The pulse-pounding adaptation of the novel by Gillian Flynn came to its end this week. Camille (Amy Adams) returns home after finding out her mother Adora (Patricia Clarkson) is responsible for Marian’s death. John Keene (Taylor John Smith) is in police custody and awaiting interrogation from Chief Vickery (Matt Craven) and Richard (Chris Messina). What will Camille have to say to her mother? What do the police think John will have to say to them? Spoiler warning here: If you have not seen the episode and do not wish to know who the killer is, run away now and come back once you’ve watched the episode. If you’re ready for the killer discussion (see what I did there?) then let’s begin.
Camille comes home to see everyone sitting down for dinner. Alan (Henry Czerny,) Amma (Eliza Scanlen,) and Adora are discussing John’s arrest and if he’ll receive the death penalty. Camille sits down to dine with them and a short while later Amma isn’t feeling well and Adora goes to escort her upstairs. In moments, Camille is doubled over in pain. I can’t imagine I would want to accept anything from Adora as her daughter. Adora keeps both girls in bed, continuing to poison them into complacency. Camille implores Amma to help get ahold of Richard, but in the end, she’s just a momma’s girl who wants attention.
Police do arrive after Camille’s editor Curry (Miguel Sandoval) shows up in town, insisting Camille is in danger. I would assume it came from unanswered calls since Adora took Camille’s phone. Adora is taken into custody. Also in custody is John and earlier in the episode the police finally take a swing at him. Of course, he continues to insist on his innocence and they obviously believe he’s the killer. When they confront him about Natalie’s blood being in his bedroom, he is immediately on guard. He’s, of course, thinking over in his head who might have been in his room. The police, of course, take it as he forgot to clean up all his murder-y mess. And I suppose I might have zoned out from being tired, but how the blood got there is never explained, is it? Maybe I missed it, but I could have sworn they left this plot piece unanswered. Also, I’m assuming no prints were found on the pliers?
Amma goes to live with Camille as Adora takes on the court system. Amma seems to be adjusting well. She makes a new friend in the building. She remakes her dollhouse a little bit. She even goes over to dinner at Curry’s house with Camille and her new friend. But something seems not right. And now Amma’s new friend is missing… “Don’t tell mama.”
I will admit when the series started, I needed to know the ending before I got into the show. Lately, I don’t like waiting for endings. So I’ve watched the whole show knowing who the killer is and I think that the season overall laid the clues and hints really well. The cinematography has been an awesome part of this and it is done beautifully. But I have to say, this finale fell on its face in my opinion. Flat.
There is so much tension being built up all season. Finding out what happened to the two missing girls, but also what happened to Marian? What happened to Camille? All of this great tension and the final reveal felt weak. No glimpses into what went down or how? HBO doesn’t have a problem with gore, so personally, I think a little bit of imagery as to how Amma became this person would have been nice. Marian is a constant shadow in Amma’s life and as much as everyone says Camille is most like Adora, I call B.S. Amma is Adora’s daughter to a tee. She wants to be center stage, the spotlight needs to always be on her. Even growing up an only child…I mean, she has a dead sister but she was dead before Amma was ever born and Camille isn’t exactly around. So by growing up standards, she’s an only child. Her mother’s desire to have everyone paying attention to her is what takes Adora’s attention away from Amma, who incidentally needs to be the priority of her mother’s attention but also other people. And obviously, the bossy factor runs strongly through both of them as well. Another point that was glossed over as well: the backstory between Adora and the Chief. All this laying of plot and no exploration. Can’t give any little insights on that?
I haven’t read the book and I really want to because I want to see what the more subtle differences are, as well as the big ones. But while I did enjoy the show overall, I feel the finale was quite poor. Especially for HBO standard. Intensity and plot twists are HBO’s forte, so to see this ending was disappointing. As a viewer, I felt more information would have rounded out the story better. That quick scene at the end went too fast for me to discern anything from it. I would have enjoyed it much better if we got to see it play out. But what do you think? Pleased with the ending? Or wishing for something more like me?
4 comments
The quick edits were of Amma & Adora killing the girls and Amma killing her new friend. I thought it was a great finale.
Well, I have to say that I enjoyed the season finale. However, I wished that the episode had been longer – perhaps it would’ve helped, in terms of connecting several plot threads together. I was hoping to see Camille call the police on Amma in the end, as it would have meant justice was finally served. As well, this show (at least for me) portrayed what childhood trauma and mental illness can do to a family, even affect it generations later. I have not read the book but a couple of episodes in, I guessed that Amma was the murderess. There was something about her that left me feeling ill at ease; she had a malevolence to her that I couldn’t put my finger on. I had hoped for Camille to find a sense of peace, but that ending…and those mid/post credits scenes were haunting.
I read the book, and I watched the show with my sister, who did NOT read it. Both of us loved the series and the ending. I think the series implied what the book said outright: that Amma didn’t like anyone taking attention from her. Natalie and Ann took Adora’s attention. I wished they had spent just a second showing the connection between Amma’s new friend and Camille, because then we would’ve understood that Amma killed the new friend for the same reason.
Other than that, I really did like the very fast flashes of the murders and the final scene with Amma dressed in white in the woods.
You brought up a very good point about the blood in John Keene’s room. I wish they had told us why it was there or whose blood it was.
I just wish the flashes had been the tiniest bit longer. Because it all went by and I was like, “Wait, what?” I couldn’t at natural speed perceive what I was seeing. That could have been the tiniest bit slower and I would have been happy with that.
They did say the blood was Natalie’s and I guess one of the shots was seeing her from under the bed as Amma is choking her. But again, that little blip was too fast to discern what was going on. With that much information and clarification it had, it should have been the tiniest bit slower. If it had, I would have been thrilled with that ending.