Sharp Objects episode 6 recap: A clue is found

The mystery moves forward this week on Sharp Objects as a new clue is found. Here is what went down in the episode titled Cherry.

The morning after

“Cherry” begins on the characters’ mornings, as previous episodes have opened. As I stated before, this is an interesting way to explore who these characters are and the differences between them. Even something as simple as a morning routine can reveal a lot about a person.

Camille wakes up with Willis naked beside her. He asks her if she wants coffee and also wonders why she slept in her full clothes. When Camille returns home, she has yet another tension-filled conversation with Adora. She also hugs the housekeeper. This made me wonder exactly what kind of relationship the two have had over the years.

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It would be an interesting thing for the show to cover, to see things through the eyes of a silent observer (the housekeeper). Perhaps, Sharp Objects could have explored this to fill the time instead of showing us multiple shots of Camille drinking.

Mental health ignorance

It was already apparent that Adora, Alan, and Amma are mostly ignorant in their handling of Camille’s mental health issues. However, this episode really showcased this.

In the beginning of this episode, Amma makes a tasteless joke about the scars on her arm to Camille. She tries to brush it off claiming she wasn’t being serious. It shows how to some people self harm is nothing more than a joke, something that “dark, crazy people” do. Also, it proves how ignorant and self-absorbed Amma is.

For most of the series so far, Alan has been in the background. He seemed relatively harmless, though complacent, in Adora’s mistreatment of Camille. However, “Cherry” showed he is just as bad as his wife and daughter.

To please Adora (once again), he tells Camille she is overstaying her welcome. He tells Camille that her emotional state is affecting her mother. This is a terrible thing to say to someone with mental health issues, especially when Adora is a big part of why Camille has those issues in the first place. Alan has no qualms about taking part in the manipulative hold Adora has on her own daughter.

It is not only Camille’s family that is ignorant regarding her troubles, but also her close acquaintances. In this episode, Willis questions Jackie about Camille’s past. He even goes as far as going to the mental hospital Camille was in. Willis does this all without Camille knowing. If you want to get to know a person, going behind their back to do so is not the way to do it, especially when that person has mental health problems.

The dark, hard pit of Wind Gap

“Cherry” was an excellent glimpse of the residents of Wind Gap, especially the women. Camille gets together with her former fellow high school cheerleaders. Many of the women cry hysterically while watching Beaches. They then go on to tear up about their own personal problems. One of the women, Becca, an African-American woman whom the other girls used to pick on, tells Camille they do this every time they get together.

This sequence said a lot about the women of Wind Gap. These women can gossip about the grisly murders of two young girls in their hometown without shedding a tear but sob when they watch a fictional film. It also made me wonder what living in Wind Gap is like for Becca. What is it like for a black woman living in a predominately white, gossip-filled town?

Shortly after, the women start to talk about the murders. They claim Camille cannot feel for the girls as much as they do because unlike them, she does not have children. During the get-together, they also make a claim that feminists try to tell other women not to have kids. They say the tenants of feminism state women can make their own choices.

This is classic Gillian Flynn commentary about women in American society. These women claim they uphold feminism by making their own choices. Yet, they tell a woman who has not had kids she cannot feel emotions as much. This is the type of girl-on-girl hate that feminism is against.

In the car alone with Camille after, Becca makes a comment that I loved. She compares the women and the two of them to cherries. Becca says they are “luscious on the outside, but on the inside there’s that dark, hard pit.” I feel like this quote perfectly captures not only those women, but the entire town of Wind Gap as well. Wind Gap tries to uphold this perfect, small-town image but really it is filled with gossip, secrets, and now murder.

A new clue found

On the Preaker slaughterhouse, Ann Nash’s bicycle is found in a lake of pig manure. Adora gets Vickery right away, but does not tell Camille about it. Bob Nash was also there to correctly identify it. His painful reaction was extremely genuine, and in my opinion, definitely rules him out as being the murderer.

At the end of the episode, Vickery tells Willis it is time for him to go home. One of the workers stated it was John Keene who placed the bike there. I have doubt that this is entirely true. I think this may be some kind of manipulative tactic from Adora or Amma (my own personal top two suspects) to get the investigation to close.

Found family

During a phone update with Curry, Camille makes a comment that she wants to go “home”. She notes the irony of that statement as she is sitting in her childhood bedroom during the phone call.

One of the themes of Sharp Objects is that family doesn’t always act like family. Sometimes it is other people who can make up a true “family”. I think Camille has that in Curry and his wife. They seem to truly care about her and frankly, they are the only two normal people in her life.

Camille is also constantly trying to find a replacement for her deceased sister, Mariah. This is shown again in her interactions at the end of the episode with Amma. Despite Amma’s earlier ignorant remarks and the fact she basically manipulates Camille into taking drugs, Camille still bonds with her because she craves that sisterly affection.

Sharp Objects airs Sunday nights on HBO.