(Spoiler alert: Don’t read ahead unless you’ve watched the “Sharp Objects” finale… all the way to the end of the credits!)
Deep breaths, people, deep breaths.
“Sharp Objects” went out Sunday with the big reveal that Amma (Eliza Scanlen) is the one who murdered Ann Nash and Natalie Keene, with the HBO limited series’ finale cutting off right at the moment Camille (Amy Adams) realizes the truth about her devious little sister. Amma says, “Don’t tell mama,” then the screen cuts to black and Led Zepplin’s “In the Evening” kicks into high gear as the final credits roll.
But if you stick around to watch all the way through till the very end of the small-screen adaptation’s final episode, “Milk,” you’ll catch a few glimpses of Amma that reveal more of the murderous story from Gillian Flynn’s debut novel. And that are sure to send chills down your spine.
The first, which comes mid-credits, is a chaotic shot of Amma doing the deed — strangling the girls in the woods as they fight back. (They don’t show Amma pulling out their teeth, which are to be used as the ivory floor in her coveted dollhouse, but she did that, too). It even gives a few glimpses of her offing her new friend in the city, Mae.
While the Adams-led drama doesn’t give you more details about how Amma carried out the crimes than those jagged shots, Flynn’s book fleshes it out in its final few pages. You can read more about the differences between the book and the limited series here.
The final scene of the series comes at the very end of the credits, and is a blink-and-you’ll-almost-miss-it shot of Amma in a long white dress, gazing at the camera before turning to walk into the woods. The vision is significant because, if you remember back in Episode 2, “Dirt,” the only eyewitness to Natalie’s capture was a little boy who described to Camille a woman dressed in white as Natalie’s kidnapper.
The short scene is also a call back to Amma and Camille’s mother Adora (Patricia Clarkson), who is often depicted in white (see below), has that ivory floor in her bedroom, and who killed Camille’s other little sister, Marian.
Read our conversation about the gut-punch finale with showrunner Marti Noxon over here.
