Sharp Objects Episode 7 Recap — What Is Munchausen by Proxy?

Warning: Spoilers for Sharp Objects episode 7, “Falling,” ahead.

The dollhouse in Sharp Objects finally makes sense. The people inside are figurines for Adora to play with—and Amma has been learning rules of the game her whole life.

Camille wakes at the beginning of episode 7 having been dressed by her mother, much like one of her dolls. The matriarch is the most jovial we’ve ever seen her, even though both her daughters are clearly coming down from some sort of high. But a sip of soup is as far as Camille (Amy Adams) will indulge Adora’s (Patricia Clarkson) doting mother routine. She refuses the blue-bottled medicine Adora prescribes in an intense face-off that causes yet another brief flashback.

In the other room, Amma (Eliza Scanlen) isn’t quite as willing to rebuff Adora’s affection. She sips down the medicine despite understanding that it will make her sicker. Episode 7 reveals that, like the homemade concoction, Adora has always been toxic.

Detective Willis (Chris Messina) has completely abandoned all pretense of investigating the child murders in favor of doggedly pursuing the truth behind the multiple hospital confinements of his current fling, Camille. In the process, he discovers that Adora suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, likely causing the death of her daughter, Marian. MSBP is a psychological disorder in which a caretaker makes a child sick to get sympathy and attention for themselves.

There have been plenty of clues throughout Sharp Objects to lead viewers to this conclusion. The big deal Adora made of her scraped hand. The time she skipped a lunch date to incite gossip. The way she wailed, ranting and raving during Amma’s brief disappearance during Calhoun Day, despite making no effort to look for her daughter. As far as twists go, it’s not the most shocking. It doesn’t seem to escape Adora that she may end up killing Amma, too. When Amma asks Adora if she thinks she’ll have children of her own, Adora can hardly bear to think about it.

Adora: I don’t know. How would I know? It’s years off. Years.
Amma: Do you think I won’t grow up? Is that why you want me to stay little? So I’ll be like Marian.
Adora: You are like Marian.

The bigger reveal is how, with this knowledge in hand, every character in Wind Gap becomes ten times worse. Alan Crellin (Henry Czerny) seems to be sitting by as Adora repeatedly poisons his only daughter, the way he eyes his wife as she brews her ‘medicine’ feels knowing and defeated. Later, he tearfully listens to the apropos lyrics of ‘The Willow Garden,’ as he flashes back to visions of dancing with his daughter.

Then there’s Camille, who deals with her problems in every unhealthy way possible. Most recently, by sleeping with the teenager she knows is about to be arrested for the murder of his younger sister. Whether or not he did it, sleeping with a drunk, vulnerable 18-year-old is hardly the best look.

Which leads us back to Detective Richard Willis. Once he discovers his two-time lover in bed with his murder suspect, he completely loses his charm and any semblance of enlightenment he seemed to exude in episode four. Despite what he literally just learned about the Preakers, Richard can’t help but kick Camille while she’s down. “I don’t think you’re bad, okay,” he tells her. “I think one bad thing happened to you and you blame the rest of your shitty life on it. And people really buy it, your sad story. But really you’re just a drunk and a slut.”

Does he have a right to feel angry and embarrassed? Sure, but he’s treating her as if they’ve been in a committed relationship for months as opposed to the somewhat shallow sexual encounters they’ve actually shared. It’s also unclear what “one thing” he’s referring to. Would that be the rape she suffered as a teenager or the death of her sister at the hands of her mother, a bombshell Richard is just about to drop?

But the character who darkens this most is Jackie (Elizabeth Perkins), who knew Adora’s biggest secret and deals with her guilt by self-medicating. Sure, she attempted to find justice Marian, requesting information about Marian’s medical records multiple time. But after repeated denials, she sat back, watched, and drank. Did nothing to further protect Camille, and even less for Amma. Jackie attempts to quell Camille’s rage by desperately repeating that she “did all she could,” but it falls flat, almost menacing. A somewhat lighthearted Rosencrantz and Guildenstern has become complicit.

The only reputation unscathed by episode seven is Amma, who dutifully plays the role of Adora’s sick child for her pleasure, camping out in front of the eery dollhouse. It’s hard not to feel sympathetic towards the child, but I’m also not fully convinced she didn’t murder Anne Nash and Natalie Keene.

Sharp Objects airs on Sundays at 9 P.M. EST on HBO.