Final decision (spoilers)
Did Maxine have to kill Pearl? I get it on an emotional and metaphorical level (kill yourself to become the monster). But if she had left Pearl and gone to find the sheriff, she would have been exonerated.
Or was it because she was on the run from her past and it would have proven her evangelical father 'correct' that pornography leads to a life of sin?
What is the significance of her snorting coke throughout the film?