Adapted from the debut novel by the author of Gone Girl, the pilot of HBO’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects shines with the promise of a new summer obsession.
The opening minutes of Sharp Objects play out with a charged silence as we watch two young girls roller-skate down a quiet country road and make their way up the lush green lawn and inside a stately Victorian home. It’s apparent that these images are important, but it’s not at all clear why.
This is the simplest way, or perhaps it’s more honest to say easiest way, to explain Sharp Objects. I say that because once you start digging into everything this show has to offer, the more difficult it becomes to articulate what Sharp Objects is and what it is not. The pilot introduces us to a world of restrained, subdued tension that feels full of secrets, just ready to implode.
The central conceit is rather simple: A journalist, Camille Preaker, returns to her hometown in on an assignment from her editor to investigate the disappearance and subsequent murder of a young girl.
Do not be deceived into thinking that Sharp Objects is just another crime procedural that follows all-too-familiar beats of an investigation into the dark underbelly of rural America. This well-trodden genre is but a single facet of what ultimately evolves into a dynamic character study that contains elements of a suspenseful mystery, a family drama, an interrogation of personal trauma, and an examination of generational and class divisions set against the sumptuous backdrop of an oppressive Missourian summer.
What’s impressive about the Sharp Objects pilot is how it manages to introduce all these various narrative threads without feeling didactic or informational. Rather than filling us in with flat-footed narrative dumps, the episode plays out with impressive wordlessness. Extended sequences without dialogue introduce the audience to Camille’s hometown of Wind Gap, her serious drinking problem, her childhood home, and her memories – that are as mysterious and puzzling as the murder investigation.
Jean-Marc Vallée, who most recently directed all seven episodes of the first season of Big Little Lies, is also the sole director for all eight episodes of Sharp Objects. Those familiar with Vallée’s style will not be surprised to see how he handles the material, as he brings his usual quirks and stylistic flourishes to the series.
Characteristics of Vallée’s work – ones that I have personally found grating in the past – feel particularly well suited to the material. In Sharp Objects, his style of cutting back and forth in time, whether it be in memory or imagination, feel meaningful – mirroring the experience of our protagonist as she returns to her hometown and is forced to relive and remember those memories that have haunted her since her youth.
Moreover, the sharp editing of Vallée’s work feels thematically resonant – especially with regards to how it manages to simultaneously obscure and reveal details about our protagonist and her world. In this way, Vallée uses the pilot to emphasize the way in which memory is tied to location and how these two elements work in tandem to evoke a wide range of emotions.
Sharp Objects is blessed by the added strength of having Amy Adams in the leading role. Let’s not mince words: Adams is one of the most talented actresses working today, who inhabits each role with such genuine vulnerability and precise characterization that she elevates any and all material she’s given. As such, her performance in Sharp Objects unmissable; her performance as Camille feels lived in as we watch her venture reluctantly into a past that seems set on releasing a dormant, contained chaos.
The cast also includes Patricia Clarkson as Camille’s anxious and idiosyncratic mother, Chris Messina as the frustrated detective assigned to the case, and surprise stand out Eliza Scanlen as Amma – Camille’s young half-sister who leads a mysterious double life and is the most excited about Camille’s return.
The first episode of Sharp Objects is a captivating introduction to a story that is sure to fill your desire for a new summer obsession. Whether you’re familiar with the novel or new to the story, Sharp Objects is a must-watch mystery that’s brimming with the kind of characters and conflict that feel right at home in miniseries form.
With its pilot, Sharp Objects makes it clear it is concerned with far more than murder; it’s a study of personal identity, the unrelenting effects of trauma, the fractured bonds of family, and suffocating small towns where secrets are a commodity like any other.