Sharp Objects - HBO

Several episodes into this and I'm still unsure how I feel about it.
The story of a woman battling mental illness and alcoholism who is sent back to her home town by her newspaper editor to write a piece about two girls, one of which was murdered, the other disappeared.
In the process, she is forced to reconnect with her battle-axe of an overbearing mother and the much younger half-sibling of a sister she barely knows.

I've seen it described as a more feminine version of "True Detective". The one thing I can say for sure is that it's well acted and the couleur locale is entertaining.
At the same time I feel like this is not leading anywhere particularly interesting. But it's too early to tell for sure. Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson are both great and perhaps justify the watch on their own.



The young Australian actress Eliza Scanlen is perhaps the break-out star of the piece, as the Lolita-ish, manipulative teenage half-sister of the main protagonist. I see she has already turned her turn on this show into being cast in Greta Gerwig's star-studded "Little Women" adaptation.

This is losing its way badly. If we are working towards the climax I now suspect we'll get, I will be even more disappointed.

In the end, I'm getting more and more convinced it's a well-acted show that is devoid of any ideas.

Felt like they wasted so much time and will end up trying to cram the ending into the last episode. Also felt they telegraphed pretty strongly who is responsible since the first episode. If that ends up being the case, I think you are right. Good acting, but not much else there.

This show was ultimately a letdown. Everyone who has paid even half attention will have seen that twist at the ending coming, considering they had been telegraphing it from the second or third episode onward.

What is left is a slowburner of a show with little to offer beyond the couleur locale and good performances. Not enough to justify eight episodes of this.

It's insane that some people were clamoring for a second season and it's good that HBO has already giving strong indications that this is not very likely to happen.

I will remember that Eliza Scanlen is a star in the making, mostly.

Salomé wrote:

I will remember that Eliza Scanlen is a star in the making, mostly.

'Eliza is a nebula' t-shirts are available now.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

I will remember that Eliza Scanlen is a star in the making, mostly.

'Eliza is a nebula' t-shirts are available now.

She is talented but I wonder about her next project being Greta Gerwig's "Little Women" adaptation.
I was curious to see where Gerwig would go after the safety blanket that is auto-biography but an adaptation of a novel that has been transferred to the big and small screen so many times seems like another very safe choice.

In all seriousness, her performance is very good and her honest depiction of the casual cruelty of an adolescent girl is perhaps the most worthwhile thing about this show.