Parents' Guide to Sharp Objects

Parents need to know that Sharp Objects deals with mature and possibly disturbing themes: the disappearance and murder of two tween girls; the sudden death of a young girl and its aftermath; characters who drink to deal with their emotional issues, and who self-harm, plucking out eyelashes compulsively and cutting themselves with the sharp objects of the series' title. Violence is not typically gory but may be particularly upsetting: We see the dead bodies of the young girls, one streaked with blood and unnaturally pale in an alley, one in her casket at a funeral surrounded by grieving relatives. We also hear the details of a teen girl's murder, and her father says he's relieved she wasn't raped and he prefers that she died rather than be raped. Alcohol use is frequent, as characters deal with emotional upsets by drinking and often appear sloppy and shaky. We see one character drinking in many situations, including at a bar and before and after driving -- at one point, she drinks until she passes out in her car, though she'd been planning on driving home. This character and others smoke cigarettes. Teens shoplift vodka from a store and hide it in soda bottles to drink covertly. Rhythmic arm movements and orgasmic moans convey that a woman is masturbating; ripped-out, taped-up pages from hard-core porn magazines show couples having sex. Rough language includes "f---ing," "s--t," "hell," "damn," "goddamn," and "a--hole."