S01.E01: Vanish

[SarahPrtr]

I'm wondering if there was a reason why they kept making a point of what music Camille was playing.  Like, it was sooo deliberately obvious.  It's supposed to just play subtly in the background, and I found the way they kept pointedly introducing the songs rather distracting.  Maybe I'm the only one.

[jeansheridan]

5 hours ago, snarts said:

How many gingers can there be in one town?

A lot if the marriage pool is small. Or bottled reds too.

I do like young Camille although her stranger danger is lacking.

And I like Amy Adams when she has actual lines to say. I think of reporters as being naturally curious and when she gets to be alert she is good. 

[scrb]

11 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

But why? I can reach every part of both my arms with the opposite hands.

Can you carve words in your skin and keep them in the correct straight-on perspective while reaching around to the opposite arm?

The "Vanish" cutting was on her right arm?  So she should be left-handed if she did it?  Let's see if there are cuttings with legible writing on the left side of her body as well.  Maybe the front of her torso or the front of her left legs.

[preeya]

Showrunners and alcohol drinking. I've forever had a pet peeve when watching shows where characters drink (alcohol). There is no way in hell someone can drink 24 hours straight, drive a car a substantial distance (while continuing to drink), hardly miss a beat toward reality and remain relatively coherent. The amount of drinking portrayed by Camille is just not close to being real. IMHO she would have been out on her ass and hungover for days. 

The quantity of her drinking coupled with her demeanor and level of competency is so unrealistic.

Edited July 10, 2018 by preeya

[weaver]

On 7/9/2018 at 3:58 AM, DiabLOL said:

I think there's a subset of alcoholism where the tiny airplane sized bottles are not only portable for all day drinking in any situation, they also serve a very powerful form of denial.

 

It also showed she isn't short of money.  She's buying the good stuff in small bottles, Absolut.  I don't see the Intervention folks buying that brand.  

Amy Adams has always looked very young to me.  In this show, she looks more like her real life age.  But with all the drinking the character does, it wouldn't be too realistic for her to look late 20's.

Edited July 10, 2018 by weaver

[Empress1]

6 hours ago, scrb said:

Can you carve words in your skin and keep them in the correct straight-on perspective while reaching around to the opposite arm?

The "Vanish" cutting was on her right arm?  So she should be left-handed if she did it?  Let's see if there are cuttings with legible writing on the left side of her body as well.  Maybe the front of her torso or the front of her left legs.

I just tried to do it, holding my left fingers in the position they'd be in if I were holding a razor blade or a pin. I'm right-handed. I pretended to write the word "vanish." And yes, I could. I rotated my right bicep a little and held my right arm a bit in front of my body, and had access to the back of my right arm. I think it would be far more challenging to write on one's back and shoulders. Doing the same test, I tried to reach around and "write" on my back (using my right hand) and I had a much harder time. 

6 hours ago, jeansheridan said:

A lot if the marriage pool is small. Or bottled reds too.

I do like young Camille although her stranger danger is lacking.

And I like Amy Adams when she has actual lines to say. I think of reporters as being naturally curious and when she gets to be alert she is good. 

I can see that if she came from a town of 2000 though, where her family has been for generations. She's probably not used to strangers, you know? Everybody knows her and her family. (I've spent my entire life in big cities - a town of 2000 is so foreign to me!)

1 minute ago, weaver said:

It also showed she isn't short of money.  She's buying the good stuff in small bottles, Absolut.  I don't see the Intervention folks buying that brand.  

Ha - Sylvia, the woman on Intervention who drank the "little red tops" was rich. Came from Southern money (she was in one of the Carolinas and her elderly mother lived in a stately brick mansion; the family was straight out of a Tennessee Williams play), married and divorced money (it was revealed that she got $9K a month in child support for her 4 kids), and earned a very good living herself as an interior designer before she started drinking. 

If Camille is supported by her family's old money (a trust, whatever), it doesn't show. Her car is old and crappy, her apartment is basic, her clothes are simple, and her editor had to ask the question of whether she was old money or trash.

[filmfan2480]

13 hours ago, DakotaLavender said:

For me, this is just another jumbled hard to follow series that leaves a trail of ongoing mysterious clues and no doubt it will go on and on and on to some boring conclusion like True Detective 1. 

After Westworld and The Sinner and so many others that provide frustrating disappointing solutions, I am not sure if I can invest weeks of cliffhangers on this layered intrigue. I am better of sticking with The Night Of or The Affair where one mystery will be answered in a somewhat believable and grounded way. 

For me, Sharp Objects is written by smug writers who are more in love with their ability to build artistic scenes that motivate curiosity than to provide clarity. The style is becoming too frustrating. 

I know what you mean.  That said, I'm just so interested in seeing what Adams can do with this role.  I love the TYPE of show this seems to be.  I think the visuals ARE great.  And I often find the "journey" of shows like this to be more gratifying than the PLOT.  Plot is not everything to me when watching movies or shows.  More often than not, I soak in the acting, visuals, editing, tone, mood.  We'll see if it's all worth it in the end.  But yeah, can't say I don't see what you're talking about.  :) 

[ghoulina]

7 hours ago, SarahPrtr said:

I'm wondering if there was a reason why they kept making a point of what music Camille was playing.  Like, it was sooo deliberately obvious.  It's supposed to just play subtly in the background, and I found the way they kept pointedly introducing the songs rather distracting.  Maybe I'm the only one.

Nope. I was a bit put off by that as well. At first I thought it was the actual soundtrack for the show; I didn't realize she was playing these songs on her phone. 

[TattleTeeny]

8 hours ago, scrb said:

Can you carve words in your skin and keep them in the correct straight-on perspective while reaching around to the opposite arm?

Just looked at that "vanish" image again and I see no reason why not (other than drunkenness, at least) but, OK, yes--it would definitely be trouble on my right arm, considering I can barely do anything with my left hand!

Quote

Showrunners and alcohol drinking. I've forever had a pet peeve when watching shows were characters drink (alcohol). There is no way in hell someone can drink 24 hours straight, drive a car a substantial distance (while continuing to drink), hardly miss a beat toward reality and remain relatively coherent. The amount of drinking portrayed by Camille is just not close to being real. IMHO she would have been out on her ass and hungover for days. 

Unfortunately, seriously seasoned alcoholics (who need significant amounts of booze just to feel "normal," asd withdrawal symptoms can show up within 8 hours) can do all of that--until they day they can't because their bodies just give out. It could even be argued that they actually operate worse without it than with it, and they don't likely feel the hangover because they're almost never not what we'd consider drunk. If this character's been doing this for a long time, I'm not one bit surprised to see her carrying on her daily business without anyone around her the wiser. 

Edited July 10, 2018 by TattleTeeny

[scrb]

30 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

Just looked at that "vanish" image again and I see no reason why not (other than drunkenness, at least) but, OK, yes--it would definitely be trouble on my right arm, considering I can barely do anything with my left hand!

 

You're right, it's in forearm so it's certainly reachable with the opposite hand.  Though I still maintain that carving words into the skin isn't the easiest thing to do so it's remarkable that the letter sizes are about the same and it's almost as consistent as if she wrote on paper.

Most girls who cut seem to do it on their forearm, on the underside that faces forward.

[zobot81]

On 7/9/2018 at 3:58 AM, DiabLOL said:

I think there's a subset of alcoholism where the tiny airplane sized bottles are not only portable for all day drinking in any situation, they also serve a very powerful form of denial.

I don't think she's in denial at all about her alcoholism.  Anyone who drinks literally all day, every day, would hafta be completely delusional (like, insane) not to at least understand that, deep down tho it might be, he or she has an alcohol dependency.   Whether or not Camille cares that she's an alcoholic? Well, my guess is, no...not at all...not even a little bit. 

That's just a guess, given that I am sussing out the protagonist's personality from the first episode, alone...

[preeya]

17 minutes ago, zobot81 said:

I don't think she's in denial at all about her alcoholism.  Anyone who drinks literally all day, every day, would hafta be completely delusional (like, insane) not to at least understand that, deep down tho it might be, he or she has an alcohol dependency.   Whether or not Camille cares that she's an alcoholic? Well, my guess is, no...not at all...not even a little bit. 

That's just a guess, given that I am sussing out the protagonist's personality from the first episode, alone...

The quantity of her drinking coupled with her demeanor and level of competency is so unrealistic.

[zobot81]

5 minutes ago, preeya said:

The quantity of her drinking coupled with her demeanor and level of competency is so unrealistic.

If you mean that she handles her day-to-day living without like falling down all the time or slurring through conversations, I tend to disagree. There are plenty of high-functioning alcoholics, even "hard-core" ones. But the disease reaches a breaking point 99.9/100 times.  And it's never, truly "under control".  So, I imagine that Camille will not be able to live her day-to-day under the influence almost constantly, without hitting the inevitable rock bottom.  Some people are simply more skilled in hiding their addiction and intoxication, because individuals naturally differ.  A cool temperament helps.

I'd also say that Camille has underlying rage that she's trying to subvert, which usually comes out explosively when combined with alcohol.  She does, after all, start violently rocking out to Led Zeppelin outside of that local bar, then winds up passing out in her car -- which causes her car battery to die, requiring her to ask one of the locals for a jump (and her mother hears about it very quickly).  I'd say her disease is not likely to stay a secret for very long in a town so small and full of gossip.  It might be one of the reasons Camille is so afraid to return -- I assume a town like Wind Gap is quick to expose personal shame.

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

The quantity of her drinking coupled with her demeanor and level of competency is so unrealistic.

But it's not. You're truly lucky to be able to believe this, but again, it's an incorrect assertion. I (along with some other people who post here, I'm guessing) know all too well how absolutely realistic it can be (as an example, my friends and I just acknowledged the three-year anniversary of losing our 45-year-old friend since high school to long-term effects of heavy drinking. He too was competent, coherent, and active--a construction worker, in fact--immediately before it happened).

Edited July 10, 2018 by TattleTeeny

[SHD]

I'm with everyone who said the scar reveal was almost unnoticeable if you weren't expecting it and a lot of the dialogue is lost to mumbles.  I don't enjoy having closed captioning on or having to move around my room so the light reflects just right to see things. I have this same issue with The Handmaid's Tale sometimes.  Not the dialogue so much, but the darkness and shadows.

[scrb]

4 hours ago, weaver said:

It also showed she isn't short of money.  She's buying the good stuff in small bottles, Absolut.  I don't see the Intervention folks buying that brand.  

Amy Adams has always looked very young to me.  In this show, she looks more like her real life age.  But with all the drinking the character does, it wouldn't be too realistic for her to look late 20's.

But do volume drinkers care about quality?

In fact wouldn’t money go farther with the cheaper stuff?

Sure doesn’t seem like she’s taking sips and appreciating the quality before taking more sips.

[zobot81]

53 minutes ago, scrb said:

But do volume drinkers care about quality?

In fact wouldn’t money go farther with the cheaper stuff?

Sure doesn’t seem like she’s taking sips and appreciating the quality before taking more sips.

Tito's is not cheap vodka.  Neither is Absolute.  She also conspicuously chooses Evian water (though I suspect it is often filled with one of the aforementioned supplements). So you're right, she's not yet a "down-and-out drunk", not enough to switch over to Popov (or some other garbage, well-brand).  Which leads me to another thought...

So far, the show runners have been very careful about the aesthetic details.  First of all, Camille's childhood home is absolutely gorgeous.  She, herself, is quite beautiful.  Camille's mother is also stunning.  Her half-sister and the very town of Wind Gap -- all of these details, the "fine taste" that is apparent in both the people and places in this story make it obvious to me that this is not a story about a poor, backwater town  (for lack of a more delicate description).  I think that's important.  I think everything in story-telling is important, but I like when subtle aesthetics serve a strong purpose in such a visual medium.

...and should we even talk about their black maid? i mean, maybe i'm just some uppity yankee, but i nearly gasped when she came into frame.......just like.........whoa, whoa........wha-? what year is this??

Edited July 10, 2018 by zobot81

[LilaFowler]

I just assumed that all of the name brands that we get crystal clear shots of are sponsors for the show and it's just product placement, like Coke did with HBO's The Young Pope.

[Alice Mudgarden]

I haven't read the book, so I don't know anything that's to come and had no idea about the scars, but I was able to see them. It wasn't easy - at first I saw them on her chest, where her robe was open, but thought maybe it was due to the lighting. Then I thought I saw something on her arms, so I paid extra attention and noticed them all over. It wasn't easy to see, though. 

I attribute that to how I'm like a human scanning machine in shows like these - my eyes are looking everywhere, taking note of any and everything, because I figure any of it could be important later. It's why I immediately noticed all the words scattered about, too, I think.

All in all, I really, really enjoyed it. Love the acting, vibe and style. I can see it's totally up my alley and look forward to the rest of the story.

Edited July 10, 2018 by Alice Mudgarden

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

 attribute that to how I'm like a human scanning machine in shows like these - my eyes are looking everywhere, taking note of any and everything, because I figure any of it could be important later. It's why I immediately noticed all the words scattered about, too, I think.

I am like this too, and I often get distracted by the "small" things. Sometimes I blame David Lynch and Twin Peaks* for that, but in truth I've been like this since I was little.

* Speaking of things that happened in the '90s, can I infer by your name that we also have "former grunge kid" in common?

Edited July 10, 2018 by TattleTeeny

[preeya]

4 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

But it's not. You're truly lucky to be able to believe this, but again, it's an incorrect assertion. I (along with some other people who post here, I'm guessing) know all too well how absolutely realistic it can be (as an example, my friends and I just acknowledged the three-year anniversary of losing our 45-year-old friend since high school to long-term effects of heavy drinking. He too was competent, coherent, and active--a construction worker, in fact--immediately before it happened).

I also lost a friend to alcohol. My comment was based solely on the fact that she (Camille) drinks almost every minute of her waking hours, including slugging down glasses of booze as if it were iced tea. That was my point about not being realistic.

[TattleTeeny]

43 minutes ago, preeya said:

I also lost a friend to alcohol. My comment was based solely on the fact that she (Camille) drinks almost every minute of her waking hours, including slugging down glasses of booze as if it were iced tea. That was my point about not being realistic.

My comments were also based on that behavior. I find it realistic because there are people who do just exactly what you described as unrealistic.

Edited July 10, 2018 by TattleTeeny

[le bordel chaud]

Maybe she's on Adderall too. That could explain why she seems to drink so much without appearing visibly intoxicated. 

I actually quit drinking in September and I haven't felt much of an urge to drink until watching this show. Jesus help us all. 

I liked it very much though. It was a little slow but I thought it was always interesting.

Spoiler

Knowing that it's all supposed to be from Camille's vantage point is incredibly clarifying.

I missed the scars the first time too, but figured the way the shot ended I might be missing something and caught them on immediate re-watch. 

Oh, and Patricia Clarkson is a national treasure!

Edited July 11, 2018 by Victim Noises

[bilgistic]

I have a former friend (she's now 45) who is a high-functioning alcoholic and opiate addict. She drank literally from the moment she got home from work until she went to sleep (and often had drinks at lunch). She drank scotch and water and would put it it a huge glass with ice (just kept refilling it all night) and if she had to run to the store, the glass went with her in the car's cupholder. She had a DUI over 10 years ago, but that didn't stop her. She has a young son and has primary custody of him. Her finances were a mess, even though she made close to $100K a year.

I remember once, earlier on when her son was an infant and she and her husband had just split, her putting in her purse several "airplane bottles" (the small bottles of alcohol) and a full flask to take on a business flight the next morning. It just really struck me how serious her situation was. Everyone knew she had a problem and tried to get her to get help, but she was in denial.

I had to extricate myself from the friendship about three years ago for that and other reasons, but I look back now and am amazed at how much she downplayed the seriousness of her problems and how much she was able to "get away with" because of her profession (commercial real estate broker, which has socializing aspects) and looks, class and ethnicity (attractive, blonde, middle-class, white woman).

So, yeah, Camille's habits aren't a stretch for me to believe.

[Alice Mudgarden]

9 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

I am like this too, and I often get distracted by the "small" things. Sometimes I blame David Lynch and Twin Peaks* for that, but in truth I've been like this since I was little.

* Speaking of things that happened in the '90s, can I infer by your name that we also have "former grunge kid" in common?

I think I became this way the more I watched various mysteries. I'm a super sleuth in my own mind.

And perhaps, though if I'm honest, the "former" part is probably inaccurate if my most played songs/playlists are anything to go by haha

[ElectricBoogaloo]

17 hours ago, Empress1 said:

Ha - Sylvia, the woman on Intervention who drank the "little red tops" was rich. Came from Southern money (she was in one of the Carolinas and her elderly mother lived in a stately brick mansion; the family was straight out of a Tennessee Williams play), married and divorced money (it was revealed that she got $9K a month in child support for her 4 kids), and earned a very good living herself as an interior designer before she started drinking. 

If Camille is supported by her family's old money (a trust, whatever), it doesn't show. Her car is old and crappy, her apartment is basic, her clothes are simple, and her editor had to ask the question of whether she was old money or trash.

I actually thought that the reason she had a crappy apartment and an old car is because even though she has a decent amount of money, she's spending it all on booze. She would rather self medicate with alcohol than have a nicer apartment or a newer car, which is not surprising for an addict.

The other thing I considered is that after coming from that big house and a rich family, having a shitty apartment and car is a way of rebelling against her mother who is obviously very concerned about appearances. Even though her mother has never seen her apartment, it's just the knowledge that she's choosing something that her mother would loathe.

[izabella]

Did we find out what Camille's sister died of?

[zobot81]

5 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I actually thought that the reason she had a crappy apartment and an old car is because even though she has a decent amount of money, she's spending it all on booze. She would rather self medicate with alcohol than have a nicer apartment or a newer car, which is not surprising for an addict.

The other thing I considered is that after coming from that big house and a rich family, having a shitty apartment and car is a way of rebelling against her mother who is obviously very concerned about appearances. Even though her mother has never seen her apartment, it's just the knowledge that she's choosing something that her mother would loathe.

Guys, I really like the '86 240 DL Volvo in maroon!  It's OG.

[TattleTeeny]

6 hours ago, Alice Mudgarden said:

I think I became this way the more I watched various mysteries. I'm a super sleuth in my own mind.

And perhaps, though if I'm honest, the "former" part is probably inaccurate if my most played songs/playlists are anything to go by haha

HA! I was rethinking the "former" even as I typed it! Now please excuse me--I have, among other things, a Mother Love Bone t-shirt to take out of the dryer (seriously, not even kidding)! 

Edited July 11, 2018 by TattleTeeny

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

Did we find out what Camille's sister died of?

I haven't read the book so I'm just going off of what was shown this episode and swear on a stack of Tennessee Williams this is all speculation, but it seemed like she was starting to have some type of seizure while the two were lying in bed together looking at the ceiling. I also thought that just before that started Camille said something to her about being high, but I honestly wasn't sure if I heard that correctly.

[preeya]

28 minutes ago, hendersonrocks said:

I haven't read the book so I'm just going off of what was shown this episode and swear on a stack of Tennessee Williams this is all speculation, but it seemed like she was starting to have some type of seizure while the two were lying in bed together looking at the ceiling. I also thought that just before that started Camille said something to her about being high, but I honestly wasn't sure if I heard that correctly.

 

Yes, she said it twice: "You're high"

[Penman61]

3 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

I haven't read the book so I'm just going off of what was shown this episode and swear on a stack of Tennessee Williams this is all speculation, but it seemed like she was starting to have some type of seizure while the two were lying in bed together looking at the ceiling. I also thought that just before that started Camille said something to her about being high, but I honestly wasn't sure if I heard that correctly.

When present-day Camille looked into her dead sister's room, didn't the sister's bed have medical guards on the sides?  Also, when young Camille and sis (what is her name, lol; ETA: Marian!) were on the front porch at night, Camille rebuked her for talking like "a quitter" about death, so both of those things suggest the sister probably didn't die suddenly but of some relatively long, known and likely fatal illness and was treated for it at home.  The seizure, I think, reinforces this.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Penman61

[bilgistic]

7 minutes ago, Penman61 said:

When present-day Camille looked into her dead sister's room, didn't the sister's bed have medical guards on the sides?  Also, when young Camille and sis (what is her name, lol) were on the front porch at night, Camille rebuked her for talking like "a quitter" about death, so both of those things suggest the sister probably didn't die suddenly but of some relatively long, known and likely fatal illness and was treated for it at home.  The seizure, I think, reinforces this.

I didn't notice that, but I did see an IV stand.

[Penman61]

Minor bit, perhaps noteworthy, perhaps not: When Adora's husband Alan is eating his breakfast, he's cutting very precisely, very fastidiously into whatever fruit (blood orange?) on his plate.  

Also, can we get an "AMEN!" to characters within a story noticing and saying when someone is Hollywood movie-star gorgeous instead of trying to pretend that he/she is "average" or never remarking on it.  A small thing, but appreciated. :)  

Edited July 11, 2018 by Penman61

[Blakeston]

On 7/11/2018 at 10:12 AM, hendersonrocks said:

I haven't read the book so I'm just going off of what was shown this episode and swear on a stack of Tennessee Williams this is all speculation, but it seemed like she was starting to have some type of seizure while the two were lying in bed together looking at the ceiling. I also thought that just before that started Camille said something to her about being high, but I honestly wasn't sure if I heard that correctly.

When Camille and her sister were arguing about what the cracks on the ceiling looked like, Camille said, "You're high."

I thought she was actually suggesting that her sister was high on something, until she explained that "you're high" was just an expression she'd heard at school, which she was using to mean "You're crazy."

[msrachelj]

On 7/10/2018 at 9:09 AM, preeya said:

Showrunners and alcohol drinking. I've forever had a pet peeve when watching shows where characters drink (alcohol). There is no way in hell someone can drink 24 hours straight, drive a car a substantial distance (while continuing to drink), hardly miss a beat toward reality and remain relatively coherent. The amount of drinking portrayed by Camille is just not close to being real. IMHO she would have been out on her ass and hungover for days. 

The quantity of her drinking coupled with her demeanor and level of competency is so unrealistic.

and she was slugging em down at the police station , told him she had a car outside and he said and did nothing about her potential drunk driving!

i must be the only one who thinks amy adams was miscast. but i don't really like her in anything she does. just doesn't seem believable in the role. and i love led zeppelin but it just does not seem right here for some reason i can't explain .

in love with the parents house. the step sister is annoying . the mother is nuts, dressing the kid that way. father says nothing. daughter goes along with looking like something out of the victorian era? 

[LoveLeigh]

I watched this episode again and in the second viewing it appears so much like Jessica Biel's "The Sinner." There are mysteries, but somehow I feel the conclusions will not be as shocking as the writers intend this all to be. The answers are all hiding in plain sight right out of the gate.  

I think I am liking the series more because of the beautiful location. It has a real old time feel to it. If Camille did not have a cell phone, I could believe this all happened in the 1970s. 

Edited July 13, 2018 by DakotaLavender

[mntnsrck79]

Regarding the discussion over the feasibility of writing on the back of one’s arms, she actually had scars all over her back too. I saw them very clearly on my tv; every inch of her body that had been covered by her clothes was covered in scars (all words) - back, chest, legs, shoulders, arms. I could read a lot of words. The one that stood out to me was occult. My immediate thought was that it would be impossible to do that to yourself (maybe if you used a long piece of wire?). 

Its so weird that so many many people couldn’t see the scars or could barely see them. For me it was like words written all over that would be impossible to not notice.  I watched on a five year old medium quality tv using hbogo and chromecast, for anyone keeping track. 

I really enjoyed this premiere and am looking forward to it for the next several weeks. I’m actually glad I haven’t read the book yet because it seems like the tv series is really well done. I kind of wish she weren’t such a hardcore alcoholic - I feel like there’s enough going on without that added, although maybe I’ll feel differently as I watch more.

[iMonrey]

Quote

For me, this is just another jumbled hard to follow series that leaves a trail of ongoing mysterious clues and no doubt it will go on and on and on to some boring conclusion like True Detective 1. 

I've heard it compared to True Detective as well, and for me that's not a selling point. I'm really tired of the overly stylistic, non-linear type of storytelling that seems to have taken TV by storm. That said, I wasn't overly confused by this episode, and the cast is superb, so I'm sticking with it.

I think the only thing that really confused me was the dead girl the found in the alley. Were we meant to understand what happened to her and how she wound up there - like, did she fall off the building or something? 

Edited July 12, 2018 by iMonrey

[bilgistic]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I think the only thing that really confused me was the dead girl the found in the alley. Were we meant to understand what happened to her and how she wound up there - like, did she fall off the building or something? 

 

It wasn't even made clear (to me, anyway) that she was the girl that was missing. No one said it was [girl's name I do not remember] or "now at least her mama will know and can bury her" or some bon mot...anything to let me know it was the girl. Am I just dim?

Edited July 12, 2018 by bilgistic

[iMonrey]

Quote

Am I just dim?

If you are then I am too. I didn't understand the what it was supposed to mean that she just seemed to be sitting there, or positioned there, in what looked like a window opening. 

[Moxie Cat]

A couple questions: isn't Marian Camille's full sister? Someone upthread said that she was Camille's half sister (by the new husband) but due to her close age to Camille and the likelihood that Adora's marriage broke up after her daughter's death, I just assumed Camille and Marian were full sisters. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, what is with the roller skating? I understand it for teens in the early 90's who might have skates in their attic somewhere (although blades were much more common by the mid 90s). But multiple girls roller skating publicly in 2018? I see kids on skateboards locally but I have never, ever seen kids out on roller skates. Is is really still done by teenagers today? Or are Amma and her friends simply meant as a callback for Camille?

My eagle eye spotted the police chief, much younger, at Marian's funeral. (The actor has a pretty distinctive profile.) Given Camille's memorable freak out, I'd have to say he remembered exactly who she was when he met her at the station.

[Penman61]

2 hours ago, bilgistic said:

It wasn't even made clear (to me, anyway) that she was the girl that was missing. No one said it was [girl's name I do not remember] or "now at least her mama will know and can bury her" or some bon mot...anything to let me know it was the girl. Am I just dim?

 

I thought Camille's exchange with her family afterward made it clear the windowsill body was the Keene girl.  Also, it's a town of 2,000 people; if that body is NOT the missing girl, then Wind Gap has a real problem on its hands...

Edited July 13, 2018 by Penman61

[TattleTeeny]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

If you are then I am too. I didn't understand the what it was supposed to mean that she just seemed to be sitting there, or positioned there, in what looked like a window opening. 

I was a little confused too. I never read the book but I'm usually pretty good at picking up stuff and still, for a few minutes, I was like, "huh?"

[bilgistic]

2 hours ago, Penman61 said:

I thought Camille's exchange with her family afterward made it clear the windowsill body was the Keene girl.  Also, it's a town of 2,000 people; if that body is NOT the missing girl, then Wind Gap has a real problem on its hands...

I missed it, then. I had to do a lot of rewinding to understand people even with captions on.

I don't want to have to watch it again, but I feel like I'm going to be forced to. I noticed none of the words except the DIRT/DIRTY on Camille's car trunk. I never saw anything on her skin. If they'd film with some light, maybe I could see something! /old lady rant

[Blakeston]

12 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

Also, what is with the roller skating? I understand it for teens in the early 90's who might have skates in their attic somewhere (although blades were much more common by the mid 90s). But multiple girls roller skating publicly in 2018? I see kids on skateboards locally but I have never, ever seen kids out on roller skates. Is is really still done by teenagers today? Or are Amma and her friends simply meant as a callback for Camille?

Roller skating seems to have increased in popularity a bit in recent years, particularly amongst hipsters. I've seen a lot more people on roller skates (or inline skates) over the past three years than I did in the ten years prior to that.

That said, I'm not sure how many hipster trends have made their way to young teenagers in small Missouri towns. It may be that we're supposed to think that they're just way behind the times.

17 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I've heard it compared to True Detective as well, and for me that's not a selling point. I'm really tired of the overly stylistic, non-linear type of storytelling that seems to have taken TV by storm. That said, I wasn't overly confused by this episode, and the cast is superb, so I'm sticking with it.

I think the only thing that really confused me was the dead girl the found in the alley. Were we meant to understand what happened to her and how she wound up there - like, did she fall off the building or something? 

I haven't read the books, or been spoiled. Based on the decomposition of the body, I assumed that the girl had been killed some time ago, and a sicko decided to reveal her death by displaying her corpse in a public place. (And they managed to do it without anyone noticing until they'd left.)

[ferjy]

On 7/10/2018 at 2:54 AM, scrb said:

Can you carve words in your skin and keep them in the correct straight-on perspective while reaching around to the opposite arm?

The "Vanish" cutting was on her right arm?  So she should be left-handed if she did it?  Let's see if there are cuttings with legible writing on the left side of her body as well.  Maybe the front of her torso or the front of her left legs.

A lot to read through so I may have missed a post, but what about the words on her back? There’s no way she could have accomplished that. They’re all over her back!

 

 

I watched on my phone and saw the scars easily so it must be a matter of lighting or sharpness on the TV or device. You couldn’t miss them on my screen. What I thought was ridiculous were the words. Except for the trunk which was more noticeable, viewers are not going to see the words unless they know to look for them. Or that any they do notice are important. I’m usually good with details and I only noticed the trunk. It’s sloppy writing if they expect us to work out that any words onscreen are important to the plot. That’s where I agree that the writers are trying to be too clever.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, ferjy said:

A lot to read through so I may have missed a post, but what about the words on her back? There’s no way she could have accomplished that. They’re all over her back!

 

 

I watched on my phone and saw the scars easily so it must be a matter of lighting or sharpness on the TV or device. You couldn’t miss them on my screen. What I thought was ridiculous were the words. Except for the trunk which was more noticeable, viewers are not going to see the words unless they know to look for them. Or that any they do notice are important. I’m usually good with details and I only noticed the trunk. It’s sloppy writing if they expect us to work out that any words onscreen are important to the plot. That’s where I agree that the writers are trying to be too clever.

1

I couldn't see anything other than "vanish." Would you please post the "words" that were carved on her back.   TIA

[iMonrey]

Quote

I never saw anything on her skin. If they'd film with some light, maybe I could see something! /old lady rant

The problem is that they showed these scars in a very quick flash. I noticed it, but I had to rewind it and look at it again, then freeze frame it. So it was definitely a "blink and you'll miss it" type of thing rather than a lighting thing.

[izabella]

4 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Roller skating seems to have increased in popularity a bit in recent years, particularly amongst hipsters. I've seen a lot more people on roller skates (or inline skates) over the past three years than I did in the ten years prior to that.

Roller skating and roller derby leagues are a big thing now, kinda retro cool, and competitive.  "The Fosters" even had a story line about the teens joining a roller derby league for a while.