Sharp Objects (Season 1)

[Ezee E]

Well, I'm certainly curious.

Was it just me though, or was it tough to hear a lot of the dialog? Almost whispered?

I didn't read this book, so I'll be sure to stay away from spoilers.

[Ezee E]

It appears I'm the only one watching this.

I've turned on captions, and it's really helped out the show. There are so many whispered lines that it's tough to hear.

The focus on mental illness is better than I've seen it elsewhere. Granted, it's an extreme case, but it's treated well. I'm interested in Amy Adams' character, rather than bored by her, which tends to be the case with many of those characters. Her family is nearly terrifying to watch in display, but incredibly well acted.

At this point, I'm calling the murderer to be a combination of Amma, the sister, and whoever she's manipulated in the slaughterhouse.

[Ezee E]

I really wish I wasn't the only one watching this show.

[dreamdead]

I really wish I wasn't the only one watching this show.

I'm watching it, though I haven't seen this past week's episode yet.

Read the book a few years ago, and am mildly surprised by the fact that Jean-Marc Vallée, Marti Noxon and Flynn chose to make this an 8-episode run. I feel that it rides so heavily on atmosphere that it could wrap up next episode without too much trouble, even though moment by moment it's well conceived and shot.

I never saw Dallas Buyers Club, only Wild and Big Little Lies, and I'm curious to see how the former film fits within Vallée's motif of flashes of past event within a larger continuum of character and history. It really works on this series, and I remember it from Wild, but it also feels wonderfully fragmentary here in a way that would appear too schematic in a more compressed narrative (e.g. most feature films). That said, it's not really returned to the narrative payoffs that were established in the first two episodes, which I find interesting.

[Peng]

Watching it too, but it's so light on plot that I don't feel it's a "commenting" show as such; the evocative fragmentary editing and Amy Adams' performance keep me watching though. The celebration day episode is the best so far since it puts the whole town together in one place so there are as many incidents to equal the show's simmering atmosphere. Also, with so much focus on the town instead of the case, these teen girls are almost scarier than the serial killer to me now.

[Peng]

Ummmmm, that shit is cray. Cray in a way that is not good, and reverberantly destructive for the show. But still, memorably cray. Now I understand the hesitation of book readers for the show.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, the whole series was terrific and it ended brilliantly.

I'm quite tempted to pull the "Twin Peaks" idea and have this as the top of my year.