The miniseries trended hot through this decade, radiating chic nihilism and Serious Drama-hood, murder, and melancholy.
Like, when you hear the phrase Limited Series Event, you dont immediately think lighthearted.
The firstTrue Detectivepondered the void for eight episodes, then decided that light was winning.
Anne Marie Fox/HBO
EveryFargobends to the warming glow (and moral authority) of an all-American cop-parent family.
Big Little Lieswas never as dour as its short-form brethren.
It had sense of humor about characters excess, an expansive feeling for their humanity.
(A second season, previously unplanned, may complicate that conclusion.
The boldest approach would be eight episodes where everyones chill.)
Sharp Objectswent a different direction.
The eighth and final episode marked their complete collaboration, Vallee directing a script written by Flynn and Noxon.
And the end of the matriarchal murder mystery was nasty, brutish, and short.
Dont tell Mama, said Amma (Eliza Scanlen).
Her Southern twang emphasized the climactic repeated syllable, like one greatmawwasnt enough to hold all this inner darkness.
We barely even got to see how Camille (Amy Adams) reacted to her half-sisters demented crime.
The penultimate shot was final close-up on Adams, looking confused/disappointed/horrified, unable to speak.
Then again, what can you say about a dollhouse with floor tiles made from human teeth?
The eighth and final episode ofSharp Objectshad been, up to that point, an exercise in simmering tension.
The women sat at the table, joined by audio enthusiast Alan (Henry Czerny).
Camille conceived a desperate gambit.
She fell to the floor, begging Adora to care for her.
This was everything her mother ever wanted from her eldest daughter: To beneeded, and worshipped.
Camilles act was complex, victimhood as a heroic act of rescue, a kind of martyrdom.
This was a showcase for everyone involved.
And now Adams guided you through Camilles dissolution.
But in some ways, Camille had never been stronger.
The cards were all on the table.
And the ghostly little sister offered her a vision of grace.
Her actions here were monstrous, but her performance got more delicate in the extremity.
Meanwhile, Amma haunted the margins.
Scanlen was always theSharp Objectswild card.
Now she was halfway to being another ghost sister.
The payoff was a bit clumsy, I think.
Sandovals a great actor, but Frank represented the aspects ofSharp ObjectsI liked the least.
The point was to draw you into Camilles perspective; even heriPodwas scarred all over.
Camille was a fascinating character, so strong that her internal struggle felt like a heavyweight title match.
Adams great performance expressed years of horror and psychological trauma.
The perpetual flashbackery served to underline and italicize, but Im not sure it deepened.
written in the clouds.
The cops arrived, arresting Adora, saving her daughters.
Detective Willis (Chris Messina) stuck around just long enough to say goodbye.
Messina rocked a memorably awkward Not Ready For This blank stare as he left Camille.
Camille adopted Amma, bringing her away from the historical horrors of Wind Gap.
Adora went to prison, visited occasionally by the one daughter who still loved her.
Together they basked in the warming glow of Frank and Eileen (Barbara Eve Harris).
Shout-out to Harris, by the way, for exuding unfussy strength in her few scenes.
The jaws of victory, but defeat loomed.
Amma made a new friend, seemed to be in a little feud; you know how teens are.
(Earlier in the episode, Camille was lying near death on those tiles.)
At long last physical evidence: The teeth of Ann Nash and Natalie Keene, recycled into redecoration.
Dont tellMama, said Amma.
Adora and Camille competed for maternal sway over teenaged Amma.
(Camille said she wouldnt know how to take care of a baby.
Amma: you’ve got the option to practice onme.)
Flashbacks rib-poked us to consider that Amma was taking the place of Adoras lost daughter and Camilles lost sister.
The fact that Amma anagrams into Mama gives this ending a final gut punch.
Camille thought she was rescuing her sister and, in doing so, rescuing herself.
But her sisters crimes mark a threefold multiplication of Adoras fatality rate.
One daughter killed, one daughter a killer: Where does that leave Camille?
The last word in the novel is kindness.
Im glad theSharp Objectscollaborators amputated all of that.
Youre left to ponder what happens next.
Does the fearful American Gothic cycle of pain continue, Camille mercy-killing her mad half-sister?
It is the kind of show that requires an end-credits referral to the suicide hotline.
And I worry that sometimes the weight of all this obscured the shows real strength: This was asickshow.
Our reporter had no obvious journalistic ethics.
A search for a dead body was an excuse for daydrinking.
Amma, of course, played Millie in the Calhoun Day sketch.
Now that all-female militia line sounds likeSharp Objects nastiest joke.
Theyd doanythingfor me, she told Camille back in episode 3.
(Id rather hekillher than rape her one of the victims parents told Camille.
He got the killers pronoun wrong, but thats still the only wish that came true onSharp Objects.)
The blurring images of Ammas crimes were freaky.
Still, there was something a bit dopey in the decision to bury them in the end-credits.
It blunts the power of the cut to black.
But the montage of murder has its own power.
Its a final bit of dark humor in a finale that throws allSharp Objects apparent sincerity to the wind.
In this demented fairy tale, the angelic innocent is the consuming swamp monster.
I didnt always loveSharp Objects, will always wonder if it wouldve been twice as good half as long.
suggesting the crowd-pleasing catchphrase in a family sitcom broadcast straight from Hell.
