She’s unstable, and it’s not even completely clear how much she herself understands that.
The episode deals with these complicated emotions extraordinarily well, never betraying the hard laid groundwork from the first seven episodes to suddenly turn Adora into an outright villain.
But Amma is stuck under her mother’s spell, unable to cause her pain. Camille, meanwhile, displays actual, healthy care for Amma in this situation, imploring that she leave to find Richard. What’s most disturbing, however, is that after how cold and cruel we’ve seen Adora, it’s as she’s killing her daughter that she seems the most loving. But the twisted matriarch refuses, dodging every opportunity by shoving more medicine down Camille’s throat. As Camille batters her body, this time for Amma’s sake, she tries to get Adora to confess. The trio pull off an impressive balancing act by bringing that simmering tension to a boil without undercutting the emotional honesty of their characters.
#Amma sharp objects how to#
Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, and Eliza Scanlen all do terrific work throughout, as Camille allows Adora to poison her so Amma can get a break, but this episode really belongs to director Jean-Marc Vallee and episode writers Marti Noxon (the series' showrunner) and Gillian Flynn (author of the novel) who know how to fill a room with the thick fog of fear that these characters we’ve watched throughout the season aren’t going to make it out alive.
#Amma sharp objects full#
What was formerly the TV equivalent of a page-turning beach read makes the full transition into a disturbing but believable portrait of mental illness.
Between the opening shot of Camille slowly approaching the house, and then being forced to join the bizarro-happy family dinner while she knows exactly what Adora is doing to Amma, Sharp Objects takes on a new sense of foreboding. Still, the finale is ripe with emotional terror. However, that doesn’t mean Sharp Objects as a whole should be classified as horror, and that makes the nature of its ending somewhat dissatisfying. “Milk” is an example of great horror not just because of the feeling the last few seconds leave you with, but for how the episode depicts the events that lead to those last few seconds. The horror genre comes in many shapes and sizes, but when done right, it typically leaves you with a feeling of dread that lasts long after the credits roll.