure that uncovers some unfortunate truths.
Working the murders of the two young girls, the truth begins to hit too close to home for Camille, but she manages to persevere. This pursuit doesn’t come without sacrifice to her own physical, mental, and emotional health, but in knowing what it feels like to be without a sibling and the dark side of Wind Gap, Camille deems it necessary. In its organic and raw storytelling, Sharp Objects isn’t for the faint of heart. Dealing with heavy themes of abuse and self-harm, the series requires compassion and understanding from its viewers. Led by three stellar women, Sharp Objects also offers meaningful insight into the treatment of women, particularly in the south, and the effects trauma and abuse can have across multiple generations.
Sharp Objects is designed to keep people guessing. Like Gone Girl, Flynn designs the narrative to keep spectators at arm’s length, slowly bringing them into the fold. The details that are revealed are enough to give probable cause to convict one character but leave enough room for doubt and speculation of other solutions. Sharp Objects follows in the steps of Gone Girl in that way, proving Flynn as a master storyteller. Weaving the troubled past of a family, the secrets of a town, and the present crimes at hand, there is a lot Sharp Objects manages to accomplish in the span of eight episodes. Featuring performances from seasoned performers like Adams (who recently appeared in the mind-warping The Woman in the Window) and Clarkson (who has proved her versatility over a range of projects), along with the upcoming talent in Scanlen (who shined as the troubled Lenora in Netflix’s The Devil All the Time), the women in this HBO series tap into some difficult subject matter and personify it beautifully.
Sharp Objects is now streaming on HBO Max.
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