Sharp Objects
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Lets discuss the gravity of this statement for a moment.
A part of Camille has perhaps always known this about her mother.
Adoras emotional remove and icy demeanor is hard to miss.
But hearing it is another story.
Cherry is a powerhouse of an episode.
Its a feast of visual bravura, editing ingenuity, and cunning emotional reveals.
This line is from the Angela Carter short story Lady of the House of Love.
I thought a lot about Carter throughout the episode.
When Camille wakes from this dream shes in bed with Richard.
Theyre a study in contrasts.
Hes completely naked, shes fully dressed.
(Although his penis is shadowed for those wondering.)
Shes consistently in shadow, hes in the light.
They trade flirtatious barbs.
But there is a roiling unease to their dynamic.
You slept in your clothes?
If you want Im the proud owner of a 14-year-old flannel, he tries to casually say.
Sounds like youre halfway to a question you want to ask me, she retorts.
Angie nicely makes prodding remarks to find out if Camille is married or dating.
There is a pivotal flashback from Camilles high school years that frames the reunion.
In it, Camille is practicing and dressed in her cheerleading uniform.
The girls trade nasty remarks when Camille stops complaining of cramps.
Becca only stops when she sees blood dripping down Camilles leg.
Jokes ensue but its not her period but the beginning of her self-harm.
The truth is in the blood when you know where to look.
when one of them mentions returning to work for a sense of purpose.
It feels genuine the same way it does when Camille hugs Gayla in the kitchen earlier.
Camille doesnt have any children and you dont feel the pain the way we do, one says.
Katies face brightens, I didnt really become a woman until I felt Mackenzie inside of me.
He argues that she would have sympathy from Adora if she knew what she had been through.
And what has she been through?
I know how jealous youve been of everyone elses well-being, Alan spits at Camille.
InSharp Objects,motherhood is simultaneously a glorious, expected burden women must bearanda vehicle for inherited trauma.
Adoras approach to motherhood cloying and exacting in equal measure has left her daughters stranded emotionally.
Shes present during the intense interactions between Amma and Camille even when shes not physically present.
Yet that doesnt stop her.
Boys are easy … you just let them do stuff to you, Amma says.
So shes replicating what she knows.
Maybe thats why her love allows has a sickly sexual undercurrent.
I thought you liked it rough, she tells Camille at one point.
Then theres the game she ropes Camille into at the party.
Then you have your winner.
Camille recoils a bit but Amma wont have it.
She slinks close to Camille.
When she wont accept an ecstasy-laced kiss Amma grabs her mouth tightly pushing their lips together.
Its a kiss that feels more like a provocation or a warning.
They go roller skating through Wind Gap giving way to an impressionistic, rich sequence.
Its a mosaic of various memories colliding.
A whisper plea to Alice, Lets get out of here, plays over and over again.
The night feels velvet and enveloping.
Everything feels decadent and immediate, like the night and its strange pleasures will never end.
But they do, abruptly.
When they stumble drunkenly back home an edge of longing and toxicity enters Camilles voice.
Camille and Amma clasp hands spinning, spinning, spinning in the front yard.
But as they spin Amma shapeshifts.
Scared, Camille lets go.
They fall hard onto the perfect lawn before slipping into the house.
Becca knew Camille was cutting when they were younger.
Wind Gap Gossip
It took rewatching this episode to fully understand the focus on Ashleys ear.
Camille notices that her ear looks mangled during their interview.
Time slows to a crawl and the camera focuses intensely on the ear, so its important.
At the overheated party Camille attends with Amma she runs into Ashley.
Someone took a chunk out of your ear, I caught Camille saying.
Readers, who do you think mutilated Ashley?
Mirrors often prove to be revealing inSharp Objects of emotional realities not necessarily physical ones.
The brief scene between Kirk and Camille is tense.
Hes apologetic about participating in raping her with the other boys all those years ago.
But Camille tries to brush it off, harden herself.
