Sharp Objects season 1, episode 8 finale recap: ‘Milk’

On the latest episode of Sharp Objects, we finally get answers about what happened in Wind Gap.

Camille comes home to what is possibly the most awkward family dinner ever on Sharp Objects. While Alan and Amma engage in a morbid attempt at polite dinner conversation, Camille and her mother exchange in a series of suspicious looks. Camille eventually suggests that Amma come stay with her in St. Louis. Alan expresses approval of the idea, while unsurprisingly, Adora is skeptical. Amma clearly does not look well at dinner, but she is wearing some sort of crude flowered crown.

But this is all cut short, as Adora thinks Amma becomes ill and begins fussing over her. In response, Camille begins acting like she isn’t feeling well. Adora promptly drops Amma and attends to Camille, even inviting her to her bedroom with the sacred ivory floor. After tucking Camille into her bed, Adora gives her a spoonful of some liquid. Seeing how Adora approves of this behavior, Camille asks for more.

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Speaking of a bitter pill to swallow on Sharp Objects, Vickery races out of his house to interrogate John Keene with Richard. They reveal Ashley gave them some help and Natalie’s blood was found where John was staying. In response, John gets emotional and repeatedly denies it was him. The two law officers chat and seem unsure it was him. Vickery also makes an offhand comment about Camille being like her mother.

Vickery then goes to the barber and runs into Alan. The Chief asks how Amma is, knowing she wasn’t well. Alan says that she’s fine and some illness is going through the family. Alan also makes a passive aggressive comment about how Vickery is at his house almost as much as he is.

When arriving home, it seems Alan knows Adora is going overboard with medication. But he doesn’t seem to suspect anything. Camille is by now feeling the effects of her mother’s “care” but she manages to tell Amma to go get help and not come back.

Richard goes back to his usual dive for a drink while Camille is getting a bath from Adora. She quietly confronts Adora who denies killing Marian but obliges her daughter with a story. Once when Adora was a girl, her mother woke her up in the middle of the night and drove her out to the woods and left her there. Adora swoons over the fact that she’s waiting to share this experience with Camille before leaving her daughter in the tub alone when the doorbell rings. It’s Richard.

Alan answers the door and gives Richard some excuse, which he accepts before heading out or at least appearing to. But he also makes several attempts to call Camille. Who cannot answer, as she is occupied wandering around the house before she sees Amma back in her room playing with her dollhouse. This is the last thing she sees before collapsing on her mother’s floor.

Adora is about to tend to Camille when police sirens become visible through the windows. After having a flashback of her sister Marian beside her, Camille sees Curry and Richard hovering over her. Richard calls for an ambulance while Curry gives her a robe and comforts her.

After seeing a pair of pliers, Richard has Adora arrested while she’s in the midst of pleading with Vickery. Amma and Adora are promptly taken to the hospital where they share a room. Camille’s blood is also taken for evidence. Richard reveals the pliers match markings left on both Natalie and Ann. He also adds that Amma built up a tolerance to whatever it was Adora was giving her, but Camille was a sitting duck for it. He also reveals Curry was the one who saved Camille before apologizing to Camille and expressing sympathy for her.

Camille takes Amma in on Sharp Objects as she mentioned and the two are seen having fun. While Amma makes a new friend in St. Louis, she also goes to see Adora in jail. While leaving the jail, the two run into Jackie. When Jackie mentions visiting St. Louis, Amma discretely makes cutting comments about Jackie, calling her the Queen Bea now that Adora is gone.

Back in St. Louis, Curry is touched by Camille’s reporting on Adora and the dead girls. Afterward, Amma, her new friend, Curry, his wife, and Camille all settle down to a meal. Shortly afterward, the girl’s mother asks Camille if she’s seen her daughter and reveals the girls had a bit of a fight. Camille promises she’ll send her along if she sees here.

While browsing through things in her apartment, Camille looks at her sister’s doll house, the one that’s an exact replica of Adora’s house. Well, it seems that includes the floor made out of poached teeth, because Camille finds a tooth inside the dollhouse. In response, Amma meekly says “Don’t tell Mom.”

A frenzied flashback gives a glimpse into what happened to Natalie and Ann, while we see a glimpse of Amma in the same white dress Camille imagined Adora in.