Episode 3: ‘Fix’

You may have noticed by now that “Sharp Objects,” unlike most whodunits, isn’t particularly concerned with plot. The show’s most recent episode, “Fix,” is its least structured hour to date. Camille meanders around Wind Gap, half drunk, blasting music, fumbling through abortive interviews, arguing with Adora, running into Amma, trading quips with Detective Willis. The flashbacks to her time in rehab are more substantive than anything that happens in the present.

But what it lacks in story, “Sharp Objects” makes up for in rich themes, intriguing characters and, perhaps most of all, evocative motifs. There are the words on Camille’s skin and in the background of many scenes, which provide insight into her mental state. (Who else spotted “belittle” in the light fixture over the pool table at the bar where she meets Willis?) The camera lingers on electric fans, gadgets that are made to provide comfort but can also slice off your fingers if you get too close.

The most indelible images in this week’s episode, however, are of red roses and of the fresh blood that shares their color. Early in the episode, Amma comes home wasted in the middle of the night and crashes a golf cart into the rosebush Adora fusses over like it’s a fourth daughter. But, in yet another example of the penchant among Wind Gap residents for magical thinking, Adora believes Camille is at fault. As she attempts to salvage the plant, Adora cuts her palm on a thorn and blames the wound on her eldest. That evening, Alan soothes her emotional wounds with reassuring words about her fitness as a mother and wraps what looks like five feet of bandages around the tiny cut. Could it be that this refined matriarch injures herself because she loves playing the victim?

Maybe self-harm runs in the family. To state the obvious, thorns are sharp objects, just like the needles Camille uses to write on her body. That is why they must be removed before any roses are brought into the rehab facility, an odd place where the residents’ rooms are adjacent to the reception area and there appears to be only one employee. These details make me wonder how trustworthy Camille’s memory really is.