After eight episodes, Sharp Objects aired its final episode. Of the season, if the series goes for another season. And it was quite the rollercoaster ride. For anyone who hasn’t been watching, Sharp Objects, based on the book of the same name by Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl), centers around a journalist, Camille Preaker who goes back to her hometown of Windgap, Missouri to investigate a brutal double murder while dealing with her overbearing mother.
Camille Preaker
Even though the premise of the show is seemingly about the murder investigation, it’s really more about Camille Preaker. Overall she’s broken. And she knows it. She’s had to go through a lot of hard things that, honestly, would leave anyone damaged. Her younger sister, Marian, died when she was a child. So her mother, Adora, always thought of her as being a disappointment comparatively (because you can’t live up to a dead girl). Then, a friend she met in a mental hospital (that she checked herself into) died by suicide. And something happened to her in a shed in the woods as a teenager. Not completely sure what happened exactly but it definitely seems to be pointing to rape. Possibly even gang rape. But it’s never explicitly explained. Instead, it just hints that something bad happened in that shed.
All these bad experiences have led to who Camille is now. She’s distant with her mother (and Amma at times), she’s a high-functioning alcoholic, and she cuts herself. The cutting becomes a vital part of Camille’s character, which is interesting. Even more so after her family notices. However, it only gets worse when she finds out Adora killed her sister, Marian. But, we don’t know if it was intentional or not. But we do find out that Adora has Munchausen syndrome. With Marian, she continually made her sick by poisoning her to get attention. But I guess she went overboard one time and it (accidentally?) killed Marian.
The Murder Investigation
As for the murder investigation, it goes on the back burner for a while. But it definitely comes back in the last episode. Natalie Keene and Ann Nash go missing and both end up dead. At first, the main suspects are Bob Nash, Ann’s dad, and John Keene, Natalie’s older brother. Bob is visibly drunk in practically every scene he’s in, especially since Ann apparently went missing first. John however is overly emotional at Natalie’s funeral and at other times when he’s seen around town. Suspicions about John only increase when his girlfriend, Ashley, turns him in with a piece of evidence. Only thing is, he wasn’t the killer.
After discovering how Marian really died, the evidence seems to point to Adora. But Camille doesn’t seem all that concerned about the murders after she finds out about Marian’s death. When she gets home, Camille feels sick. Or at least she pretends to feel sick. It’s still unclear whether she was faking or not. Either way, Adora brings her upstairs and feeds both Camille and Amma (who’s also sick) more of her poison concoction. Which we find out is a mix of antifreeze, some prescription pills, and rat poison. While Camille gets sicker by the minute, the paramedics and police show up. And they arrest Adora for the murders after the cops find Adora’s pills, rat poison, and some bloody pliers. And the pliers were used to pull the girls’ teeth. Like I said earlier, these murders were brutal. But as it turns out, Adora’s not the killer either.
How It Ends
After Adora’s arrest, everything seems to go smoothly from there. Amma goes to live with Camille in St. Louis and Camille finally seems at peace with everything. But then there’s the ending of the finale, which is shocking, to say the least. Plus, it opens the door to a potential second season. If they decide to continue the story from there. Camille finds a tooth in Amma’s dollhouse. This only means Amma (and maybe even her two friends, or two other people at least) is the killer! And the last line that Amma says when she comes in is “don’t tell mama”. And it’s honestly the best ending/cliffhanger I’ve ever seen in a finale. Here’s to hoping for a second season.
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