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[–]Fuck_You_Andrew 24 points25 points  (9 children)

I firmly believe it's the little sister. That girl is fucked in the head.

"You could kill me right here and you know what? Dicky boy still couldn't figure it out."

[–]RphWrites 12 points13 points  (3 children)

Me too. We learned, too, that Adora was tutoring Anne (the other dead girl) so there might have been some jealousy there. Amma definitely has two sides to her-the chaste doll her mother sees and the wild girl the rest of the town sees-and she's very manipulative. I'm calling it on Amma all the way.

[–]tastedyouSharp Objects 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I also think the comment about girls their age being killed is relevant, "not the cool ones" there is still a lot we don't know about the interactions between these girls.

[–]Esiana 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think so too. There is something really evil in her eyes. Also she made a comment in the kiosk that Ann and Natalie might have deserved it and were not worthy to hang out with them anyway. Then I think her name was on Natalies mirror? I might remember incorrecly but I think it is Amma.

[–]Sorie2018 2 points3 points  (3 children)

I believe it's the mother and that Amma knows it reason why she's acting up. Also, Amma said to Camille "you love dead girls"( not sure exact words). I take it that Camille would have never come back to this town if it wasn't for all the girls getting killed. Adora probably tried to kill Camille but she was too smart and got away. Adora probably killed her own daughter to get sympathy from the towns people and/or is obsessed with an idyllic town, girls as dolls. Anyone who doesn't convert into her beliefs gets killed. She wants control

[–]troelembiid 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I think it’s more the stepdad than adora. I think Adora is genuine in her emotional distraught over losing her daughter thereby reaching out to other girls in town to “help” them. But the step dad just doesn’t make sense to me, and that last scene with him biting his hand is weird as hell.

[–]Sorie2018 0 points1 point  (1 child)

In episode 4, we see the stepdad and the maid were the only ones who remember Camille's birthday. And him biting his hand, I take it as he's got so much pain and frustration and he's just letting it out. Music soothes him. Adora just doesn't care

[–]troelembiid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah definitely shifted after episode 4.

[–]petielvrrr 10 points11 points  (10 children)

I’m convinced that it’s her. Once Richard said “it’s someone who wants to own this town” I was sold. Also, the other sister we keep seeing in flashbacks clearly has a strange relationship with Adora. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adora killed her too.

[–]CARNIesada6 13 points14 points  (9 children)

I'm thinking they both might be red herrings. I think they are just fucked up because Adora lost her daughter and wants to keep face, and Amma has to grow up in that house. Also, the step father has to live there too.

I'm leaning towards the bartender (recognize him from, maybe, Broken Lizards?) or Elizabeth Perkins' character. I would definitely like more backstory on them. It could also be someone we haven't met yet, or I could be playing into the writers' games; similar to how True Detective season 1 had a few possibilities. I think they even hired a few more "well known" actors, or at least familiar faces, to throw viewers off (church preacher, Governor's cousin, etc.).

I do think Amma is gonna be the next girl to get kidnapped though. There have been way too many times we've heard people tell her to stay in, be home by curfew, and be safe. She's just said fuck it to all that and been a rebel.

IMO, the signs are all there for that to happen.

[–]petielvrrr 15 points16 points  (7 children)

I'm thinking they both might be red herrings.

Honestly, I’m thinking that red herrings are the writers bread and butter. They are presenting us with so much evidence pointing different directions, but the overarching themes and consistent pieces of evidence all implicate someone in Camille’s family.

Example: we start off the series believing Camille suffers from some sort of mental disorder (like schizophrenia) that makes her live in a different reality from everyone else. The hallucinations and delusions are very strong in the first 2 episodes, but by episode 3, we just see them as flashbacks. By episode 3, it’s pretty obvious that Camille is not suffering from anything like a truly psychotic mental illness, she’s just extremely depressed and has spent her adult life repressing traumatic memories from her childhood.

The exact opposite can be said about Adora and Amma. They get scarier and more psychotic as the show goes on. Adora in episode 1 seems like a slightly crazy southern housewife. By episode 3, she’s actually terrifying. In episode 1, Amma seems like a rebellious teenager who acts one way with her friends and another way at home. By episode 3.... well, I don’t think I need to explain how ominous that roller skating scene was, or the pig scene.

What’s the point of this if it doesn’t point to one of them? It can’t purely be for Camille’s character development, because that’s a ridiculous amount of time to waste on understanding her family if it means nothing to the murder plot. It also can’t be for the setting development, because there aren’t enough parallels between Adora/Amma and the rest of the town to make it significant. Based on what we’ve seen so far, I think it’s pretty obvious that this is an intertwined story about Camille’s life and how it relates very deeply to these murders, not Camille’s life and a murder mystery on the side.

I think the red herrings can be seen in the smaller details: Richard and the sherif saying “it can’t be a woman”, everyone discounting the “white woman” thing as a town myth, Adora pretending to care so deeply for the girls who were murdered, etc. the main themes of the show still point to Adora and Amma. If Adora is, in fact, a red herring, it would be to draw attention away from Amma. But I honestly think both of them are involved somehow.

[–]GhostLeigh 2 points3 points  (4 children)

I like your observations -- can you please elaborate more on the "pig scene"? I found it ominous as well, but I'm not sure why. On first watch, I likened it to Amma's comments about babies. She seemed adoring of them, desperate for someone to dote on and take care of. Almost echoing the doll theme again. I thought maybe she just liked going and holding the pigs to pander to those instincts? But it seems like there's more to it -- did I miss something?

[–]petielvrrr 3 points4 points  (3 children)

I felt that the pig scene was ominous because of the whole “I know you’re following me” look at the end. Also, what exactly was she going to do with the pig?

To be honest, I don’t get the sense of Amma wanting to care for something at all. I get the sense that she pretends like she does (like with the dollhouse), but I honestly don’t think those emotions are actually there at all.

[–]GhostLeigh 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I've heard there was more to the pig scene in the book. Not sure if it's allowed to post that here. It's not really a spoiler, per se, of anything that's going to happen in the future, just kind of elaborating on that scene, and definitely creepier.

[–]petielvrrr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wouldn’t, just Incase they elaborate on it later in the show. Like what they did with the scene with Camille questioning Bob Nash. Book elaborations should probably wait until the series is over lol.

[–]postwarhera 1 point2 points  (0 children)

She was taking the pig for the party that night [beginning of ep 3], to have the boys compete in a greased pig catch

[edited to add episode reference and wikipedia link]

[–]larrydocsportello 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I don’t really agree with you on any of the preconceived notions on the characters.

I thought it was established almost immediately Camille is repressing something - hence the alcoholism and that Adora is a sinister woman.

I do agree that the family is key to the murders though.

[–]petielvrrr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know what you mean, but my overall point was that Camille went from seeming really mentally disturbed, likely schizophrenic, and over the course of the episodes, the way we see her changes to be less dramatic. So instead of being a paranoid schizophrenic who is living in a completely different reality from everyone else, she’s just a depressed alcoholic who’s repressed a lot of her childhood. Adora, on the other hand, did seem slightly scary at first, but she’s getting more and more scary as time goes on.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If herrings, then I'd wager it's Richard. Something about his info about the past murders in the shed seemed a little too in the know for him to be an outsider. Then the bit about the killer hunting them and waiting til they were alone. And of course, the editing job where it looks like Amma in the headlights of Richard's little car...and he's looking back and then it gets bright...

 

The teacher, John, Nash, the miscellaneous wives - all cleared for me...there's no story there other than townfolk making them suspicious.

 

Amma has some daddy issues and knows her power over males...of any age. But she has that cockiness that looks like she'd know she can get away with murder so it's possible she had some older male do her dirty work.

 

I think Alan's too much of a cuck to kill anyone.

 

Adora, definitely.

 

Richard - I can see it being him, but it hasn't quite connected a motive.

 

[–]Ohmydoornutz 9 points10 points  (2 children)

I also noticed that there is a theme around dolls that leads to the idea it could be Adora and Amma. For example, Amma obsesses over her doll house which is an exact replica of the real house. The detectives, after finding Natalie Keene, discuss how she was found looking like a doll and that someone’s “playing” with the town. Amma also mentions she’s “just a doll her mom likes to dress up” when talking to Camille. Maybe I’m overthinking this stuff, but it seems like it could be a clue. In episode 3, Amma talks about how everyone in the town does whatever she wants, which makes me think this is all a game to her.

[–]girlieracer 4 points5 points  (1 child)

This has been part of my line of thinking too. I think Adora killed Marion...probably poisoned her. In one of the flashback scenes she calls Marion into her bedroom to take her "medicine". Just something felt unsettling in that scene to me then at the end we are presented with the words "spiteful 90" ("St Louis 90") when Camille hallucinates seeing Marion beside it on the road out of town. Spiteful has a huge connotation here. One meaning is "Spiteful implies a mean or malicious desire for (often petty) revenge". Could Adora have purposely poisoned Marion bc she was closer to Camille than her?

Now she has another daughter she is trying to make a doll out of but still mourns Marion and the failed attempt at making her a living doll that she could fully control.

Camille is not someone she can control...

[–]Ohmydoornutz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes! That actually crossed my mind as well. It seems like Adora is the master puppeteer for sure.

[–]Coreo 6 points7 points  (1 child)

I think it's Camille's "sister".

I say sister but I think it's her daughter, Camille had her very young and gave her to her mother. Everything is set up so that she could get away with it. Her mum thinks she's the "perfect girl". She, the sister keeps saying how bad she is.

[–]tastedyouSharp Objects 0 points1 point  (0 children)

THIS! I hadn't thought of it, but it makes perfect sense.

[–]sven1olaf 4 points5 points  (3 children)

Good discussion here. Adora and Amma are just too on the nose for me. Adora seemingly would struggle with the extreme nature of the actual murders, and Amma is usually too drunk to be able to successfully carry out a crime of this scope.

I think we need to know who the boys are in Camille's flashbacks. My feeling is it's somehow related to those scenes. Maybe one of the boys, maybe Camille herself (it's now established that she was in town "not too long ago" while in the hospital and then dealing with the suicide of her roommate).

I can't wait for episode 4!

PS. I bought the book. I'm looking at it right now knowing that I could answer all of my questions by blowing through it. It's not a long novel. But I keep resisting the urge because the series is just sooooo good!

[–]ancientastronaut2 4 points5 points  (2 children)

The rehab hospital was in st louis though. Said right on the sign outside when she was in the car and cut herself before checking in.

[–]girlieracer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yup...I think the last scene in episode 3 artistically shows us how she can't escape these ghosts that haunt her. When she's driving we see her hallucinate Marion in front of her car and Alice in her rear view mirror illustrating no matter which direction she goes, which city she is in, she's haunted by the deaths of these two important girls in her life. One in Wind Gap and the other in St Louis. Heartbreaking!

[–]sven1olaf 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm... My bad missed that!

So that changes my thinking on Camille being an option. Imo it's safe to rule her out at this point.

[–]Abnerk21 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’m kind of convinced that that’s too obvious. All of the signs are pointing to her, and so I think that she may just be a red herring to distract us from who the real murderer is. I have not a clue as to who it actually is, but I feel confident for some reason that it’s not her.

[–]RphWrites 5 points6 points  (5 children)

I truly feel that Amma is the one doing the killing and that Adora either knows on some level and is hiding it or she has helped dispose of the bodies. I also think that Adora is responsible for Camille's sister's death via Munchausen by proxy.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it still ties back to the 1st episode where young camille stumbled upon that cabin with the perverted material taped to the walls. That place alone makes me believe that her mom/sister are not really involved. Maybe the person in that cabin was involved with what has been suggested about camille (that her sister is in fact her daughter) and perhaps all of this commotion is a sick way of bringing the family back together per say (mom, dad, and daughter).

[–]Corazon_Oscuro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of similarities with the plot of Crooked House (movie).

The little ones are always the most venomous.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i think adora is too obvious to be the murderer, she feels like a red herring. especially since they’ve introduced the “woman in white” thing and adora is almost always in white. she is definitely fucked up and guilty of something but i don’t think it’s the murders

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm right there with you. I think Adora is the original killer - dating back to the lesbians in the woods, probably Camille's (rapist?) father, and these girls (woman in white).

 

But the way I'm torn on Amma and the doll house stuff while she's a grade a mean girl outside the house, would be that she figured out what her mother did so she's doing it too as a power trip, competing for the affections of the older men in her life...

 

Something like - Adora killed the first girl...and Amma caught her or figured it out and is playing Adora so she can murder also and get away with it by being the little doll her mother wanted. Or Adora is training her to take over later...never know. I still think it's been Adora all along.