Sharp Objects Review: Dirt (Season 1 Episode 2)

On Sharp Objects Season 1 Episode 2, “Dirt,” everyone is a suspect in Wind Gap as Det. Richard Willis (Chris Messina) tries to build a profile of the murderer, but the real mystery is Adora and her erratic maternal instinct.

Camille’s efforts to learn more about Natalie Keene and Ann Nash are inexplicably thwarted by Adora whose grief over the girls’ deaths consumes her.

Adora continues to mourn as if Natalie and Ann are her own children, and it’s easy to attribute this to Marian (Lulu Wilson). Viewers still don’t know the details surrounding Marian’s untimely demise, but neither Adora nor Camille have yet to recover from the loss.

Adora is front and center on Sharp Objects Season 1 Episode 2, particularly the contrast regarding how she treats her children. In Adora’s mind, her conflict with Camille is the result of Camille’s behavior.

Outside of Camille’s blatant self-destructive cutting, there are hints that Camille is a disappointment to Adora in ways that are sure to be revealed moving forward.

From Camille’s perspective, Adora’s parenting style vacillates between ambivalence and criticism. Were Adora a more nurturing mother would Camille be different, or is Camille strictly a victim of her own poor choices?

Amma (Eliza Scanlen) is proof there’s something off when it comes to Adora’s maternal instincts. Amma is obviously a do-over; an outlet for the affection Adora refuses to bestow on Camille. Yet, Amma is headed down the same path as her half-sister.

How is it that Adora is so overprotective, but her child runs wild in a small town, and her mother remains clueless?

One moment on “Dirt,” Amma is clad is a flowered nightgown, face scrubbed pink, and playing with a dollhouse. An hour later, she’s stealing vodka, experimenting with her burgeoning sexuality, and showing definite manipulative mean-girl tendencies.

Like Adora, Amma craves attention. It’s become obvious death holds a strong allure for Adora. On the outside, she’s deeply troubled by the morbidity of it all. She chastises Camille for her intrusiveness and insensitivity, but Adora revels in grief, encasing herself in it like a shroud.

Adora uses Natalie’s and Ann’s deaths to generate sympathy for herself. She shows little or no compassion for whoever else it touches unless it makes her looks better by doing so.

Adora is quickly surpassing Camille as Sharp Objects’ most intriguing and complex character. We want to know more about this soft-spoken woman who feels compelled to pull out her eyelashes when under duress. The Adora who, according to Jackie (Elizabeth Perkins), used to be “lovely and frivolous like a kite.”

Adora’s a pillar of the community. An honor she didn’t earn but inherited along with a slaughterhouse and old family money. She’s as syrupy sweet as a glass of tea one moment and vindictive and controlling the next.

Adora continues to stress her affection for Ann and Natalie, but she refuses to elaborate on how these bonds were cultivated.  The more Camille presses Adora, the more intent she becomes on pushing Camille away.

While Det. Wills focuses on the men of Wind Gap, the women are the real threats. Whether it’s the “pack of vipers” who used to be Camille’s high school friends, drunken Jackie who loves to spill secrets, Camille and her “mildly concussed” demons, the contrary Amma, or the meth-head mom who lets her son play with a gun.

These women are the real mystery. Those who give life, and those with the capability to destroy it with an unapologetic ferocity.

What did you think of this episode of Sharp Objects? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Sharp Objects airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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Amy Adams Previews ‘Sharp Objects’ at the ATX Television Festival [Video]