Sharp Objects 1x06 Cherry

(spoiler-free!)

Two episodes left and the things on Sharp Objects are figuratively and literally spinning out of control with our protagonist losing her grip on reality and responsible or sane behavior more and more the longer she stays in the town and the closer she gets to her sister. This episode brought a fan favorite scene - the party Camille attends with Amma. And as all the previous episodes, it did source material justice.

At the beginning, we are back in a motel room where we are treated to yet another strategically shadowed shot of nude Chris Messina. Camille gets up and leaves after their brief exchange and quick kiss. This episode on a whole seemed like a very rapid cool-down of their relationship. You see Richard here is one of those guys who pose as not an asshole but really are one. Sure, he is not a rapist or a killer but that's not enough for a gold star, Dick. Richard starts asking questions about Camille, even visits her rehab and then tries using drunk Jackie to give him some answers.
But Jackie is a pro and gives him nothing, in fact it's him who reveals to her that Camille's roommate in rehab killed herself. I don't know if this leads anywhere in next episodes, but I am hoping we are getting the last scene between Jackie and Camille from the novel. And yes, the police work in the town is still really wonderful. In fact, they get a big break - but of course not because of anything they did. Someone on Adora's hog farm calls in to report they saw a bike of Ann Nash' being dumped into pig shit....by John Keene.

Adora gets a call about it and heads to the spot, lying to Camille that she has to run the errands in the pharmacy. Camille, when she finds out what her mom's trip was about, is furious. Adora throws more passive aggression her way and then uses Alan to inform Camille that she is no longer welcome to stay in the mansion. Up until that point I think everyone either suspected or liked Alan for chilling with his music and not paying attention to the messed up stuff happening around him. But now that we had Alan tell Camille to be nicer to her mother and stop telling Adora of the dead girls which we know Camille didn't do...yeah we all don't like him, don't we?
That's not all of the weak men we saw this week. Camille visits Ashley who has John Keene properly whipped and wrapped around her finger. Before she gets into the house she sees Amma hanging around the house in a provocative manner, hitting on and insulting John at the same time. Ashley offers Camille lines about how the murdered girls were angels which Camille quickly realizes is lies.

Thankfully, we get a sweet moment with Frank checking in on Camille and his wife talking to her as well. Camille also gets support from a girl she used to know in high school - perhaps the most unpleasant thing in this episode, worse than distant mothers and messed up teenagers are the scenes where Camille attends the party thrown by her former cheerleader-friends. They are completely different than she is, the kind of women who only care about their husbands and kids. They inform Camille how much more understanding for pain they have because they are mothers.
Those bitches, man..

I'm actually hoping they change things around from how they end in the novel and someone sets this whole place on fire because - get this - one of the guys who raped Camille, another weak guy currently occupying the hellhole that is Wind Gap, and who has some delusions about not being a pig, no offense to pigs - corners her during that party to apologize for raping her. Camille, still in denial, leaves him in that hallway with his bullshit excuses.
Later, as Camille is getting her usual vodka, inebriated Amma and her friends run into her and convince Camille to join them for a party. Amma even gets Camille to do drugs. At the party John and Ashley make an appearance and leave after people get uncomfortable around John but not before it is implied Natalie bit off part of Ashley's earlobe. Ashley tells Camille to ask Adora about Natalie.

As Camille starts feeling the influence of drugs, Amma drags her out of the house and the two rollerskate around empty Wind Gap, in part dreamlike and part nightmarish scene. As they arrive to the house they collapse on the grass and we find out that Amma would like to live with Camille and she hates life in Wind Gap. The two start spinning around and Camille has flashes of all the dead girls - Marian, Alice, Ann and Natalie. After they fall on the ground, they get up and go to Camille's room and collapse on the bed, with Adora lurking near, peeking inside. Suddenly someone grabs Camille's hand, gently. In the mirror's reflection Camille sees her dead sister, telling her it's not safe for Camille there.
With only two episodes left it seems that we should be getting the reveal of the killer next episode, but who knows. There's only a handful of things that are left to happen from the novel and despite this being the 6th episode there's still a lot of foreshadowing and clue throwing to do. The show already set up the twist beautifully but they still need to portray why the killer murdered the girls which so far wasn't hinted at.

The rollerskate through town scene is my favorite in the show so far. The camera work was stunning as was the mix of several different songs playing in the scene. Once again Adams knocked it out of the park - we understand Camille's irresponsible actions, she wants to feel like she has a sister again and she is taking any joy she can find. The chemistry between Adams and Scanlen is just lovely and while Amy makes Camille more likable than she was in the book, watching Eliza is as if complicated and fascinating Amma stepped right out of the book. This girl is going to be a huge star.
On the next episode....

1x07 "Falling" - Camille (Amy Adams) crosses a line in her investigation of the prime suspect. Richard (Chris Messina) coaxes Jackie (Elizabeth Perkins) to offer up info about Marian Preaker’s death. Adora (Patricia Clarkson) takes pains to keep an ailing Amma (Eliza Scanlen) under her roof and in her care.Written by Gillian Flynn & Scott Brown; directed by Jean-Marc Vallée.