Psycho Daughter AKA The Wrong Daughter (2018 Lifetime)

Psycho Daughter (2018 Lifetime)

Stars: April Bowlby, Sydney Sweeney, Cindy Busby

Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!

Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Kate and Joe have longed to be parents and are considering in vitro options… when Danica, a child Kate gave up 17 years ago, appears on Facebook. Danica comes to live with them, but she’s not their real child. She’s an impostor who will do anything, even kill, to get the mother’s love she never had!

Thoughts

Samantha, a teenage girl, dreams of her new life with a guy she has had a one night stand with. He is in a band and doesn’t take her seriously as she lays on his bare chest, planning. When he gets up to leave, she gets furious and hits him in the head with his guitar. When she returns home through the window, Samantha is kicked out of her foster home and sent packing because she recently turned 18. Before she goes, Samantha throws away her medication, goes through her roommate Danica’s things and steals her laptop.

Kate and her husband, Joseph, are trying to have a baby. They have been using IVF and other measures to try and get pregnant but have been unsuccessful. The couple is very sad and turns down adoption as an option because Kate gave up a baby for adoption when she was 16. Joe convinces Kate to reach out to her on Facebook. Since Samantha has Danica’s laptop, she assumes the role of Danica.

The real Danica is looking for Sam and finds her in a library. Sam knocks Danica out with some books? Then she locks her in a utility closet.

Sam/Danica meets Kate at her restaurant. They cry and hug, happy to have found one another. Kate apologizes for putting her daughter up for adoption. Sam/Danica shares that the life Kate hoped she’d have, didn’t happen. She bounced from foster home to foster home and has a heart condition. Kate invites Sam/Danica to dinner and then to move into her and Joe’s house. (Joe reluctantly agrees.) They also have a cabin in the woods; Sam/Danica wants to go someday.

Back at he foster home, Danica is returned to Mrs. Hannigan (Or whatever.) Danica has gifted a new laptop for her excellent behavior and for putting up with Sam for all those years.

Kate asks Sam/Danica for the number to the foster home to let her know that Danica is safe and go about getting custody of her daughter. Sam/Danica gives Kate a bogus number and has a bum pretend to be the foster care agent. (The actress who plays the homeless woman is the best actor I’ve ever seen in a Lifetime movie. Good job, Jeanette O’Connor! Please do more TV movies.) Kate is reassured, but Sam/Danica is unimpressed.

Sam/Danica won’t let the cabin go and begs to see it; she even gives Kate a heart necklace to win her over. When she learns Kate’s young co-worker, Melissa has been to the cabin; she gets jealous. Sam/Danica plants the necklace in Melissa’s purse to make it look like she stole it. Melissa is horrified and apologizes profusely; she feels that Sam/Danica hates her. She is right when Sam/Danica learns that Melissa’s boyfriend, Ivan, lives in the house behind and destroys the backyard. (Ivan records the incident on his cellphone.)

The next day is conveniently enough, a backyard BBQ. Kate is horrified when she sees the garden, but has the party anyway. Ivan shows Melissa the video but doesn’t want to tell Kate until he has a chance to talk to Sam/Danica. When they confront her, it doesn’t go well. Sam/Danica knows they have dirt on her and can’t handle it.

Sam/Danica talks to Ivan alone and apologizes. She explains that the only way for her to feel things is to destroy them. Ivan is impressed with her honesty and promises to erase the video if she promises to tell Kate everything. Sam/Danica doesn’t believe him and pushes him down the stairs, casually stepping over his dead body.

While Kate is at yoga, Melissa emails the video to Kate and Joe. Joe is about to watch the video, and Sam/Danica stops him by asking him to play it on the TV. Then she kicks his legs out from under him, and he bangs his head on the coffee table. Sam/Danica deletes the video from Kate and Andy’s email before they can watch it. Then she takes Joe to the ER, and once he is stitched up, they go up to the cabin so that Joe can get some rest.

Meanwhile, Melissa is having trouble getting a hold of Ivan. Melissa gets a message from the REAL Danica. Danica warns that Sam is trying to replace her, and they should stay away from her. Sam is a dangerous schizophrenic. Melissa check on Ivan and is arrested for assaulting a police officer?!?!?! In jail, Melissa tries to explain to the hunk detective. She sends them to the cabin to check on Kate and Joe.

An officer drops by the cabin, and he is a hunk too! What is with all these hunky cops. He is so strong and mainly, but Sam takes him down with a pocket knife and speeds off in his cop car. She screams about things not working out.

While shopping, Kate gets a call from the REAL Danica. Danica tells Kate about Sam and warns that she is in danger. Kate isn’t buying it, but when she gets back to the cabin and sees the dead hot cop, Kate does. Kate cries and screams for Joe. She tries to explain everything to Joe, and he tells her it is going to be fine. Kate says the most real thing. “It is NOT going to be fine. There is a dead police officer on our porch!!!!”

The REAL Danica and Kate are about to meet at the foster home, but Sam breaks into Danica’s room through the window and holds her at knifepoint. On the roof, Sam screams and cries that Kate needs to love her. Kate promises to love them both and goes in for a hug. Sam drops the knife, and the police arrest her. Kate and Danica embrace as Sam is dragged away. She was definitely the wrong daughter.

Kate adopts the REAL Danica. Joe and Kate are pregnant by some miracle. Melissa is out of jail and over Ivan apparently.

Sam is in the psych ward and asks if her mother is visiting her because she misses her a lot. A mother and daughter should never be apart.

Side Note

Minority Report: Police officer, Doctor Hopewell

Formerly known as The Wrong Daughter

Don’t forget to listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!

Donate to keep the blog and podcast going 😊

Overall rating

🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)