Sharp Objects Review: Ripe (Season 1 Episode 4)

On Sharp Objects Season 1 Episode 4, “Ripe,” Camille recounts another childhood trauma. Detective Willis and Sheriff Vickery (Matt Craven) feel Camille is hiding something.

It’s become easy to sum up the problem with Sharp Objects. HBO is stretching the content of a 254-page book over eight hours. To put this in perspective, Gone with the Wind (the movie) clocks in at just under four hours, and the source tome is over 1,000 pages, and that story includes the Civil War which spanned four years.

Sharp Objects is a pretty straightforward story. That’s not to say the plot isn’t complexly layered or intense, but in an effort to garner a mini-series instead of, perhaps, a movie, the subject matter is being woefully mishandled.

Sharp Objects isn’t without artistic merit. The vibe is very Southern gothic (even though events take place in Missouri, geographically the Midwest). The visual aesthetic is haunting, and most of the acting is top-notch, although Amy Adams’s portrayal of Camille Preaker is quickly becoming one note.

Chris Messina may be believable as a beaten down homicide cop from New York City, but he doesn’t play as someone from Kansas City. His get inside the killer’s head modus operandi is something straight out of a Thomas Harris book (Silence of the Lambs, Manhunter).

“Ripe” continues to explore Camille’s past and reveals yet another trauma. The novel isn’t just about Camille’s seemingly endless depths of emotional despair.

It also chronicles her road to recovery (this may be too optimistic a word) as she throws herself into investigating the deaths of the two girls.

Four episodes in, and Camille is no closer to resolving any of her issues, and the series is really overselling her alcoholism. She hasn’t accomplished much during her stay in Wind Gap, except the non-stop suckling of water bottles filled with vodka and endless drives in her car.

As a reporter, Camille spends zero time doing research, doesn’t carry a tape recorder, barely takes notes, and is still managing to turn in copy that satisfies her editor.

Sharp Objects Season 1 is pulling a lot of rabbits out of its hat to try to distract viewers, preventing them from solving the mystery on their own. The novel doesn’t waste a lot of time before pointing readers in the right direction, but this doesn’t de-escalate the tension, the few last-minute twists and turns, or the shocking conclusion.

This is a story about women — sisters, friends, enemies, acquaintances, strangers, and, most importantly, mothers and daughters.

The ladies who lunch scene where Camille bonds with several of Adora’s friends, including the delightfully catty Jackie, is pivotal in the book.

Camille understands that to really solve the mysteries in a small town, it’s best to listen to the gossip of the local bored housewives. This particular confab yields nothing of consequence and devolves into a conversation about Jackie’s tits.

The supposed threats posed by John Keene (Taylor John Nash), Alan (Henry Czerny), and Kirk Lacey (Jackson Hurst) feed into the overly exhausted thematic premise of women as victims of men. The female characters in Sharp Objects may be victims; they may be villains. What they aren’t, is influenced by the actions of men.

Look no further than Adora’s unsolicited attacks on Camille as proof that women are as capable of cruelty as any man.

Take the book out of the equation, and even as a stand-alone series, Sharp Objects isn’t working. It feels like HBO is eager to replicate the success of Big Little Lies — a sprawling, high-profile, glossy look at rape and domestic abuse set against the backdrop of gorgeous vistas.

Sharp Objects is cramped and small, little girls are dying, and the heroine is a functional alcoholic who has to fight the urge to self-mutilate. Not exactly glamorous stuff. So far, the only upside to the series is that it’s inconceivable there will be a season 2. That’s not exactly high praise.

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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