Bored Now reviews Sharp Objects - Part 6

Sharp Objects Episode 6: Cherry 

This one picks up from the night after the previous episode, tracing the various characters at the start of the day.  Camille awakes with Richard having had another dream/flashback of Amma. We also see Vickery another important character in the episode, and Alan waking alone with no Adora in sight.  

The men all take different paths, which intersect in someway.  Richard feeling concerned about Camille's past and state of mind tries to find answers from the mental hospital Camille spent time in.  He also engages with Jackie over drinks, but despite some suggestive moments, Jackie still reveals very little about Camille's past.  At this point you have to question just how much she knows. Is she being coy to protect Camille or are there other reasons?  

Alan at the insistence of Adora pressures Camille to leave the house.  One nice touch about Amy Adam's performance in this one is how she suddenly seems a more confident and defiant swagger about Camille in the face of Alan and to her Mother.  As a result of the night with Richard and the sexual release it provided Camille is starting to control. The power is with her.  She'll leave when she's good and ready.  This swagger is a nice set up to the back half of the episode and the antics with Amma.  

The most concrete case development is the police finding Natalie's bike in the lake nearby to the Slaughterhouse.  Vickery and Richard are both on the scene, once again they both take alternative approaches.  Richard is interested in getting the DNA results off the bike.  Vickery questions some of the slaughterhouse workers.  Later Vickery tells Richard that a Mexican worker claims to have seen John dump the bike into the lake.  This is a call back to the casual racism towards Mexican's from a previous episode. Either way this story plays into the narrative portrayed by the town.  If the information from the immigrant worker proves wrong then it's own him, and after all what else do you expect from an outsider?  On the other hand if the information does prove true it again places suspension on John - the number one suspect according to folks around town.    

Speaking of John, Camille heads to his house to interview Ashley for a follow-up piece, only to find Amma in their pool in a bikini and flirting with John.  Another provocative scene, Amma again acts out and is growing up fast.  With Camille listening by the gate John says to Amma, "I'm watching you Amma. I am always watching you.  Your day will come." As Camille walks in the backyard Amma makes a crack about John not wanting anymore dead girls with teeth missing to show up.  I don't know if this means John is the killer as that would be too on the nose. But if there is something sexual with him and Amma there could be some significance to the case. 

This is the first time we've had anything strong to suggest that John has been unfaithful to Ashley.  Their relationship starts to unravel throughout.  When talking to Camille, Ashley appears to be confirming John's infidelities.  Later at the party she suggests that John sleeping around is fine as long as it's with popular girls and not losers.  Again its all about the image.  On that note during their interview Ashley even says that John wouldn't kill because it would effect his popularity.  Another juicy detail from this scene is that Ashley has scars on her ears, as John walks in there's awkward pause and a cut to the past with Camille herself as a cheerleader like Ashley is now. This powerfully switches the power dynamic in the John-Ashley relationship, with him appearing more the aggression and Ashley appearing vulnerable for the first time.  Another interesting thing about this on-going plot is that John is much harder to read than Ashley because of his brooding nature, and shyness. Yet as the typical pristine façade for their marriage, Ashley is taken for granted.  The pressure is on her to maintain the standards expected around the town.  As such Ashley is not allowed to show any weakness or human qualities.



The link between Ashley in the present and young Camille as a cheerleader links to more important background.  We later see a flashback of Camille in the woods with some jocks sleazing onto her.  We later learn that one of the guys was Amma's music teacher who apologizes to Camille for what he did to her...



This one packed in a lot, but none of it felt like filler.  Camille socialising with some old friends who are all Mothers and see having Children as the b-all and end all is another nice little example of how out of synch she is with the rest of the town and its culture.  The discussion with the African American friend was really good stuff, of course she is the most grounded of the friends, and forgives Camille for her bullying of her in the past.  Interesting that the friend says Camille had a lot of pressure on her (this was around the time of her sister dying).

Then the back half, with Camille and Amma cruising together like sisters, and like younger Camille is.  She's partly along for the ride to get close to her sister, but also protect her.  With Amma starting to show more interest in boys and becoming further sexualise, Camille is looking out for her.  One again the scenes between the sisters are just great.  They play off each other so effectively.  The tension during the party scene is wonderfully played.  Both Amma and Camille are on the edge, its a wild dance.  At times Amma seems supportive, at others she seems to be mocking Camille.  Earlier she joked about having scars like Camille's.  She brings this up again at the party in front of others.  Camille gets high.  There is a powerful exchange that is on the verge of becoming sexual.  This moment, and Camille allowing paints her as being more sinister.  Amma is out of control, but looking for love from her sister.

  The sisters skating together, high as a kite is a beautiful, poetic moment and again connects to the past for Camille.  These scenes playfully move between beauty and horror.  Camille's flashes of the dead girls as she looks at Amma once again sets the mind racing...  Another great episode.  Possible the best.  Watching the layers unravel is the most thrilling thing.  TWO MORE TO GO!!!





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0O9yU_Crg

Bored Now Reviews Sharp Objects Part 5

Sharp Objects Episode 5: Closer 


After the mixed bag of last week's episode part five got things back on track.  It was the strongest episode yet for Adora with Patricia Clarkson giving a masterclass.  With Closer focused mostly on one event that being the celebration Calhoun Day, there was great scope to develop a lot of the background details of character's around the town and to explore the tension with the various characters.

As I suspected might be the case last week's cliff hanger ending involving Amma turned out to be in Camille's head.  To me this felt a bit cheap.  Probably it was done to set up that from now on Camille will have these fears about her half-sister.  Perhaps in the book this is explained a little more.  With that put to one side I enjoyed pretty much all of this episode.



 Its set to the back drop of Camille's article being published, with most of the town upset at her they have been depicted in it. There's a great scene with Vickery in the barbers shop in his Calhoun general get up, warning Richard that Camille has a dark past and that he shouldn't get too close to her.  Ashley especially is pissed at Camille's representation of her interview with Ashley and John. 
 The only one around town who welcomes the article is Jackie who insists Adora reads it describing it as "Refreshing".

The dynamic with the family is set up in one of the most disturbing scenes so far.  Camille, Adora and Amma go dress shopping for the Calhoun festival.  The fallout from this with the Mother trying to shame Camille into showing off her dress (something Camille is not comfortable with), and Camille turning the tables by showing off her scars is shocking, but proves a nice set up to a mini-episode arc between Adora and Camille.  This distressing scene proves a turning point for their relationship - or at least it appears to by the end of this episode, with Adora engaging with her daughter.  Camille's breakdown in the private of the dressing room is another gem from Adams in this rich role for her.
 

So much of the power and tension of the festival scenes is about subtle little glaces back and fourth, and the suggestion of silences.  There's some beautifully deft camera angles and reverse POV shots.  With the characters spread out across the setting this heightens the sense of what they may or may not be talking about.  The glares back and fourth between Camille and Adora as each talk to Richard is a good example of this.  With Camille helplessly off in the distance and Adora talking to Richard in the house at one point. 




So much about this whole event is about presentation or the idea of spectacle.  The centre piece is a performance involving Amma (the one she was practising in the previous episode) with her at the mercy of the Southern generals.  The sequence manages to be both surreal and creepy.  Again all the different perspectives are captured.  At one point the creepy music teacher glaces between the stage and to Camille and Richard.  A previous exchange between him and Camille was awkward - suggesting some kind of past between them.  The scene builds and builds, until a fight breaks out in the distance between John and Bob with Bob still believing John killed his daughter. With Vickery involved in trying to separate them Amma disappears from the other side.  Adora striking a gloriously melodramatic.  Camille and Richard leading the hunt to find her. It's notable that its Camille who finds Amma and that its in the hiding place discovered last week.



 This leads to more sensitive discussion between Mother and daughter near the end of the episode, where Adora at least takes some responsibility for the past.  The talk of Camille not being able to be intimate because of her scars means she may well have been a virgin or at least that she hasn't had sex after the self-harming started.   We end with Camille and Richard finally having sex, its passionate - but crucially its on her terms.  One of my favourite episodes so far. 

Bored Now reviews Sharp Objects Part 4

Sharp Objects Episode 4: Ripe 



For me this was the weakest part yet.  For the first time the slow pacing of the drama started to drag, not least considering how gripping the last episode was.  Ripe was saved by a few random scenes including the dramatic final scene which has me excited for next week.

This time Camille's flashbacks were from a previous birthday.  Unlike last week's flashbacks with her and the young girl from clinic, these didn't really add too much character growth or drama.  Its fitting that the middle episode of the series is the one so far to be dragging its heels the most.  In turn much of the episode felt scatter shot.  This is set up early on with little fragments of different characters around the town.  The problem is that some of these scenes are just reinforcing information we already have.  At one point we drop in on Elizabeth Perkins' Jackie.  She is expecting Adora at a social meeting, Adora doesn't show.  Camille shows up instead and makes an excuse for her Mum's absence.  Although this gives us nothing new on Adora or Jackie, there is a suggestion that Jackie has some crucial information on Adora.


Speaking of Adora the moment when isolated husband Alan stands up to her rightfully pointing out "You know everything isn't that girl's fault" - referring to Camille, its a powerful moment.  Outside of that though their interactions and the scenes involving Adora don't really progress things too much.  Its getting to the point with Adora where we are getting the same little character beats. At some point the writers will have to play their hand with her.






Another frustration is when a number of red herrings are thrown into the mix.  The most clunky of which is Amma's broody music teacher who she defends when her friends trash him following his icy reaction to a performance.  Later in an intimate but creepy scene between the two Amma takes his hand. There still could be substance to this development.  At the moment it just seems too random.  His character feels too on the nose too.  Is it too late to introduce another character of note?


The one supporting character who probably gets the most growth was Chief Vickery.  Despite his cynicism, Vickery actually starts taking an interest in getting to the truth of the case.  He openly engages both Camille and Richard in discussion and follows Camille's lead about Jackie having information (even if Jackie in the end reveals nothing to Vickery). The exciting aspect of this plot is that Vickery is starting to question Adora's role in the community.  Further pressure could lead to some juicy details and a right explosion between the various characters.



The two most interesting scenes for me were the end and the scene in the woods with Camille and Richard.  Their subtle flirtation back and fourth nicely builds character and tension.  I like the touch of them swapping past secrets in exchange for theories on the case.   Camille tells Richard about Faith, a girl from her youth who became a slut to avoid the abuse of publicly being a lesbian.  This builds further on the theme of the pressures of living in small town, as well as dark sexuality.  It also adds intrigue on both Camille's past and the prospect of it being important to the case.  As the flirtation between Richard and Camille grows in intensity, the flashes return, including a shot of the teeth from which we cut to Camille biting into Richard's neck - but of course not really.  This part is in her head.  It's a powerful moment which carries importance for two reasons.  Firstly, because Camille is embodying the world of the killer.  Second, with the series constantly flashing back to Camille's youth, now her first sexual encounter with Richard represents some sort of link to the sexual frustration of her youth.  The fantasy of biting into Richard's neck is like a sexual release.  One possibility is that Camille is a virgin.  Or maybe she is the other end of that extreme?  There are some meaty case details revealed like the two victims knowing Amma and the reveal at the end from John (still reeling from Adora shacking him from the farm), that Amma went to the special hideout with the victims.  Adams sells Camille's desperation to get to Amma in time perfectly.  The not knowing where her half sister is is perhaps the most devastating thing about her search.  The visuals of Camille's mind racing to all extremes is so perfectly executed, and sudden cut to Amma in the road and car headlights on her is a great ending.







At this point I have to raise the question of if any of the flashes are real or just in Camille's head? They may still come true of course.  Its fair to assume that the one of Amma dead in the cabin is probably Camille's worse fear manifesting itself.  One strong possibility is that the killer or killer(s) have kidnap Amma but that she is still alive.  Maybe they intend to keep her alive to play with Camille's emotions.  Another possibility is that Amma is just missing..  Whatever the case it was a fantastic final scene, one of many in this limited drama to leave me floored.  Even if somehow the pieces don't quite click into place there will be no shortage of those moments.



More next week!